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With the 1,000km service well behind me (now around 2K kms), it was time to take the FT on a real ride. The mission: Find a large variety of roads and test the bike's limits. now that the gloves are off and it can be ridden properly.
The route:
Northern Ontario, Canada in the Kawartha region. Total mileage about 500 kms over 8 hours. Mix of sweepers, twisties, 2-lane highway, new tarmac, weather-beaten/rutted roads, gravel.
The Bikes:
2015 Scrambler FT with no performance mods (just aesthetics). 2014 Yamaha FZ-09/MT-09 with updated fuel map, aftermarket slip on and upgraded suspension (Andreani fork cartridges, Ohlins rear shock), street rubber.
The riders:
Scrambler: mid 30's, 6 years riding, dirt experience, track experience, lots of big HP bike history. FZ-09: mid 40's, 10 years riding experience, 10+ yrs dirt experience.
Ride Review:
Began our ride pretty early and took it slow for the first 50 kms or so to get the bikes warmed up. Had an interesting "accident" happen when a car coming the opposite way on a 2-lane highway lots its hub cap/wheel cover and it slammed RIGHT into my left foot (couldn't avoid it as it was coming from a strange angle). Fortunately, I'm ATGATT and was wearing full Alpine Stars SMX Plus boots. There was a huge THUD (3lb hub cap at over 100 km/hr is a serious projectile) but the wheel cover only hit my boot and the left footpeg, leaving the bike and I scratch-free. Heck of a way to start the ride and another example of why you should always wear full protective gear.
With that ummmm...excitement out of the way, we hit the twisty, rutted stuff with intermittent gravel sections. Here, the Scrambler shines, largely because of the low end torque and the tires which cope very well with irregular surfaces. Large ruts could be a little jarring from a suspension POV but nothing out-of-the-ordinary, considering the bike's sport-oriented street set up. The guy on the FZ-09 is a better off-road rider than me and didn't seem to have any trouble with this stuff, even though he's running relatively street-oriented tires and sport suspension. Neither bike had an advantage here and he was saying that the bumps were bone-jarring on his bike as well...
Then, we got into the sweepers. At higher speeds, I can tell you that the Scrambler, even with the "60/40" tires, is just about as planted a bike as any street rider could ever want. Ridden properly, it can keep pace with, if no out-corner even a bike with much sportier pretensions and the guy on the FZ-09 literally couldn't keep pace, even with the upgraded suspension. The tires on the Scrambler basically defy physics because they offer about 85% of what a good street tire does, but then are also reasonably competent as a light off-road tire. I would call it an 90/40 tire if such a designation existed. When we got out of corners, the FZ-09 pulls the Scrambler a couple bike lengths when accelerating at WOT to higher-than-average cruising speed but it's not by much at all and we were both surprised at the Scrambler's cornering and corner exit prowess (provided you come out of the corner in the right gear and within its power band sweet spot of about 5K RPM). The bike's chassis and stock suspension is well sorted enough that you can get on the throttle quite hard exiting a turn and the back end doesn't kick out on you.. When riding the bike hard, it performs well when revved high in the higher gears (2-6), but I had quite a few false-neutrals between 5th-6th when up-shifting which were scary. For whatever reason, when the engine was really warm, this seemed to happen quite a bit and I'm not sure if it's a break-in thing of a weakness of the gearbox. Riding the M696 in comparison is a total dream and the gearbox on that bike shifts WAY more positively. If I had one gripe about the Scrambler at this point, it would be the gearbox. I can live with it, but it's obvious when I rider other bikes that this is an area where the Scrambler is less refined.
