Not Your Typical Bike for the Race​

I don’t cover many motorcycle competitions, but this story is too good not to share. Apparently, Ernie Vigil took fifth out of 13 contestants at the Mexican 1000 Rally on a Triumph Scrambler 1200. The Triumph Scrambler isn’t the first bike I or many others would have chosen. Most riders opted for dirt bikes with about half the displacement.

The factory racer completed the five-day, 1,347-mile rally in 25 hours and 37 minutes, according to Motorcycle.com. That’s pretty darn quick, especially due to the pretty extreme riding conditions of the rally. Riders encounter all kinds of terrain from rocky to sandy.

Triumph is obviously pretty proud of its machine, and it honestly should be. The bike performed admirably, with only one issue. The front BIB Mousse failed after a tough rocky section of the rally. This set the time back by three hours.

Triumph made a point of not modifying the motorcycle. This let the machine speak for itself. The team added a custom paint job and #278 in honor of Steve McQueen’s 1964 ISDT number. A fitting and cool tribute.

This goes to show how good the Scrambler 1200 actually is. It still wouldn’t be my first choice for this kind of rally, but it’s cool to see. I love it when machines are used for purposes they’re not necessarily intended for.

The post Ernie Vigil Finishes 5th at Mexican 1000 Rally Riding a Triumph Scrambler 1200 appeared first on Web Bike World.

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