The BMW R nineT has been one of our favorite new bikes of the last couple of years. There have been hints and suggestions at a Scrambler, but what we see before us here truly exceeds expectations. A beautifully styled and brutally functional motorcycle with power through the roof and enough style to roll through a custom show bone-stock and not seem out of place: the new R nineT Scrambler is an instant classic just waiting for you to ride the wheels off of it.
They were ridden by action heroes on the screen and scores of hobby racers entered mountain and beach races on them: the Scramblers. With deep-treaded tyres, a raised exhaust, somewhat extended spring travel and a relaxed seating position, Scramblers offered their riders in the 1950s to 1970s not just motorcycling fun on winding country roads but also great off-road capability and therefore an extended range of use. Like the motorcycles themselves, the people who rode Scramblers were not bound by established conventions. And they could be seen virtually everywhere: on winding country roads, stony mountain passes and - where it was allowed - even on sandy beaches.
The history of BMW Motorrad is also rooted in the Scrambler concept. In 1951, the BMW R 68 was presented at the International Bicycle and Motorcycle Fair IFMA in Frankfurt with a typical raised 2-in-1 exhaust, just like the one used for racing by BMW Motorrad legend Georg "Schorsch" Meier. While the standard version of the R 68 had a conventional exhaust installed in a lower position, the raised exhaust version was already available back then as a BMW Motorrad accessory. To this day, some owners of this highly valuable post-war BMW Motorrad classic still like to retrofit the special Scrambler-style exhaust.
