Ducati found massive success with the launch of its Scrambler back in 2014, correctly gauging that new bike buyers might be interested in an uncomplicated motorcycle with a bit of retro style, a low seat and enough performance to keep things interesting without making any pretense of hardcore sports potential. We found it quite charming in our 2015 review.
One good bike deserves another, and Ducati now sells more than 10 different variants of the Scrambler, using the original 800cc L-twin engine, a smaller 400cc version, and several with a bigger 1100cc engine sourced from older Monster and Hypermotard models.
Today, the 1100cc range grows to include two new machines: the Scrambler 1100 Pro and the Scrambler 1100 Sport Pro. Now, there was a time once long ago when calling yourself a Pro required certain qualifications, depending on the field. In the case of these two bikes, the "professional" qualifications consist of a sticker package, a pair of twin stacked exhausts on the right side of the bike instead of the regular unprofessional scrambler's twin underseats, a shorter rear fender and a low license plate holder connected to the swingarm.
Perhaps not the most demanding standard of professionalism, but the twin high-rise shotgun pipes do steer the look back toward the retro side.
The 1100 Sport Pro can be viewed as a kind of S version; it gets Ohlins suspension, plus a narrower, lower set of handlebars with spunky looking bar-end mirrors. They do look great, although personally I find bar-ends tend to make it difficult to get past narrow gaps between mirrors when I'm lane-splitting. Something to take into account for those of you lucky enough to live in places where motorcycles are permitted to take their true place of superiority on the road, and to those cruelly oppressed, it won't make much of a difference as you sit in traffic.
That's about it. There's no changes to the 86-horsepower (63 kW), 65 lb-ft (88 Nm) motor, you still get Ducati's traction control system and Bosch's lean angle-sensitive Cornering ABS, and otherwise they're still the model of relaxed, uncomplicated motorcycling the original was.
Enjoy a short video below, in which "Dario" and "Rachel" go for a broadly uneventful ride around the city streets of Miami, and it ends up all just being a dream. So retro, so chic.
Source: Ducati
