My story... sticking to it!

[JasonS]

Hi all...


Jason from Maine USA...

New to bikes, not to speed or spirited driving!

Caught the bug last year... bought a Buell Blast few months ago as my trainer... but at 6'4" & 230 lbs, I'm just a tad too big for the Blast and the time quickly came to move on.

I wanted a faring... protection from the elements don;t yah know... and at 45, I'm not getting any younger and need that extra protection.... A full tourer is just too damn big... so I was lookgin at ST bikes and it soon became clear there is only one good choice for me,, and that is the Sprint ST.

Tonight, I pick up a 2003 Sapphire Blue Sprint St from Streetcycles, in Falmouth Maine... I'm picking it up for $9200 and the side mount hard bags will be included, and they will sell me the touring windshield for $100. Good deal overall... I almost bought an ebay ST (new) from Illinois, but this local deal is too good to turn down.

I was somewhat amazed that there are no bad reviews on this bike... surely some anal pen weilder would rip it a new one somewhere, but the ST has won over everyone who has ever touched it.. amazing.

anyone wanna buy a Buell Blast... less than 2k miles... $3k

I am looking forward to joining the RAT gang and watching the miles flip by... .I am an avid photographer and hope to use my ST to go where the great photos await.

Thank you folks for the collective wisdom and information on this site... my caged locomotion is a Saab 9000 Aero... and saabnet.com is the site I have supported for 8 years and is very much like this site in concept and operation.... the people who run this site should be applauded for providing this resource..

Plans for the bike...

I'm mechanically able, to a point... I'd rather ride than tinker.. I am not finding much in the way of techincal "how to's" for the ST, nor an online manual ( looks like it is the fact manual for the $40-$70 range)

Is the 500 Mile service something any of you have tackled yourselves?

Check out Hempandhawg.com for some amazing quality leather for a decent price... bought a Jacket form them and it is custom tailored, very heavy, with elbow and shoulder hard and soft pads... shipped for less than $260US..

Picked up a used Aerostich suit on ebay for a decent price...

So... Hi... well met... rubber down... yadda yadda..!

Jason

[preachp]

Hi JasonS,
My folks live in Embden, formerly Norht Anson. I live in CT. Ummm...errrr the color of your bike if it is an 03 is Caspian Blue. Saphire blue is a darker blue and doesn't have as much of the what color blue is that changing color thing to it. You will love the Sprint it is an awesome bike. The only thing the penwielding paper pushers keep saying about the Sprint is it is about to get its butt kicked by the "new" sport touring machines. If they mean the 600 lb super tourers, not gonna happen. Anyway it is irrelevent since Triumph is supposedly releasing a MAJOR change to the ST for 05. I really don't care because I really like the 03 I have and it will take a MAJOR improvement on an already near perfect bike for me to want to change.

Enjoy the ride, you are in for a pleasant surprize. Oh yeah follow the break-in schedule and use the key, not the kill switch to shut the engine down.

Preachp

[dolson]

Congratulations and welcome. As you have seen we have a pretty discerning group here. There are the ever present modification threads here to poke around through from tires to chain lube so look around.

Don

[Jerry]

JasonS, congratulations and welcome, you’re going to love your ST. Only one problem with your 03 ST. If it’s a 03 it’s not Sapphire Blue its Caspian Blue. If it truly is Sapphire Blue its an 01 or an 02.

03 Sprint ST colors here.

[MikeWS1]

Hi Jason -

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. You're going to love your Sprint. I bought a new '03 ST earlier this year. I've owned 2 or 3 dozen bikes over the years, but none have given me more pleasure than my Sprint; she's an absolute hoot to ride. Plus she's as reliable as an anvil. You gotta love these bikes.

One thing you'll want to do right away; check your headlight adjustment. Most ST's come from the factory with the headlight adjusted WAY too low. As delivered, I would outrun my bike's headlight at about 35 mph. Do a search and you'll find several threads with instructions on how to do the adjustment.

Mike.

[JasonS]

Doh...

Caspiam blue it is!

Thank you for the warm welcome.

The ride home was grand. 50 miles at various speeds, all hovering around the 3krpm range. Looking forward to the side bags coming in and going on, as well as the touring windshield... I'm setting up the 500 mile service for Saturday... geez... thats means lots of riding between now and then...

cheers!
:hammer:

[DaveC]

You did the right thing getting the ST.

I started riding a couple of years ago and was completely open minded about the type of bike for my first ride. I chose Triumph also beause people had only good things to say about them.

As for the 500 mile service, I changed the oil and filter myself' because I don't trust anyone else. (A little paranoid). But I took it in to complete the service anyway. It cost me $100, which I thought was worth it to avoid any hassles with the warranty. I bought the shop manual and have done every other service myself. And at 12,000 miles, I'll tackle the valve adjustment. Friends say it's no big deal.

I also take lots of pictures. I mounted a little DV video camera to the bars. The movies are great, but the little camera head doesn't have the greatest resolution, so I've taken to mounting the DV camera itself to my helmet. Picture quality is fantastic. I have a LANC button at my left hand to turn the camera on/off. Lots of fun making DVDs of my trips.

Anyway, welcome. Again, you did the right thing.

Dave

[jefftarlton]

You want to hear bad things about the sprint?
Triumph forgot the helmet lock.
Not enough dealers.
The factory shop manual is $75.
It could stand to lose some weight.
It could stand some better suspension.
The last two only matter to hard chargers. The rest are pretty minor. I don't have any plans to sell mine.

[preachp]

On 2004-08-17 21:51, jefftarlton wrote:
You want to hear bad things about the sprint?
Triumph forgot the helmet lock.
Not enough dealers.
The factory shop manual is $75.
It could stand to lose some weight.
It could stand some better suspension.

Hi All,
<H4> IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!</H4>
Jefftarlton dirve s Sprint RS ( Really Stoggy), Jason rides a Sprint ST ( Sweet Thang!). Please disregard all previous statements by RS rider. LOL
Just kidding Jeff, my Sprint will be around for a while also. Great bikes in either flavor!!!
:-D :-D :-D

Preachp

Congrats. You should have bought the green one. Its got 10 more bhp. sorry, better luck next time. :-D