RUST Magazine: RUST#33

METAL
w
298mm discs with twin-piston calipers
(one front one back) are pretty casual
when it comes to the slowing.
And yet, the damn thing grows on
you. It makes a great noise, rides like the
most chilled-out sofa you ever thought
of motorizing, and it gets up no-one’s
nose. You might say inoffensive, but it’s
actually enough of a looker to gain some
curious glances. Yeah, for chilled-out
riding it’s rocking it.
Now I’m as skeptical as the next
Slower Dad about this Sport Heritage
thing and the Faster Sons guff
(thankfully the cross bar pad that says
exactly that had been removed from our
bike) but somehow this SCR950 still
found a way of making me smile. In fact
the more I looked at it (and rode it) the
more the quirky styling worked, I liked
the shortened rear mudguard and cool
round tail light, I liked the juxtapose
of a small tank and wider engine (and
airbox), I liked the skinny 19” front
wheel sitting out there on raked-out
shitty forks with rubber gaiters. It’s doing
that anti-thing, breaking all the rules, but
nicely, almost quietly. So it does, in the
final wash, get away with it. Damn it.
Like a lot of these new scramblers it is
in fact an urban animal. It won’t entirely
shit itself if you take it into the country,
or even down a country track (y’know
one without tar-seal) but it won’t be
too flash and by heck you better go
easy if you do. If you’re thinking this
might be an alternative to an adventure
bike you’re probably mistaken – or
very adventurous indeed. It is then,
something of a design affectation, in
an age where affectation is increasingly
the norm. Why not play at being a
hip motorcycle dude for five miles
of a Sunday morning (before you hit
the cafe lattes and broadsheet papers
– sorry iPad subscription there, eh!)?
What’s the harm? So enjoy yourself.
And in such context the SCR950 is
okay. Yes, it’s a bit fake (but a fake what
– really, we can’t quite pigeonhole it)
18
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