MAY 2019 MOTORCYCLE MOJO 23its fully adjustable 45 mm Showa USD
fork set at a 25.8-degree rake with
121 mm of trail in delivering an already
off-road-friendly 200 mm of wheel
travel. But the dirt-focused XE is even
more extreme, with a 1,570 mm wheel-
base and fatter 47 mm USD Showa fork
set at a 26.9-degree rake with a hefty
129.2 mm rake in pursuit of greater
stability off-road.
Both versions feature twin-shock
rear suspension courtesy of Öhlins,
with the XE delivering a massive
250 mm rear wheel travel thanks to
the specially developed, ultra-long
(520 mm) rear shocks from the Swedish
suspension sultans, each with dual
coil-over variable-rate springs, whose
overall format is a further look in that
rearview mirror of yesteryear.
“The twin-spring Öhlins RSU on the
new Triumph Scrambler 1200 combines
new technology with inspiration from
’70s motocross to deliver high per-
formance and long suspension travel
capability,” says Öhlins R&D manager
Emil Åberg. “Our testing team was
amazed with the performance of the
new 1200 Scramblers, and considered
them to be actually more capable off-
road than many of the adventure bikes
they had tested.” That’s a pretty good
reference, considering that nobody’s
ever had that amount of wheel travel on
a twin-shocker.
“We went back to absolute basics
working with Öhlins to create a
fantastic twin-shock modern classic
that’s as good as a monoshock bike
off-road,” Wood says. “If you think
about the history of twin-shock bikes
in what initially was scrambling, and
then became motocross as people were
demanding more and more wheel
travel, they actually moved the rear
suspension units down the swingarm
because they didn’t have units that had
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in producing shocks that delivered the
wheel travel we were looking for.”
Off-Road Focused
The XE’s slightly longer wheelbase comes
mainly courtesy of a longer twin-sided
anodized aluminum swingarm that’s
579 mm in length, compared to the XC’s
547 mm-long item. This throws more
weight onto the front wheel in pursuit
of extra grip, and the fact that this is a
21-inch item on both bikes (matched to a
17-inch rear) denotes the seriousness of
their focus on off-road use. The XC comes
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knobby Pirelli Scorpion Rally off-road-
friendly rubber adorns the XE.
Both bikes feature wire wheels
carrying side-laced Akront alloy rims,
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Perhaps surprisingly, given the off-road
focus of both models, their brake pack
age is totally sportbike-derived, with
twin 320 mm front discs gripped via
a radial master cylinder by Brembo’s
benchmark M50 monobloc, radially
mounted calipers. There’s a single
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twin-piston caliper, and you do need
to take care riding the XE in Off-Road
Pro mode not to use those hefty front
brakes even remotely hard, or else you
will, ahem, hit the dirt or – after you’ve
locked the front wheel with the ABS
switched off in my case – go for a deep
immersion mud bath!
Standing on the footrests, I was aware
of the heat coming off the exhausts
on the right, and this could well be a
complaint in warmer conditions than
a winter’s day in Portugal. The wide
reversible and adjustable handlebar
that’s 65 mm wider on the XE gives good
leverage, but thankfully, it can be rotated
if you’re going to stand up on the foot
pegs; otherwise, the clutch/brake lever
is uncomfortable to operate.
A Wide Array of Amenities
The updated TFT dash has an option
of two different displays, and features
a more advanced version of the same
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the Tiger 800, Tiger 1200, Speed and
Street Triples. Three-stage heated grips
are standard on the XE, as is keyless
ignition, a USB charger, single-button
cruise control, and an IMU (inertial
measurement unit) that permits
cornering ABS (on the XE only) and
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And in what Triumph claims to be
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feature an integrated GoPro control
system, facilitating GoPro camera oper-
ation via connectivity from an optional
Bluetooth module. The connection and
control are displayed on the TFT dash,
enabling intuitive video and photo
operation via the switchgear once the
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camera can be accessed and controlled
via the TFT display and joystick. The
same goes for the optional integrated
Google-operated turn-by-turn
integrated navigation system, again
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Bluetooth module.
THIRD GEAR WILL TAKE
YOU FROM 40 KM/H
AT 2,000 REVS ALL THE
WAY TO 130 KM/H
AT 7,000 RPM