6'2" Gorilla on a Striple

[hAnKbOt]

Well I finally got a chance to sit on a street and speed triple and see how they fit my ape like stature.(32inch inseam, 36"-37" sleeve) There were a few suprises about the ergos that I would not have predicted. I currently ride a naked '87 CBR600 Hurricane and feel pretty comfortable on it for anything up to about a 350 mile trip. When I stand up with the bike under me there is a good 3-4 inches of clearance beneath my butt and the seat, and because my arms are long it can be a fairly upright ride if I'm taking it easy and just commuting.

What suprised me about the Street and the Speed was the fact that the seats are VASTLY higher than my hurricane. Don't get me wrong, I can still flat foot it pretty comfortably, but there is little to no space between my cheeks and the seat. Being so much higher up was a strange feeling, not bad, just very very different. The other suprising thing was how much further forward the rearsets were. From all the pictures the peg placement seems just a little further foreward than my hurricane, but the reality is that when sitting on my 'cane my feet end up pretty much directly under my hips when I'm sitting on the seat, where as on the Street and Speed they are just slightly back of my knees(6"-7" further foreward). Now I know that this should be a more comfortable riding position, but again it just feels a bit akward.

Now, in no way do these quirks make me rethink my decision to make my next bike a Street next summer. Both bikes were better looking in person than in pictures, a hard feat since they are fuel injected sex to look at. It does have me thinking that I might need to look at some adjustable rearsets to move my feet just slightly up and about 3 -4 inches back to suit what has become my natural riding position.

Has anyone else gone from a riding position like what I'm describing to the Street, and if so, was it hard to get used to, did you change the Street to make it how you wanted it, or was it something that by the time you had ridden the bike for a few days it just started to feel natural?

FWIW the Street felt more comfortable as is than the Speed. A fact that I'm very happy about since the Street would be my preference over the Speed Triple. I just don't need the kind of temptation that 131hp offers, plus I'd like my new bike to be lighter than my pig jap bike.

Oh, and Arrow 3-1 is like taking the best meal you've ever eaten, and then eating it off a naked supermodel.
"She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine."

[doggy675]

I had a gsxr 600k1 and then a 600K5 before my street and have had no problems with the riding position, it gets windy at about 100mph but that's one of the reasons I got it, to keep top speed down, although it does incourage faster speeds around town etc which is not such a good thing.

[Diego]

I think you'll get used to the difference in riding position pretty fast. I've had as many as four bikes at a time, all with very different foot placement, and switching from one to another soon becomes second nature. You could have feet farther back on the Speed Triple if you wanted, without much consequence for comfort, but I just don't think it would work as well on the Street.

In general, Triumphs do have higher seats than other models in a given class. I don't know why. Maybe they discriminate in favor of taller riders for the sake of eugenics or something. It does have some visibility advantages, though.

[bigskynyc]

Originally Posted by Diego

Maybe they discriminate in favor of taller riders for the sake of eugenics or something.

Do I hear a Randy Newman song playing in the background?

__

Don

[Diego]

Originally Posted by bigskynyc

Do I hear a Randy Newman song playing in the background?

__

Don

.
Please understand, I personally don't condone discrimination against short people. In fact, I try very hard not to look down upon them.

Of course, that means I do tend to trip over them sometimes....

[hAnKbOt]

Oddly enough there is another reason the foot forward position concerns me, the cold. Right now I'm riding my bike every day that there isn't snow or ice on the main roads, and the feet back position does a nice job of preventing wind from blowing up my pant legs.

Anyone else riding their Striple in the 10 degrees f (-12C) temp range care to comment on wind up the pants?

[RichinTampa]

Going from BMW's to the Street Triple is easy. The BMW's are taller. But I'm also 6'2", so I like the seat height.

[Luxamor]

Cold wind up the pants might help me forget that mental image of eating an excellent meal off of a naked supermodel.