Last, the smooth, twisty, hill-y stuff. Think of this as a race track type of setting, combined with a rollercoaster where you have large changes in elevation, combined with sharp turns. The guy on the FZ-09 had his front wheel off the ground about a dozen times when cresting hills...total hooligan bike that is, especially with a hooligan like him at the helm. At the same speed (but with less torque) the Scrambler did lift a few times (in a very controllable way) but doesn't have the same instant-torque one such hooligan would require to lift the front end on-command. That said, hooligan business aside, the Scrambler was quicker through these sections, possibly because of my race experience, but also from what I believe to be superior handling which inspires more confidence, having ridden that exact FZ-09 in its current configuration. The Scrambler can, indeed scrape its footpegs around a sharp corner without any hint of chatter and in a perfectly controlled manner. Again, how this is possible with knobby tires is a mystery of the universe. I've ridden bikes with Continental TKC 80's, Kendas and the like and there was noticeable lean angle restriction. I just can't praise the tires enough and can say that I will have no reservation about replacing them with the same tire when they become worn. Also, for whatever harshness the suspension had over the bumpy stuff, it absolutely makes up for on decent or slightly rutted roads which is an acceptable trade-off to me. If I had to critique the suspension, it would be that it can easily become unsettled at speed when shifting your weight on the bike between corners. More of an issue if one was taking the Scrambler to the track and really not something that practical road use would benefit from. Again, this is about the bike's limits so I'm being picky.
At the end of the day, we were both pretty sore and a little beat-up from some hard riding and lots of miles. I would not describe the Scrambler as "all-day-long-comfortable" but certainly "all-day-long-tolerable". We took breaks every few hours and stopped for lunch which helped keep things pleasant from a rider-comfort POV.
Fuel economy was about the same on both bikes (few cents difference when filling up so very close). Riding at spirited pace, we were getting fuel lights around 250 kms give or take but were filling-up before the light came on anyway. I don't really know how fuel capacity would be an issue for anyone since after 250 kms, your butt needs a break anyway and I usually need to use the bathroom/eat/whatever.
As we sat over dinner and reflected on the Scrambler's first "real" day out, the FZ-09 rider summed it up well: "Really, that Scrambler is the perfect do-everything bike. It does a LOT of things really well and if they were available last year when I bought my FZ-09, I think I would have bought a Scrambler instead".
The route:
Northern Ontario, Canada in the Kawartha region. Total mileage about 500 kms over 8 hours. Mix of sweepers, twisties, 2-lane highway, new tarmac, weather-beaten/rutted roads, gravel.
The Bikes:
2015 Scrambler FT with no performance mods (just aesthetics). 2014 Yamaha FZ-09/MT-09 with updated fuel map, aftermarket slip on and upgraded suspension (Andreani fork cartridges, Ohlins rear shock), street rubber.
The riders:
Scrambler: mid 30's, 6 years riding, dirt experience, track experience, lots of big HP bike history. FZ-09: mid 40's, 10 years riding experience, 10+ yrs dirt experience.
Ride Review:
Began our ride pretty early and took it slow for the first 50 kms or so to get the bikes warmed up. Had an interesting "accident" happen when a car coming the opposite way on a 2-lane highway lots its hub cap/wheel cover and it slammed RIGHT into my left foot (couldn't avoid it as it was coming from a strange angle). Fortunately, I'm ATGATT and was wearing full Alpine Stars SMX Plus boots. There was a huge THUD (3lb hub cap at over 100 km/hr is a serious projectile) but the wheel cover only hit my boot and the left footpeg, leaving the bike and I scratch-free. Heck of a way to start the ride and another example of why you should always wear full protective gear.
With that ummmm...excitement out of the way, we hit the twisty, rutted stuff with intermittent gravel sections. Here, the Scrambler shines, largely because of the low end torque and the tires which cope very well with irregular surfaces. Large ruts could be a little jarring from a suspension POV but nothing out-of-the-ordinary, considering the bike's sport-oriented street set up. The guy on the FZ-09 is a better off-road rider than me and didn't seem to have any trouble with this stuff, even though he's running relatively street-oriented tires and sport suspension. Neither bike had an advantage here and he was saying that the bumps were bone-jarring on his bike as well...
