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

Just got back from a trip to the Czech Republic on a GSX-R1000 K4 and my hands and wrists are still numb!! I only bought the bike a few weeks before I went and at the time was wavering between getting that and a Speed Triple. I've always had sports bikes and decided to not break the habit of a lifetime and stick with what i knew - i wished I’d changed my mind but you live and learn. Anyway, I’m looking for some advice on touring and owning a Speed Triple as I’m selling the Suzuki next week and getting the Triumph as soon as the money is in my hands:

- Has anyone been touring on a Speed Triple and what were their impressions of the bike on the trip?
- Does the Fly screen give the rider much wind protection and what’s a 'comfortable' cruising speed with it? (I’m used to a fully faired bike)
- Is the seat comfortable on long journeys?
- What’s the tank range of the bike at cruising speeds?
- Does anyone manufacture hard luggage for the speed triple?

Apologies for the all the questions but any info at all would be much appreciated, cheers.

[stHelen]

Hey BM,
Just got back from a 4225 Mile trip on the S3. I have very aggressive woodcraft clipons on the bike.
Trip was two weeks and I took a GIVI tank bag (23L), and a cargo bungee to strap things to the seat. My raingear I stowed under the rear seat.
The first trip (1500 miles) I had issue with the backs of my knees aching. I was riding 100 to 150 miles on slab before stopping for gas. This problem did not arise on this trip, and I finally made the switch to earplug riding.
The S3 was great for me, but I have never had anything less agressive, and reliable.
I don't have a flyscreen. my speed was an avg of 85-95 mph. wind was an issue when i was hitting 125 or 132 mph, but this was only momentary.
Seat was fine by me, but many others have complained on the forum, moving to gel or corbins.
I usually need to gas up around 150 miles. I don't usually run the reserve for very long. When I was keeping it closer to 60 I was getting much better mileage, but my riding partner only had a range of 100+ so I never got to test my range at lower speeds. I'd assume something more like 180 miles?

If I was to do it over, I would probably pick up a set of the Triumph soft luggage throwover saddlebags.

[TRISPEED]

I find the stock seat a pain. Sargent Seats is coming out with a seat for the 2002-2004 Speed and Daytona that I would like to get. The fly screen looks cool but not much wind protection. If I don't go much over 75 I'm OK. Tour Master makes some nice sport bags for a good price. Check out there site.www.tourmaster.com

[ped]

The S3 was great for me, but I have never had anything less agressive, and reliable.

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

[CaptainFlake]

That confused me a little too. Clarification? :???:

[rags]

On 2004-08-27 07:36, ButtonMonkey wrote:
- Has anyone been touring on a Speed Triple and what were their impressions of the bike on the trip?

I usually do about 500-1k miles every weekend. does that count ? The S3 s a lot more comfortable than the F4i I had before...

- Does the Fly screen give the rider much wind protection and what’s a 'comfortable' cruising speed with it? (I’m used to a fully faired bike)

It depends on how you sit on the bike, but in general, wind blast will become an issue after 75mph in the absence of the flyscreen. The flyscreen helped me tour at 80-85mph when sitting leaned forward slightly, but beyond that, the wind blast was excessive.

I now have a Laminar speed shield - it works excellently. Last weekend, I was able to easily cruise around XXXmph in the backroads (no, no - edit: closed course). Average speed was over 80mph for a 6 hour trip.

- Is the seat comfortable on long journeys?

No. I found it to be sloping a bit towards the tank and not so good after 300 miles...I now have a custom corbin seat.

- What’s the tank range of the bike at cruising speeds?

It depends on what gas you are using. If you are using what we here in CA get - a pathetic substitution for real gasoline - then the average cruising mileage is about 42-45mpg. Using Nevada gas, I got about 52mpg cruising around 75mph on my recent 4 day trip.

- Does anyone manufacture hard luggage for the speed triple?

Don't know and I am very interested in knowing about that too. In the mean time, I am considering two options:
1. Get a Givi E460 and mount it in the passenger seat. This would take the position where the passenger would be, and hence won't be too high (as with a regular givi tail rack) nor would it act like a sail.
2. Get a Chase Harper B-bag. Expensive, but works very well from what I hear...

hth!

Apologies for the all the questions but any info at all would be much appreciated, cheers.
[/quote]

[shards]

I bought my 02 S3 in Tampa, FL and rode it across to LA the long way. Straight to Santa Fe and then 2 weeks in NM,AZ,UT finally shipping it back to NZ. Riding across from GA to NM we seemed to sit mostly at about 75mph with the occasional "blast" upwards. I agree with sthelen that anything up to 85-90mph is fine especially in still conditions. The 4 of us (being Kiwis) all used the Ventura luggage system. It is simple, effective and (for us) cheap. The only downside is looking the "L" brackets when not in use but we find that they are a handy "grab rail" for moving the bike around. I seemed to get about 160-180 miles before the low-light came on. In summary, the S3 is (for me) the bike I would choose to do it all again. In fact, next year, we probably will!!!!

[shards]

I bought my 02 S3 in Tampa, FL and rode it across to LA the long way. Straight to Santa Fe and then 2 weeks in NM,AZ,UT finally shipping it back to NZ. Riding across from GA to NM we seemed to sit mostly at about 75mph with the occasional "blast" upwards. I agree with sthelen that anything up to 85-90mph is fine especially in still conditions. The 4 of us (being Kiwis) all used the Ventura luggage system. It is simple, effective and (for us) cheap. The only downside is looking the "L" brackets when not in use but we find that they are a handy "grab rail" for moving the bike around. I seemed to get about 160-180 miles before the low-light came on. In summary, the S3 is (for me) the bike I would choose to do it all again. In fact, next year, we probably will!!!!

Cheers for the info fellas, much appreciated. Could I also ask whether you get any wirst ache on the Speed Triple compared to riding a superbike for any length of time? Has anyone switched from a superbike to the Speed Triple and what were their impressions of the new bike? did they regret it or was it the best biking decision they ever made??

Cheers for the info fellas, much appreciated. Could I also ask whether you get any wirst ache on the Speed Triple compared to riding a superbike for any length of time? Has anyone switched from a superbike to the Speed Triple and what were their impressions of the new bike? did they regret it or was it the best biking decision they ever made??