Jim Bull's - Outdoorz Magazine: June 2017

Ride Review - BMW R NineT Scrambler

Courtesy of Velocity Cycles - Mechanicsburg, Pa

By Jim Bull

I guess one would find it hard to believe that in 37 years of riding street motorcycles that I would have at some point swung my leg over a BMW, especially working in the industry. I imagine growing up in a Harley town and working in a multi franchise Japanese brand dealership may have been a reason.

Check out Velocity Cycles for all your Honda, BMW and Genuine Scooter needs.

If you guys have been following along you noticed last month that Velocity Cycles in Mechanicsburg, Pa helped me realize a long time dream of riding a big Honda Adventure Bike. So this month when shop owner Chris Cuomo asked me what I wanted to ride the answer was simple. I said just put me on that Beemer I liked which is slang for the BMW brand.

Matter of fact when I went to ride the Africa Twin last month this machine caught my eye and I was almost intrigued more by the Scrambler then the bike I had come to ride.

Anyhow this month I got my chance and what a ride it was. This bike is powered by the legendary BMW opposed twin that offers up 1200cc of highly usable torque. I was always curious about the power curve of these highly popular machines and after a few miles I was grinning ear to ear.

As I mounted the bike it seemed a bit top heavy but I found it not to be the case as I headed off towards the mountains of central Pa. Again Chris said she’s yours for the day so we pointed her north and hit the road.

The Scrambler has classic styling and that torquey opposed twin.

This model line of bikes which includes five different versions is based off the legendary BMW R 80 G/S which was introduced way back in 1980 and took the motorcycle world by storm. It was designed as a touring motorcycle that had both on and off road capabilities.

Today you can buy this bike in the R Nine T, the Scrambler, the Urban GS, the Pure and the Racer versions. All very similar yet designed for different looks and purposes.

Today we took the Scrambler and tried her out in traffic, on the highway and my favorite for this machine, some nice twisty back roads. I found this bike most comfortable riding between 50 and 60 mph in fifth or 6^th gear and preferable with no traffic in view.

The bike had a comfortable riding position, handled like a dream and had all the torque and acceleration one would need. Oh and trust me the ABS braking system with those huge disc rotors really get the job done when you need them.

My suggestion, if you like the cool design of today’s modern scrambler, don’t like to pull much maintenance and love to ride the backroads then this is a bike you need to take a look at. Even on the highway it cruised well at 65 - 70 mph and didn’t beat you up like some standards would.

If you live in Pa it’s even better because we certainly have the perfect roads for it and Velocity Cycles is easy to find only a few short miles off Interstate 81 near Mechanicsburg, Pa.