Advice on owning and touring on a Speed Triple...

I'm another new S3 owner from the North West of England (got it friday). I traded in a TT600. I didn't realise just how much wind the TT fairing kept off!

first impressions(damp roads): Lovely power delivery; feels much lighter than it is; People stop and stare (not necessarily a good thing!); Great around town; very comfortable.

I'm sat here now waiting for the rain to stop ..............

Garry

I'm another new S3 owner from the North West of England (got it friday). I traded in a TT600. I didn't realise just how much wind the TT fairing kept off!

first impressions(damp roads): Lovely power delivery; feels much lighter than it is; People stop and stare (not necessarily a good thing!); Great around town; very comfortable.

I'm sat here now waiting for the rain to stop ..............

Garry

Gazzer, yeah, i'm also waiting for the rain to stop. I've just cleaned the bike and was going to go for a ride to the Motorcycle Centre in Stockport to see what they had in and what they'd give me for my GSX-R.

Form your comments I guess there's a lot more wind blast on the Sp Tr than on your TT600? Is the riding position a lot more upright than and less nose forward than your TT600?

Gazzer, yeah, i'm also waiting for the rain to stop. I've just cleaned the bike and was going to go for a ride to the Motorcycle Centre in Stockport to see what they had in and what they'd give me for my GSX-R.

Form your comments I guess there's a lot more wind blast on the Sp Tr than on your TT600? Is the riding position a lot more upright than and less nose forward than your TT600?

Yes there is much more windblast, but boy is it fun!

i don't know where you live but try Motorcycle Centre in Orrell, near Wigan. They have a pre-reg (04 plate) '03 model for £6000. Also Eddy's in Leeds (where I've just got mine from) have a pre-reg one and an '04 SE model with 2000 miles - I would have got it but couldn't afford it - the trade in on the TT was pathetic.

Yes there is much more windblast, but boy is it fun!

i don't know where you live but try Motorcycle Centre in Orrell, near Wigan. They have a pre-reg (04 plate) '03 model for £6000. Also Eddy's in Leeds (where I've just got mine from) have a pre-reg one and an '04 SE model with 2000 miles - I would have got it but couldn't afford it - the trade in on the TT was pathetic.

[tradedinmyharly]

Has anyone switched from a superbike to the Speed Triple and what were their impressions of the new bike?

i didn't go superbike to s3, but i did go clip-ons to handlebar. I had put clip-ons on my 02 S3 for a more superbike feel. I could only do about an hour on it before my wrists started hurting. I switched back to the handle bar. Pros and cons... Pro was that my wrists no longer hurt, con is that it puts more weight on your butt so that gets a little cranky after a couple hours. All in all, the handlebars are MUCH better for long rides thought (imo). look into a new seat...

[stHelen]

On 2004-08-27 16:18, ped wrote:

Can you go into detail on where the Speed Triple was lacking in reliability?

I have never had a bike that was less aggressive than my S3 that was reliable enough to take on long rides. sorry for the confusion. typing fast.

my battery leads did work loose after a 750 mile day, however.


As far as wrist pain and clipons? I've put clipons on almost every bike I own. I commuted on my titan500 and honda cb350 for 2 years with clipons. I received minor wrist pain from these, sometimes more when the titan500 gearbox/clutch would heat up and pain my clutch hand on pull.
to compare, the s3 has caused VERY little wrist pain EXCEPT when travelling at low speeds (below 45). Driving through heavy traffic, my wrists will often feel slightly fatigued. As soon as it opens back up, this pain usually subsides.

I would also say that the lack of fairing has caused me no discomfort so far while under 110 mph. I think this is partially due to the clipons.

When riding with the stock handlebars I felt as if I was 'clinging on' to the bike under any acceleration. I didn't even want to try to take the bike over 70mph before I put the clipons on. A large part of this is due to the way wind/air flows under your chest with the aggressive stance.