2022 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition Hands-On Review

Triumph UK kindly loaned me the Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition and I have to say what a pleasure that was.

I attended a media day at Triumph UK last year where we rode several bikes for an hour or so each, one of which was the Street Scrambler 900 (now known as the Scrambler 900) which I did like and thought it was a really nice bike to ride so I was eager to see what the Scrambler 1200 would be like.

Triumph Scrambler 1200 Models:

Scrambler 1200 XC (seat height: 840mm) (black or khaki green/black or carnival red/black) (MSRP $14,814 USD / $19,049 CAD)
Scrambler 1200 XE (seat height 870mm) (black or khaki green/black or carnival red/black) (MSRP $15,898 USD / $20,443 CAD)
Scrambler 1200 Steve McQueen Edition (seat height 870mm) (competition green) (MSRP $16,386 USD / $20,071 CAD)
Scrambler 1200 XE Gold Line Edition (seat height 870mm) (baja orange/silver ice) (MSRP $16,862 USD / $21,683 CAD)
Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition (seat height: 840mm) (MSRP $15,778 USD / $20,288 CAD)

Check out the other bikes in Triumph’s 2022 Model Lineup.

The Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition at a Glance:

1200 Liquid-cooled, 8 valve, SOHC, 270° crank angle parallel-twin engine
89 bhp and 110 Nm of torque;
6 speed gearbox with wet, multi-plate assist clutch
Brushed 2 into 2 exhaust system with brushed high level silencers;
Multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection;
Showa 45mm fully adjustable upside down forks, with 200mm travel on the front;
Öhlins fully adjustable piggy-back RSUs with twin springs. 200mm rear wheel travel on the rear;
Twin 320mm discs, Brembo M50 monobloc calipers, with radial master cylinder on the front;
Single 255mm disc, Brembo 2-piston floating caliper, ABS on the rear;
840mm seat height;
230kg wet weight;
16L fuel tank.

The Gold Line Editions of the Scrambler 1200 only come in one colour each – the XE comes in the rather funky Baja orange/silver and the XC (the one I had on loan) comes in a very nice carnival red/storm grey colour scheme with hand-painted gold lining and are only available for one year.

So being 5’6” tall, I opted for the XC model with the seat height of 840mm. I have to say I would not want it to be any taller for me. I could get the balls of my feet on the ground only and although this is okay when riding and stopped at, say, traffic lights etc., when trying to manoeuvre the bike in and out of the garage, I did find this difficult and found it easier to get off the bike and push is back. Normally I sit on my bike and push it back which I am more comfortable doing.

Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition Engine

The engine is a 1200 cc liquid-cooled, 8 valve, SOHC, 270° crank angle parallel-twin which is Euro5 compliant delivering 89 bhp and 110 Nm of power and torque. I have to say that I am a fan of the parallel-twin engine, I love the sound when you start the bike up and I really love the noise when you open it up 🙂 There’s definitely something about a twin!

I had the XC for just over a week so I used that opportunity to ride the bike into work to see what it was like commuting and then, more often than not, I’d leave work and go for a ride so I could see what the Scrambler was like riding around town as well as on the open roads and, if I’m being honest, it was to find cake too 😉

The XC is very torquey and has a lot of low end grunt so it was quite happy to ride around town at low speeds and then really happy when you found an open road and opened it up. It felt smooth to ride and flowed through the bends very nicely.

The XC has ABS, traction control and Ohlins suspension. The XE model has the benefit of the latest Optimised Cornering ABS and Traction Control system.

I found the brakes very smooth and were very responsive, so even with just the touch of the brakes, I found them to have great bite but very progressive.

I didn’t find that the ABS cut in too early so all around, very impressive brakes.

The XE model has the benefit of the latest Optimised Cornering ABS and Traction Control system.

Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition TFT Screen & Modes

The XC has five riding modes – road, rain, sport, rider-configurable, and off road mode which can be configured to suit your individual needs. The XE has six modes, the sixth on being off-road pro “for extreme off-road riding and the toughest conditions.”

These can be chosen via the TFT display. There is a button on the left bar which you press to get to the mode you wish to change and then you use the toggle just below the button to change the mode. All very easy and user friendly which is a great plus point in my opinion.

