YAMAHA'S SCR950 was one of the best surprises to come out of last autumn's bike shows: a properly cool-looking scrambler, with wire-spoked wheels, steel mudguards and an XT500-like seamless tank.
And all Yamaha had done was adapt an XV950R cruiser. Custom-builders had done it, so why not? The air-cooled V-twin cruiser platform is part of what gives it its genuine custom-bike look.
Of course that meant it wouldn't actually go off-road. Cruisers are near the bottom of my list of things to tackle trails on, just above ice skates.
So I arrived at the press launch of the bike in Sardinia with no more expectation of going trail riding than had it been the new R6. But trail riding we did.
Yamaha's not pretending it's an off-road bike. In the pre-ride presentation, they described it as a "road bike adapted for a bit of off-roading".
The adaptations include a new sub-frame, raising the seat by 140mm to 838mm. Take off one of the side panels and you'll find a big empty space beneath the new straight, flat seat.
The front wheel is now a 19-inch, which also raises the ground clearance by 10mm to 145mm. And it's got Bridgestone Trail Wing dual-purpose tyres.
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