New toy! 2006 Triumph Scrambler

If you follow my Twitter or Instagram you likely already knew that this was in the works, but last night I picked up the newest addition to my collection, a blue and white 2006 Triumph Scrambler.  I went back and forth in my head on if I really needed this bike, but I’d been wanting another Hinckley Triumph and the deal was too good to pass up so I pulled the trigger.  I previously had a 2011 Bonneville T100 that I’d recently been missing pretty badly so when my friend said he was ready to sell this Scrambler I knew it was my time to bring a Triumph back into the garage.

Let me tell you, this bike is about as clean as they come, especially being 13 years old.  The color scheme is definitely one of my favorites of any of the Scramblers too.  Sure, it would have been slightly better if it were EFI, but for as little as I’ll have to deal with the carb I’m not worried about it at all.  For the time being I’m going to just ride it as much as I can, get through winter, and see where we land come springtime.  Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up an Arrow 2:1 exhaust for it and be ready to slap that on at the same time as doing the airbox removal mod.

Old Al has also had some of these new Triumphs, but instead of spending the few hundred dollars on the airbox removal kit he built the battery box and everything himself.  So I’m hoping we can put together another one of those if he’s got the template lying around still, put the new exhaust on, and then tune the carb at the same time to really make her purr.  The increase in power from all of these mods will be great, plus the bike won’t sound like a sewing machine anymore which is really what I’m after.

Another change I want to make is getting rid of those giant turn signals and tail light.  Why Triumph wouldn’t put a Lucas style light on these “modern classics” from the factory is beyond me.  Luckily I’m not alone in my thinking and people have made some very good replacement options, so I’m going to pick up the Euro Style bolt on lighting kit from the crew over at newbonneville.com.  Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking – the amber lenses are the “traditional” style.  Well that’s great, but I think they are a distraction from the appearance of the bike in that they don’t match anything, and that’s why I’m opting for clear lenses and amber bulbs.  It’ll be an easy winter project that makes a huge change to the look of the bike.

I think the last thing I want to do is swap the stock dual seat out for a single seat with a back rack so I can potentially carry some luggage with me and not have to cover up the beautiful tank with a hideous bag.  Tank bags are a good option, but on these bikes I prefer the look of the machine without it, so I want to keep it looking as clean as possible when I can.

I had the biggest grin on my face last night while riding the bike home, and that’s the point of having these types of toys.  Unfortunately I picked her up just in time for winter, but being in Colorado you can get some riding in just about every month as long as you’re not too big of a wimp with the cold and you pay extra close attention to the gravel.  Next spring and summer is when she’ll really shine and we’ll be able to put some miles behind us…but until then, welcome to the family Orelia!