RUST magazine: RUST#32

Metal
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But like the punk kid it has… well… spunk.
The motor fell off God’s own workbench.
That dude knows how to tune an engine.
Forget revs, forget horsepower, give it
Torque, He said. And He did, a solid 80Nm
of the stuff – and not somewhere in the midrange
or top end, no, right off the bottom
at 2,800rpm. So it Launches (yeah, with a
cap-L). Make it Smooth, He said. And it is,
smooth like a snake’s ass. And give it long
legs, like a long legged woman dressed in
black (He being a Mungo Jerry fan) and so
when you’re there at a leisurely 3700rpm in
top (fifth gear) its hauling an easy 70mph.
This bike has character. There’s a throb to
it, the way an old Harley has, it’s lazy power.
With the wide bars you just chill out, and despite
the limitations of the suspension it’s one
laid-back ride. And it don’t need to go fast
because with 900cc and that much torque it
don’t need to.
Does it do off-road? It says Street Scrambler,
doofus – read the print! It doesn’t say
Dirt Scrambler, it says Street Scrambler. But
you know, because we are still just a little bit
punk, we did take it down some tracks and
you know what? It was cool. It was sh*t if
you caught a big bump but the geometry, the
ergos, made it good for the relatively smooth
stuff. Lazy-ass steering angles work okay
off-road and that’s the case here. So while
it won’t make an enduro, as a Travel Bike
(©Chris Scott) it nails the brief.
Anyway… there’s no time for this sh*t.
Less talk, more riding.
36
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