We love show bikes for their cutting edge design concepts, wild engineering and straight-line performance—but they’re not much use in the real world. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are customs that aim for maximum usability, by cleverly blending form and function.
Most builders stick to just one of those camps, but Fred ‘Krugger’ Bertrand plays at both ends of the field. The Belgian maestro has won multiple AMD World Championships, but he’s just as happy to build ‘practical’ bikes—especially when the brief and budget both call for restraint.
Krugger has just finished working his magic on this brand new Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE, as a corporate project for Triumph Benelux and the motorsport-focused watchmaker Rebellion Timepieces.
The idea was to make the off-roady Scrambler a little more road-focused, shed some weight, and leave it with a polished factory-like feel.
The Scrambler 1200 XE is one hella capable bike—both on the tarmac and off it. But it’s also tall, with a big front wheel to keep it surefooted in the dirt. So Krugger started by swapping the 21F/17R rims for a set of 19F/18R Excel hoops, laced to the stock hubs.
They’re wrapped in Dunlop DT3-R tires—the street legal flat track items that come standard on the Indian FTR 1200. Krugger then tweaked the stance further by lowering the stock (and adjustable) suspension at both ends.
The bodywork has been tightened up without losing the Triumph’s distinctive shapes. The tank is a modified and retrofitted Triumph Bobber unit, adorned with a flush mounted gas cap.
Krugger also trimmed the Scrambler’s subframe, and topped it with a new seat that’s actually a touch thicker than stock. Wild Hog in Italy handled the upholstery, even though they were operating under a nationwide stay-at-home order due to COVID-19. So Krugger asked them to include a small plaque with the Belgian and Italian flags, as a sign of solidarity.
Another standout piece is the new exhaust system. The original setup has both pipes exiting high on the right side, but Krugger built a new stainless steel arrangement, with twin pipes flanking the tail. And that meant crafting a few details around the exhaust to make everything fit well visually.
The original right hand side cover needed filling in where the twin headers once ran, and the left side cover needed a cutout to make room for the new pipe. Krugger also hand-shaped a pair of aluminum ‘number boards’ to wrap around the mufflers, and a series of skinny heat shields to offer some protection.
The Scrambler retains some of its stock trim bits—like its bash plate—but just about everything else has been replaced or modified.
The stock fender’s still in play up front, but it’s been mounted higher. And rather than retain the original plastic fork guards, Krugger formed a new set out of aluminum, integrating the new fender mounts in the process.
The rear fender is custom too, and just underneath it is a small custom tail light arrangement with two LEDs.
Moving to the cockpit, Krugger kept the stock LED headlight but modified the stock supports to shave off the turn signal mounts. Then he fabricated a small nacelle, to blend with the headlight and hide the stock display.
The switches and bars are original (the Scrambler has a lot of onboard features), as are the heated grips. But the Triumph’s sporting a set of Bobber riser clamps, along with LED bar-end turn signals from Kellermann.
Keen eyes will also spot a pretty unique set of Beringer controls on both ends of the bars. Krugger replaced the entire brake system with Beringer components, and even installed a thumb brake for the rear, which neatly shares space on the bars with the hydraulic clutch control.
When asked, he says he did it mostly to show off the Beringer parts and the fact that the mod was possible, with the added benefit that the area around the front sprocket is now cleaner. Other touches included removing superfluous bits like the heel frame protectors, and lightening up a number of other parts.
For the final livery, Krugger settled on black with a Rebellion logotype and gold detailing. But there’s more than just a paint job going on—parts like the swing arm were redone in black too, and there are custom decals on the rims.
With a vibe that’s a little more street tracker than scrambler, this Scrambler 1200 XE is everything it was supposed to be: clean, dynamic and better than factory. It also strikes us as a sort of blueprint for a Triumph response to the FTR 1200, if the British marque ever goes down that route.
And it’s irrefutable proof that Krugger always brings his A-game, no matter what the brief is.
Krugger Motorcycles | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Thierry Dricot.
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