Before, during, and after, only one thing matters: how does it make you feel" Tech specs can never do a motorcycle justice. The ride is the product.
How I felt about the 2017 Yamaha SCR950 before was erased during. And how I felt after can be wrapped up in a word: hooked. This is the story of a changed mind.

Before, I felt the obvious: the SCR950 doesn?t look like the scrambler of my dreams. That one has high pipes. It?s less visually dense all the way around. And its parts would be all tucked into a minimalist display that makes you want to go find a mountainside.
So the first thing I?d want to do as an SCR950 owner is lighten it up, in both weight and looks?remove the air box, then swap out the 2-into?1 pipe, indicators, and anything else I could come up with.
And, of course, the showroom version comes with what I like to call ‘giant bubble parts’?a de facto truth for stock bikes. In this case, that means plus-sized pipes and big ol? turn signals and mirrors.
I also felt like the bike?s weight was a question mark. Could something that hits 547 pounds (248 kg) and packs a 942cc V-twin take a road like the little ruffians half that size" (For comparison, Triumph?s stock version sits in the neighborhood of 450 pounds). And could a bike that looks more like a Sportster than a trail-junkie scratch that scrambler itch"

The during changed everything. Once I met the SCR950 and spent 110 miles or so with it on the super-twisty pathways of Juli...