Now I’m not a fan of riding modes, I don’t really think we need them on our bikes. My Speed Twin is the first bike I have owned with riding modes and it is always in sport mode. My Z900 does not have modes and I can, and indeed do, ride this bike in all weathers all year round quite happily. I can adjust my riding according to the conditions on the road in which I find myself.

I have ridden many bikes for my reviews with modes and although I do try these bikes in their different modes as part of my review, I then nearly always put them back into sport mode as I find this best suits my riding style.

A really cool feature on the TFT screen is when you turn the ignition on, the screen comes up with ‘Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening Rider’ and you can personalize this if you wish. I like that – ‘Good Morning BikerKaz’

I found the TFT really easy to read even in the bright sunshine which was good. I can see all the information I need at a glance except the clock is on the top right-hand corner and is really small and hard to read.

The My Triumph connectivity module is available as an optional extra. With this feature, you have access to the world’s first integrated GoPro control system as well as sat nav, phone and music operation. This is compatible with both IOS and android phones and you just download an app onto your phone and choose the settings that you work for you. I have this app on my phone for previous bikes I have had on review and it is really easy to use and good to have access to.

With the navigation part of the app, I can select the destination I want and adjust the settings to avoid motorways, tolls, ferries etc. Once you’ve got your route, press start and navigation will begin.

In the settings you can select the distance to show in kilometres or miles and fuel economy to MPG(UK); MPG (US); 1/100km and km/l. You can play around in the settings to set the app up to suit you and your bike. I found this a really useful bit of kit.

My Two Favourite bits of Tech

There is a USB port under the seat and this comes in very handy. I have a QuadLock phone mount on my Speed Twin and I have a charging cable connected to the USB so I can use the sat nav on my phone whilst keeping my battery charged. I find that using the sat nav on my phone does drain the battery somewhat and, especially if I am out riding on my own, I don’t like the thought of not being able to use my phone in an emergency. Great bit of kit that I find incredibly useful.

I have to say my absolute favourite bit of tech on the Scrambler has got to be the self-cancelling indicators that come as standard. Why are these not standard on every motorbike? If they were an optional extra, this would be a definite extra for me for my bikes.

To give you an idea of how often I leave my indicators on, my partner and I have BT intercom systems and when he tells me that I’ve left my indicators on, it has gone from ‘Kaz, you’ve left your indicators on’ which progressed to ‘your indicators are on’ and now all I get is ‘indicators’. You can see my need for self-cancelling indicators!

Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition Design

The Scrambler has been designed with off-road ability in mind, not only with the off road mode on the TFT system and long travel suspension but, according to Triumph, the frame isn’t simply a modified road chassis with the geometry tweaked — it’s pure Scrambler from the aluminium bash plate up.

Along with the wheelbase and swinging arm length, these have all come from Triumph’s hugely successful scrambling heritage and years of Triumph’s Tiger dual-purpose adventure bike development.

A brilliant feature of this bike is that you can tailor the riding position to what suits you best with the adjustable handlebars and reversible risers and get it right for you when you are either sitting on the bike or standing. Adjustable folding foot controls are available on the XE model.

The bench seat and wide handlebars make the bike really comfortable to ride and I have to say I really do like the styling. It’s different from many bikes on the market and I am really impressed with the build quality, something which I have found you do get with Triumph.

I am a real fan of the single headlight that is appearing on more and more bikes and the Scramblers LED lighting certainly lights up the road really well coming back from bike night.

The single rear light and round indicators are gorgeous, I love these. They are integrated into the tail unit and keep wiith the styling of the Scrambler. That said, an absolute first purchase for me would be a tail tidy. I know it is a legal requirement for all new bikes that the number plate is the rearmost part of the bike, but the back end is just crying out for one.

Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition Design Wheels

A real feature of the Scrambler is the 21” ‘off-road’ optimized front wheel and a 17” rear, both of which are tubeless and come with Metzeler Tourance adventure tires designed to be used both on and off-road.

The wheels are spoked but tubeless. Most spoked wheels are tubed but these have been designed so that you can use tubeless tires and I think really add to the styling of the Scrambler.

Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition Design Exhaust

Now, we can’t talk about the Scrambler without mentioning the twin exhaust pipes. I absolutely love these, they are funky yet incredibly cool at the same time. I think it’s what you think of when talking about a Scrambler.

