What is a scrambler motorcycle?

The scrambler traces back to riders entering road bikes in off-road time trials, long before motocross became its own sport with its own dedicated machines. The oldest of those events is still running: the International Six Days Trial, first run at Carlisle in 1913 and renamed the International Six Days Enduro in 1981. Bikes were not built for that. They were adapted for it, and the adaptations are the style. To survive rutted tracks, the exhaust was rerouted up and out of the way of mud and rocks, the bars were widened for control while standing on the pegs, and the tyres were swapped for a knobblier tread that still copes with a normal road. The riding position sits more upright than a cafe racer's crouch, which suits those stand-up moments rough ground demands. Modern scramblers mostly keep the shape for the look of it, since few owners ever leave the tarmac, but the format still handles a gravel track or a farm lane better than most road bikes. None of that is written down anywhere official, mind: like every style name on this site, scrambler is a word the sport agreed on rather than a specification, which the types of motorcycle page goes into.

See our scrambler art page for the ink and blueprint studies, or send a photo of yours through the same process. Fans of the look often like the cafe racer too, its tarmac-only sibling.

Buying for a scrambler rider? Motorbike gift ideas is the place to start.

Written by Craig Fearn, Throttlefolio. Last updated 9 September 2026.