OLD SCHOOL SCRAMBLE The Scrambler is tall and perfect for my 6ft frame. The bars are old-school Scramble wide, which I like, there’ s a single gauge up front like the Bear 650, which I also like, and the chunky tyres underneath had me thinking of wide open gravel roads and paddocks before I even fired up the big single, all 650cc of it. The motor burbles away at 2000rpm on first starting before quickly settling down to a steady 1700rpm. Boy, does this thing sound good, it has a nice heavy thump in that muffler‘ can’, and a hint of crackle when blipping the throttle. This machine and engine are vastly different to the Gold Star road bike, and it’ s a very pleasant surprise. Yes, the engine mapping feels different and the gearing sure is, but it’ s like someone took Jeff Smith’ s 1964-65 World 500 MX Championship-winning 420cc bike and said,‘ that’ s the ideal wheelbase, steering angle and rake, footpeg location and designed a bike around those parameters.’ In 2008 when Jeff was in Wanganui, he told me,“ In the Comp Shop we developed the race bikes through the off-season and then under race conditions. Then we would transfer that info for a new model and give it to the engineers. Then they would production-ise them, meaning they changed stuff and added weight”. This time round, though, I think the engineers have got this street scrambler right from the start. If you want to stand on the pegs and potter in a field, or ride between inner city traffic it’ s great. Someone said to me the other day about the

KIWI RIDER 25