Dagger Cycles Scrambler
By Gareth Charlton - 29 May 14
When pictures of the latest build from Italian outfit Dagger Cycles landed in The Bike Shed inbox they were accompanied by these words.
"Customising a bike is more or less like listening to punk music. You can have it hardcore and screaming loud or easy listening and simple. It’s always punk, it’s always a middle finger against the pop music but the chords, the voice, the riffs are completely different."
It's not the first time we have heard the new custom scene likened to the emergence of Punk Rock. Breaking rules, challenging the establishment and making it the hell up as you go based purely on what you like or respect. It makes sense to us.
Since their anarchic, smoking “Little Misfit” - "a sort of postatomic insect born on the ashes of a Yamaha TT350" the boys have scaled down the hardcore. So here we have Roberto and Paolino's interpretation of easy listening Punk, following in the tracks of their lightly customised Thruxton, they present its sister bike - in scrambler guise.
Herbert, the owner of the bike, took it to Dagger Cycles looking for an added dose of nasty but preferably without cutting the frame in two. Dagger refer to the process as "soft customising", the major parts of the bike are still in the positions in which they left the Hinckley production line, but with a tinker here, a new part there and a splash of design Dagger have changed the attitude of the bike.
Top of the to do list was reducing the visual length of the bike, by modifying the rear fender and plate support then shortening the seat they achieved their goal without chopping the frame or sacrificing pillion provision. Bates style lights tuck in front and rear to further trim the bikes bulk.
A handmade dash accommodates the aftermarket odometer above black powder coated Ergal MX bars. The well stocked Triumph after market catalogue was raided for the skid plate, oil brake reservoir and Gazi shocks. An LSL ignition repositioning kit was also fitted along with Continental off-road tyres and side panels that were "grilled and drilled" by Roberto.
When it came to the Arrow exhaust we can only visualise the process occurring to a hardcore soundtrack, to achieve the burnished affect they cooked the exhaust on a spit. Literally. Excellent.
See the rest of the Dagger line up on their Bikeshed Page and determine the severity of the tracks that were drifting through the workshop at the time...