There is a but though. The heat shields get incredibly hot. This is absolutely brilliant when riding home on a chilly evening or it’s a bit nippy because you can get up close and personal with the pipes and they do keep you warm.

I found that when riding, my leg got very warm indeed but I very quickly got used to just keeping my leg at a slight angle away from the heat. When stopped at traffic lights, say, I did have to keep my left foot on the ground so I could put my right leg on the peg and keep it away from the heat.

I certainly wouldn’t let this put me off buying the bike but I do think Triumph should increase the heat protection in this area.

Riding the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition

So that’s a lot of the techy stuff covered but what’s it like to ride?

Well, I came back from my first ride on the bike and was grinning. Right from the start, I liked this bike. I found the riding position very comfortable and other than my leg getting a little hot on the exhaust heat shields, I had a great ride.

The Scrambler weighs 230kg so it is heavier than what I am used to and because the seat is 840mm high, only the balls of my feet were on the ground. Manoeuvring the bike in and out of the garage is much more of an effort for me to do. Having both feet planted on the ground would make it far easier and I am sure if you were taller than my 5’6” you would be fine.

Do you think I could put in a request to Triumph to make a shorter person option – an XS (extra small) model perhaps? Interestingly, I did find that when wearing my Oxford Products Magdalen Boots, I felt comfier moving the bike around in these, I think because they are a slightly chunkier than usual motorcycle boots for me and I find they have a lot of grip, especially useful if it’s just the balls of your feet on the ground.

I know the Scrambler has been designed with off-road capability in mind, but I was loving the corners on this bike. Before I rode it, I wondered if the large front wheel would slow down the turning. I didn’t find this at all and I wonder if the larger diameter helps the stability once in the corner as I found the bike to be lovely and stable through the corner.

With the 1200cc engine, the Scrambler has got definite poke and you didn’t have to downshift to overtake, you just wound on the throttle and opened it up. Not only did it go like stink but it sounded awesome whilst doing it too – the mix of the parallel-twin engine and the exhausts were addictive and I just wanted to keep opening it up to listen to the noise!

As is more and more common now, a full keyless system is in place for this bike so I made sure that I kept the fob in my bike jacket pocket and kept it zipped up at all times so I wouldn’t forget it or leave it somewhere and ride off without it! That would definitely be an oops moment :-O

It also saves that really annoying time when you’ve got your gloves on and you jump on the bike only to find that your keys are still in your pocket and you have to get your gloves off again to unzip your pocket to try and find them!

There is, however, a little button on the key that you press and a key comes out so you can if you wish to use the key to start the bike, extremely handy if there was a problem with the fob. You also need to use the key to open the fuel cap.

Surprisingly I thought for the XC, considering the type of bike it is, there is cruise control. Of course, this is really handy if doing some motorway riding as it gives your right hand a little breather and is very easy to set and use. I would however say that this is not the best motorway cruiser as I did find that due to the riding position, the wind blast is worse than other naked bikes due to the very upright riding position.

The Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition Is A Strong Contender

With an OTR price of £13,095/ $15,778 USD / $20,288 CAD, you are getting a lot of bike for your money. It feels like a quality bike as I have come to expect from Triumph and I like the attention to the little details that have gone into the bike.

Other bikes I consider to be in the same category as the XC are:

Ducati Scrambler 1100 Sport PRO (MSRP $16,746 USD / $21,528 CAD) with 86 bhp; a wet weight of 206 kg and seat height of 810 mm (this would definitely suit me more in terms of height wise).
Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled (MSRP $12,890 USD / $16,545 CAD ) a lower engined bike at 803 cc with 73 bhp, a wet weight of 209 kg and a seat height of 860 mm with a low seat 840 mm available as an accessory (it would be the lower height of the two for me, but again I would be struggling as with the Triumph XC.

In conclusion, I have to say that I love the styling, the acceleration, the riding position of the XC and I especially love how smooth the bike was to ride which really surprised me as I was not expecting that from the type of bike that the Scrambler is.

I was definitely reluctant to give this bike back, but thank you Triumph UK for the loan of the Scrambler 1200 XC Gold Line Edition, it was a privilege to ride.

– BikerKaz