Built for riding through the Bourgogne vineyards!
The Triumph Scrambler, introduced in 2006, was inspired by the original TR6C (Competition) Trophy — a factory-direct scrambler designed for US desert racers. Based on the Bonneville, the Scrambler 900 is outfitted with high-mount dual exhausts, crossover pipe, increased travel suspension, fork gaiters, and spoked wheels. By 2015, the air-cooled, fuel-injected 865cc engine made a solid 58 horsepower and 50 pound-feet of torque. While the bike has never been intended as a hardcore off-road machine, it’s been praised as a solid street scrambler.
Enter one of our favorite workshops, BAAK Motocyclettes of France, who have a penchant for building bikes with a stunning mix of modernity and tradition. Founded in 2012, the workshop boasts six in-house craftsmen, who build bespoke motorcycles and manufacture more than 350 bolt-on parts for a range of European marques. Recently, a wine grower from the Bourgogne region enlisted the team to build a custom Triumph Scrambler:
“We really wanted to keep the motorcycle pleasant to ride off-road as Charles planned to ride as much a possible through the grapevine of his domain, and in the countryside around.”
BAAK created the stunning cherry red and brown leather machine you see here, taking “huge care” to make the bike perform well both on-road and off. Below, we get the full story on the build.
Triumph Scrambler Custom: In the Builder’s Words
A few words about his motorcycle: We built it for Charles who is a wine grower in the Bourgogne vineyard. He had a crush for the previous Scramblers we built and featured on social media, so he entrusted our team to create a unique version of a similar motorcycle. As he wanted, we built it over a 2015 Triumph Scrambler 865 EFI.
We really wanted to keep the motorcycle pleasant to ride off-road as Charles planned to ride as much a possible through the grapevine of his domain, and in the countryside around. That’s the reason why we brought a huge care to selecting the right shock absorbers (Öhlins) and tires (Continental TKC80), improving the fork with better springs and oil, making the bike as lightweight as possible, keeping the standard height of the bike, and make it more stiff on the front end using machined aluminium triples yokes. The sump guard protects the bottom of the engine from rocks.
We chose to go for a mix between cherry red gas tank and brown leather parts: fork gaiters / left side bag, short leather seat kit, cables guides, straps for the headlight plate. The final result is very well balanced. We chose a handlebar with a slow pullback to the rider so Charles can keep a sporty position when riding on the road.
It clearly gets a Scrambler look with this Mass Engineering high exhaust, small headlight and high front mudguard. Thanks to Beringer levers and and machined aluminium handlebar controls, the tiny speedometer and custom handlebar clamps, the handlebar area is very clean so the rider can focus only on the track.
We didn’t want to make it look vintage or retro, that’s the reason why we used parts that look really modern (LED turn indicators / Beringer levers / Satin black powder coated parts all over the bike / etc.) — this mix between modernity and tradition feels really timeless when you stare at the bike.
We’ve been trying this motorcycle (and its previous versions) off-road and despite its weight, it’s very easy to ride through muddy single tracks. The handling is very nice, and it feels secured even at high speed on difficult terrain.
