Triumphrat

UrbanSamurai · 09-11-2005, 08:03 PM

Just read the Oct issue of Motor cyclist mag. It compares the Sprint against the BMW R1200RT and the Honda Gold Wing. It complained about the obvious, mirrors, heat, seat. I think it over played a lot of those though, according to the writer he couldn't even see what was in the mirrors when the engine wasn't running-whatever. However, he did say that these were all petty things and all in all the sprint was superior to the others, it could easily lose the others in the twisties.
The performance numbers were interesting though: Dyno showed Horsepower 121.3 @9250 rpm. torque 73.6@ 8000. Quarter Mile 10.88 @127.43
0-60.........3.28sec
0-100........7.29sec
Top gear roll on.....3.45sec
I'm pretty impressed with these numbers. A lot of sport for a sport touring bike. :-D

Paul-K · 09-11-2005, 11:07 PM

What a Moronic comparison! A Goldwing! Give me a break. Even the BMW is in a different league. Kinda makes you wonder about the brain power that went in to that article doesn't it?

monochrome_boy · 09-12-2005, 06:23 AM

I read one where they compared the Sprint to the RT a Pan and FJR! The Sprint won! All a lot of silly 'fill the pages' nonsense of course. They did have Jane Omorogbe testing with them, which is more than enough reason to test anything against anything. I would test scooters to ride with her :wink:

ST · 09-12-2005, 06:30 AM

All the performance figures dont really mean much in the real world....... but its nice to know the ST is that quick.

As for handling i have been causing mayhem with my mate on his vfr in the twisties, he just cant keep up the same pace and says his vfr is no where near as 'flickable' throught the twisties..

triumphite · 09-12-2005, 04:16 PM

I read the artical. It wasn't really a shoot out, more of a bike trip artical with three 'levels' of touring.

Sprint ST: sport with a little touring
BMW: touring with a little sport
Honda: touring with....well whatever

I think they just wanted to show what was out there for their respective classes.

At least, that's what I came away with.

[ This message was edited by: triumphite on 2005-09-12 14:16 ]

GeorgeT · 09-12-2005, 04:38 PM

I just read the article and thought it was pretty well done. Then on the same day, I received Motorcycle Consumer News ( http://www.mcnews.com ) and it did a comparison of the Sprint ST versus the Ducati ST3, Honda VFR800 and BMW R1200ST. In my opinion, this is a better comparison group. I've ridden all of them and decided on the Sprint ST for my purchase and I've been very satisfied.

Unfortunately, MCN must have gotten a bike that wasn't prepped right. They complained about the handling, harsh suspension and fuel injection problems. They picked the Sprint ST last among the four. I was very surprised as I don't have any of those problems with my Sprint.

Big_Guns · 09-12-2005, 05:51 PM

I also just read the MCN and Motorcyclist reviews today. I tend to put a lot of faith in MCN as they don't have big advertising accounts to worry about keeping if they "offend" a particular client. I did think it was a rather harsh review though. One of the reveiwers (Mark Barnes) summed his log up by saying "I'd rather not ride at all than have to ride the Sprint we tested. It was really that bad."

monochrome_boy · 09-13-2005, 04:22 AM

A retired dealer told me that MCN in the UK were at one time so negative about Triumph bikes Triumph stopped letting them have them to test. That is how bad the relationship had become, it seems to have changed now. In fact I rarely read a bad review about a Triumph. Maybe they got a dud demo bike, maybe they had preconceived ideas, who knows. The poor BMW ST is actually a decent bike, does not handle as well as the Sprint, but it has lots of good points, however the fact it is so dog ugly really biases the reports I have read, which makes you wonder just how objective testers are in general. It is interesting that many riders in this forum feel it not worth while trading their 02-04 bikes for a 05/06 yet I remember one reviewer (a knee down poser in his one piece leathers) rubbishing the 04 ST against the VFR, remembering that many sports bike orientated reviewers thought the old Sprint was plain and dull looking. Triumph seemed to have woken up to the ‘first impressions based on looks’ factor and copied the ‘sharp cut’ design of the japs (in particular the VFR). I only test rode a 04 but I thought it an excellent bike. Reviewers are entitled to their opinions and there are good ones who know a lot about bikes but too many seem under the spell of Japanese designers and the closer a bike looks and feels to a jap super sport the better they like it!

stevecro · 09-13-2005, 06:11 AM

them's good numbers....up there with the FJR1300

Gavs · 09-15-2005, 02:33 AM

Wow, what a nasty review! I have owned VFRS as well and the Sprint out handles them in twistys. Hands down.
Agree, they must have gotten a dud. Mind you, I have upgraded my suspension front and back now, but in stock form, I still think it was pretty good.
Australian Motorcycle News, which is the bible for Sports/Tourers etc in OZ, reckons they are great. So do I.