Triumphrat

Lantis · 08-26-2007

Rode my Kawasaki to the Triumph Center in the south part of Stockholm yesteday morning. There they have one of three Street Triples that have been alocated to Sweden. I found it was very similar to my Kawasaki ER-6N, which is not vey suprising considering that it is one of the tragets for the Street Triple ("mid range street fighter").

Very comfortable riding position, quite good visibility in the mirrors. The fuel injection was smooth also when creeping along (unlike the Speed Triple). The torque and power was linear, no suprising kicks. Did'nt corner quite as easily as the ER-6N which I suppose is due to the wider back wheel (180 vs 160).

The engine sounded suprisingly good with the stock cans (unlike the stock Bonneville cans ...).

They say that Triumph has saved costs by using simpler breaks than on the Daytona 675, but I thought the breaks were great (better than om my Kawasaki). Its a shame that ABS is'nt available (even Harley has in now...).

On the whole the Street Triple gives an all over better feeling of quality and performance than my Kawaski. BUT the price difference is 17000 SEK (apprx $2500, or £1200) in the Kawasakis favour.

The insurance cost for me (over 35 yrs, living in the city) is 5500 SEK (apprx $800 or £390) a year for full insurance, which is slightly more than the Kawasaki.

The price here in Sweden is 79 900 SEK (apprx $11 580 or £5700). It may seem a lot for the americans, but the dollar is historicaly low at the moment, if it had been 6 years ago the price would be apprx. $7300 . . .

Picture no 2 is me on my Er-6n as comparison.

Jon.sb · 08-26-2007

Hey nice to have a Swedish poster to chat with. I work for a company that has an office in Stockholm (on the street Kungstengatan).

I was surprised that you say that the ER6 was close to the Speed Triple. That's one bike I would have expected to be outperformed by the Triumph.

Would like to hear more impressions from you.

rorider · 08-26-2007

I doubt that you can compare the Street Triple to the Kawi. I mean you can, but it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're barely even in the same class.

Lantis · 08-26-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon.sb

Hey nice to have a Swedish poster to chat with. I work for a company that has an office in Stockholm (on the street Kungstengatan).

I was surprised that you say that the ER6 was close to the Speed Triple. That's one bike I would have expected to be outperformed by the Triumph.

Would like to hear more impressions from you.

It's true that the Street Triple outperforms the ER-6N in every respect except riding position (draw), price and ABS availability (Kawi wins). But the difference was smaller than I expected by looking at the specs. I doubt I could go much faster around a track on the Street Triple, but I'm sure a more experinced rider would.

What is the company you work for? My parents live a street that crosses Kungstensgatan. It's a small world...

Lantis · 08-26-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by rorider

I doubt that you can compare the Street Triple to the Kawi. I mean you can, but it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're barely even in the same class.

Yes and no, true the Street Triple is faster, stronger etc, but they are supposed to compeat in the same customer segment (Suzuki GSX600, Ducati 695, Yamaha MT03, Aprilia Shiver, Hornet, Bandit 600 etc).

Jon.sb · 08-26-2007

My company is Elekta. It is in the offices at number 18. It is very close to the hotel Birgerjarlsgatan. There is also another office in Linkoping!

Thre are a few bikers in our Swedish offices but I think the weather is a real problem for bikers over there.

But when people do buy a bike in Sweden it nearly always seem to be a Supermot of a Harley (cruiser) style of bike so I would have thought that the Triumph cruisers should be popular there.

PS: Have you seen "the Ghostrider"! ;-)
http://www.ghostridermovie.net/

Lantis · 08-26-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon.sb

PS: Have you seen "the Ghostrider"! ;-)
http://www.ghostridermovie.net/

This guy's pretty crazy too . . .

Jon.sb · 08-26-2007

Cool.

Anyway, back to the question of how you compare the performance ER6 with the Triumph.

You said that the Triumph wasn't as comfortable but I never had any negative thought though I'm coming from the SV650 which has a more sportbike styling and a higher seat (I think)!

I didn't think the Triumph was expensive although I agree that I could have have the Z750 for £200-£300 less (without the ABS which I don't think I would want anyway).

Were there any other differences that you noticed. I found the clocks a bit low because you sit more upright than I'm used to but that won't take long to get used to. I thought they were very clear and well laid out.

The triple was far more revvy and sounded much better than the SV which was something I wanted. I've only seen a few on-line video's of the Z750 but it seemed very quiet and didn't turn me on (maybe it's better up close?)!

Lantis · 08-26-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon.sb

Cool.

Anyway, back to the question of how you compare the performance ER6 with the Triumph.

You said that the Triumph wasn't as comfortable but I never had any negative thought though I'm coming from the SV650 which has a more sportbike styling and a higher seat (I think)!

I didn't think the Triumph was expensive although I agree that I could have have the Z750 for £200-£300 less (without the ABS which I don't think I would want anyway).

Were there any other differences that you noticed. I found the clocks a bit low because you sit more upright than I'm used to but that won't take long to get used to. I thought they were very clear and well laid out.

The triple was far more revvy and sounded much better than the SV which was something I wanted. I've only seen a few on-line video's of the Z750 but it seemed very quiet and didn't turn me on (maybe it's better up close?)!

Well I said that they were equally comfortable (more than the Speed Triple or Ducati Monster for example).

No the pricing is good, but not as low as the Er6. Why not ABS btw? I have a friend who would most probably not be walking with a limp today if he had had ABS. I know racers and people who like to do stopies dont want ABS, but for me being an averge rider, yes I would pay 5000 SEK ($720) extra for it. I would also never buy a car without it these days.

About the clocks, I found I had to look down more to see the speed than I do on the ER6.

I'm very curious about the Z750 and the Z1000 for that matter and I would really like to test them, but generally I prefer twins (or triples) to 4-cylinder-sound-like-angry-wasps-rev-to-19000-rpm-before-anything-happens-bikes.