All Tests – BMW R nineT Scrambler test: new with neo-retro – The R nineT is camouflaged as a Scrambler …

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BMW R nineT Scrambler test: new with neo-retro

All Tests - BMW R nineT Scrambler test: new with neo-retro - The R nineT is camouflaged as a Scrambler ...

Encouraged by the phenomenal success of its R nineT and enticed by the equally impressive one of the Ducati Scrambler, BMW will offer its own Scrambler in September. Site has already been able to test this new bike … ” New ”, really ? Test.

The R nineT camouflages itself as a Scrambler…

Designed in 2013 to mark the 90th anniversary of BMW Motorrad and launched on the market the following year, the car has a brilliant career in the maxiroadster segment. And not just "neo-retro", since in 2015 its sales in France largely exceeded those of the R1200R, GSX-S1000 / F and Z1000 (read our)…

R nineT Scrambler: availability, colors and price

  • Availability: September 15, 2016 in the
  • Color (single): Gray
  • Price: 13 550 €

Since its launch in spring 2014, 23,000 copies of the "retro-active" roadster (MNC copyright: read our and our) have sold around the world, actively participating in the success of the Munich brand in recent years (read).

"Our sixth record is currently in progress", welcome the managers of the German brand in the introduction of their press conference held in a workshop – fictitious – located in the southern suburbs of Munich (where the car-motorcycle manufacturer is based).

"We are counting a lot on our new Scrambler (as well as on the future, editor’s note) to reach our target of 200,000 motorcycles and maxiscooters sold in 2020", remind our guests who are aware that Ducati has exploded its own counter last year, thanks to his Scrambler (read).

Building on the success of its R nineT therefore, and somewhat envious of with their new entry-level – their new mark within the brand! -, BMW decided to enlarge its "Heritage" range in 2016 with a less expensive model.

Like Ducati,,, and especially Triumph – how to forget the TR6 so dear to! -, the German brand in turn borrows the codes of a type of motorcycles very popular in the years (nineteen hundred) sixties and (two thousand) ten…

"The scramblers: the movie stars straddled them and the amateur pilots lined them up in hill climbs and other beach races," recalls BMW whose R75 had been overtaken by a TR6 Trophy during the memorable jumping scene in The Great Escape…

"With their studded tires, high exhaust, slightly increased travel and relaxed riding position, scramblers – which could be translated as" climbers "- gave their drivers in the 1950s to 1970s enormous pleasure. on winding roads, on mountain paths and even – where they were allowed – on beaches ", completes the German brand.

To create its own Scrambler, BMW has gone for the simplest, relying heavily on the pre-existing R nineT model. The opposite would have been unwelcome from a manufacturer who has been hammering for two years that his neo-retro roadster is the perfect basis for preparations of all kinds. !

BMW in turn takes the plunge

As mentioned during its presentation (read) and as detailed in our Technical point (on the penultimate page of this test), the BMW Scrambler shares many elements with the roadster, thus promoting economies of scale.

Certain modifications are nevertheless obvious. Whether one refers to the original nineT or to the description of the Scrambler made above by BMW, the most striking certainly concerns the wheels of the "new" BMW….

Indeed, with the sole aim of lowering costs, the spoked rims of the roadster are replaced by rims with simple sticks. At the same time, the designers of the Scrambler have selected an original tire fitting in correlation with the program infinitely more road than adventurer of future buyers..

Surprised at first glance by these choices, Site quickly changed its mind: it was indeed a good way to lower the price of this bike … and to motivate the purchase of options and accessories, since the rims spoked (400 euros according to the online configurator) and studded tires are listed in the official BMW catalog (see the accessory lists at the end of the Technical point) !

Moreover, the presence of stick rims on three of the four Scramblers offered by Ducati last year (Icon, Classic and Full Throtlle) does not seem to have upset customers. Why then would we be about this "Behem" ?

Up front, the 19-inch wheel and its short mudguard, the telescopic fork of only 43 mm – humor! – more inclined and equipped with its traditional bellows, as well as axially fixing calipers – but Brembo brand, phew – underline the deliberately simple and dated appearance of the machine.

As a result of the opening of the front axle geometry, the R nineT Scrambler adopts a rear rim one inch thinner than the "short" R nineT (4.5 "instead of the more conventional 5.5") and fits a tire both narrower and higher (170 / 60-17 versus 180 / 55-17).

To stick to the sleek style "of" scramblers, the new BMW releases a new particularly sober meter, much more retro than the large table installed on the R nineT. The essential information – the speed – is indicated by a good old needle … a bit small ?

More than the needle itself, it is the graduations and the values ​​of the meter which will ask the "good old" bikers to squint their eyes to decipher – at the beginning anyway – their speed. It is almost easier to read mileage trips (total, 1 or 2), engine temperature or time in the digital window.

In order to further lower the bill (in the end, 1850 euros less than the roadster) and thus compete with Scramblers from other brands, German engineers were also forced to tighten their belts on the fuel tank…

More than its capacity – which goes from 18 to 17 liters – it is its nature which results in savings: it is made of steel for the Scrambler, of aluminum for the roadster. Here again, the future customer can check, if he wishes, the "aluminum" box in the options (910 € with visible welds, 1010 € without) and perfect his look with side pads (price not communicated to date, like most accessories).

Site notes in passing that the models made available to journalists are equipped with LED indicators (105 €) and aluminum handlebars: small attentions kindly granted by the German manufacturer to testers, but will French dealers do the same for their customers ?

The camouflage of the R nine T Scrambler would obviously not be complete without its high exhaust. Once again ordered from Akrapovic, the double pot is beautiful. Its perforated plates and ribbed ends pay homage to the scramblers of yesteryear.

Likewise, the fawn color and the quilted aspect of the saddle (two standard places, one optional place) ensure a nice look to the "Behème". We just regret that the rear light (LED!) Is not round to echo the front headlight, and that the license plate holder is not more airy – openwork, even if it means letting the projections pass. ?!

Externally unchanged, the flat-twin installed in the heart of the Scrambler naturally respects the Euro 4 standard to which all new motorcycles will be subject from January 1, 2017: it will therefore be installed on future R nineT "short"…

Credited with the same maximum power (110 hp), the 2016 version of the "Boxer" loses 3 Nm (116 Nm therefore) following the reprogramming of the electronic injection and the change of pot. Its average consumption would be better than the old one: 5.3 l / 100 km according to the manufacturer (WTMC) and 5.7 l / 100 km at the end of this MNC test.

In conclusion of this first static part, Site considers that the plumage of the Scrambler, if not complete, is attractive, even inspiring. Is the ramage up to the task? It is to verify this that the Motorcycle Journal of the Net was invited to the international launch of the "Scrambler" version of the R nineT !

BMW has concocted a route of nearly 390 km leading to Garmisch-Partenkirchen – where the 16th edition of the BMW Motorrad Days was held two weeks earlier – and taking us twice over the pseudo-Austrian border. On the way !

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