Ducati had confirmed last month that it would be launching its Scrambler in early 2015 but had (and still has) refrained from putting any pictures anywhere on the web. But, within just three days after that declaration several spy images and a video of a red specimen undergoing some regulatory testing, with quite a bit of testing equipment strapped on, were captured and put up at Autoevolution.com.
Now, last week, Ducati had arranged a quick peek of the Scrambler for a few fans and a maximum of eight people at a time were let inside the container to catch a glimpse of the motorcycle. Strict security was appointed and carrying camera phones and other such devices was prohibited. Still, one of the fans managed to capture a quick photograph and uploaded it on an unofficial fan page on Facebook.
The spy shot shows the fuel tank, engine, handlebars, and a portion of the frame. Staunch Scrambler fans have expressed mixed feelings on the tank design but we’ll reserve our judgement until we see proper pics of the complete bike, which won’t be happening until the EICMA or INTERMOT shows later this year, possibly!
The image shows an air-cooled L-twin engine clearly and it could be the one from the older Monster 696 or 796. We hear that it’s probably the bigger one (803 cc) producing around 87 bhp and 78 Nm – those figures mean that the Ducati Scrambler would be a super-fun bike to ride.
The scrambler, like the café racer, chopper, etc., was born out of the riders’ needs for a specific type of motorcyclists, which in this case was of a powerful but light bike that could traverse difficult terrain without damaging its silencers, fenders, etc. Riders would lighten their heavy thumpers (yes, the first scramblers were four-strokes) by removing all chrome and metal embellishments among other things, and would also replace the stock silencers with high-routed units that later on became a characteristic feature of the scramblers. Manufacturers did notice the trend eventually and started offering off-the-shelf scrambler bikes.
The Ducati Scrambler won’t make it to India anytime soon after the international launch in early 2015, but if it does, it would form an altogether a new niche segment and possibly one of most fun-to-ride bikes in the country.