Then, we got into the sweepers. At higher speeds, I can tell you that the Scrambler, even with the "60/40" tires, is just about as planted a bike as any street rider could ever want. Ridden properly, it can keep pace with, if no out-corner even a bike with much sportier pretensions and the guy on the FZ-09 literally couldn't keep pace, even with the upgraded suspension. The tires on the Scrambler basically defy physics because they offer about 85% of what a good street tire does, but then are also reasonably competent as a light off-road tire. I would call it an 90/40 tire if such a designation existed. When we got out of corners, the FZ-09 pulls the Scrambler a couple bike lengths when accelerating at WOT to higher-than-average cruising speed but it's not by much at all and we were both surprised at the Scrambler's cornering and corner exit prowess (provided you come out of the corner in the right gear and within its power band sweet spot of about 5K RPM). The bike's chassis and stock suspension is well sorted enough that you can get on the throttle quite hard exiting a turn and the back end doesn't kick out on you.. When riding the bike hard, it performs well when revved high in the higher gears (2-6), but I had quite a few false-neutrals between 5th-6th when up-shifting which were scary. For whatever reason, when the engine was really warm, this seemed to happen quite a bit and I'm not sure if it's a break-in thing of a weakness of the gearbox. Riding the M696 in comparison is a total dream and the gearbox on that bike shifts WAY more positively. If I had one gripe about the Scrambler at this point, it would be the gearbox. I can live with it, but it's obvious when I rider other bikes that this is an area where the Scrambler is less refined.
Last, the smooth, twisty, hill-y stuff. Think of this as a race track type of setting, combined with a rollercoaster where you have large changes in elevation, combined with sharp turns. The guy on the FZ-09 had his front wheel off the ground about a dozen times when cresting hills...total hooligan bike that is, especially with a hooligan like him at the helm. At the same speed (but with less torque) the Scrambler did lift a few times (in a very controllable way) but doesn't have the same instant-torque one such hooligan would require to lift the front end on-command. That said, hooligan business aside, the Scrambler was quicker through these sections, possibly because of my race experience, but also from what I believe to be superior handling which inspires more confidence, having ridden that exact FZ-09 in its current configuration. The Scrambler can, indeed scrape its footpegs around a sharp corner without any hint of chatter and in a perfectly controlled manner. Again, how this is possible with knobby tires is a mystery of the universe. I've ridden bikes with Continental TKC 80's, Kendas and the like and there was noticeable lean angle restriction. I just can't praise the tires enough and can say that I will have no reservation about replacing them with the same tire when they become worn. Also, for whatever harshness the suspension had over the bumpy stuff, it absolutely makes up for on decent or slightly rutted roads which is an acceptable trade-off to me. If I had to critique the suspension, it would be that it can easily become unsettled at speed when shifting your weight on the bike between corners. More of an issue if one was taking the Scrambler to the track and really not something that practical road use would benefit from. Again, this is about the bike's limits so I'm being picky.
At the end of the day, we were both pretty sore and a little beat-up from some hard riding and lots of miles. I would not describe the Scrambler as "all-day-long-comfortable" but certainly "all-day-long-tolerable". We took breaks every few hours and stopped for lunch which helped keep things pleasant from a rider-comfort POV.
Fuel economy was about the same on both bikes (few cents difference when filling up so very close). Riding at spirited pace, we were getting fuel lights around 250 kms give or take but were filling-up before the light came on anyway. I don't really know how fuel capacity would be an issue for anyone since after 250 kms, your butt needs a break anyway and I usually need to use the bathroom/eat/whatever.
As we sat over dinner and reflected on the Scrambler's first "real" day out, the FZ-09 rider summed it up well: "Really, that Scrambler is the perfect do-everything bike. It does a LOT of things really well and if they were available last year when I bought my FZ-09, I think I would have bought a Scrambler instead".
