BAAK | 1200 Aventures | The Versatile Hybrid Rider Expansion

“A BAAK bike is not meant to stay in an office or a living room. We design each bike like and extension of its owner. Every bike coming out of our shops in Lyon and Los Angeles is unique, exclusive, sometime polarizing but never without thinking about its functionality” – Remi, founder and creative director

Form follows function

Usually forgotten by most of the motorcycle builders who favor the minimalism of the true cafe racer style, the rider’s ergonomics and well being was at the heart of the reflection for this project. When the main direction of the build brief is a radical design approach, the end result will have to sacrifice some of the functionality or comfort for the beauty of the object.

And yet, placing the actual use of the product is one of the basic pillars of any design endeavor. Without consideration for its potential of interaction, an object, as beautiful as it is, cannot truly be considered fully achieved. And when talking about motorcycles, some ergonomic considerations are deeply linked to the potential usages of said bike as well as the true riding experience.

BAAK workshop has long understood this and placed the ergonomics at the center of their projects for the past years. Alongside the development of the Experiences with motorcycle trip offered by BAAK Adventure, the team was dedicated to improve the ergonomic potential of some build series by emphasizing on some characteristics like protection, range and cargo carrying capabilities. The first results could be seen on projects like the Himalayan 400 or the 650 Interceptor Trail and are now a clear direction in which BAAK is going. This 1200 Adventures required more than 18 months of work from the first sketches to the extensive test session of the various versions on and off road.

“Beyond the functionality, our clients do not want a bike they will see at every corner. They want exclusivity, a personalized bike even it means being disruptive to fully assert themselves” – Frederic, Associate General Manager

A 1200 Scrambler heavily revised

Since its launch in 2019, the Triumph 1200 Scrambler has been one of the main characters in a segment created by the Neo Retro vibe: the large displacement Scrambler. With a storytelling largely anchored on Steve McQueen’s exploits and the iconic jump from The Great Escape classic movie, the engineers of the Hinckley based brand have succeeded in developing a bike exceptionally effective thanks to their fantastic engine and a very capable suspension set up.

But, as impressive as it can be, this bike is nowhere near the potential of the modern Adventure bikes as the core philosophy of this segment is miles away from what the Scrambler was made for. And that’s exactly where our team saw the opportunity to take the 1200 Scrambler where it was not meant to go and develop its potential as a hybrid bike between the Scrambler and the Adventure bikes and create something Triumph does not have in its catalog.

The idea here was not to make it a true Adventure bike but at least to tick some of the basic boxes that define that segment. With this in mind, the R&D team worked to solve some of the flaws of the Scrambler: lack of wind protection, average range, lack of high end luggage. Part of the brief was (as it is most of the time the case with BAAK) the use of high end materials such as Aluminum and simple design. Therefore a very clean and linear design was chosen.

The BAAK spirit, with a great potential

One of the main considerations when starting this project was to add wind protection and reinforce the personality of the front of the bike. This aluminum fairing (and the side covers as extensions) required the creation of a stainless steel bracket system. As an additional challenge these brackets should be fitted on the bike without permanent modification or welding of any sorts, so it uses mounting points already present on the bike. This ensemble required multiple iterations sanctioned by real life and intensive testing sessions to ensure the quality of the final product. As an homage to the iconic adventure bikes of the 80’s and 90’s, this BAAK 1200 Adventures features a pair of round headlights (of course with the latest LED technology to maximize the light output) and a generous polycarbonate Margard® windshield.

With a modest 120 miles range from the factory, the range of this scrambler has been extended to just over 180 miles thanks to a new brushed aluminum gas tank. Once again the install of this 6.6 gallon tank does not require any modification as it simply fits on the factory mounting points.

Even though, one of the most identifiable design element of the Scrambler 1200, the high exhaust line on the right side of the bike was replaced by a low exhaust line running on each side of the bike. This choice was motivated by the need for integration of the fairing, as well as the potential to slightly lower the mass and center of gravity. It also allowed the installation of 18L aluminum cases (the system will later be completed by a matching top box) in a more compact way without worrying about leaving room for a high exhaust.

The choice of Aluminum as main material for this line of parts (fairing, side covers and luggage) and the decatted exhaust line allow for a marginal weight change despite adding 2.6 gallons to the fuel capacity, while keeping the exceptional capacities of the Scrambler. The version presented here also features a suede seat (in a high version), LED turn signals. The BAAK 1200 Adventures is already available as a complete project or the parts can be found as kits on BAAK website.

Discover the 1200 Adventures model and all its technical characteristics

1200 AVENTURES MODEL