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2005 SM 30k review
I thought for sure I would be writing this about 6 months ago, but the gas crisis (manufactured, imo) has really limited the number of miles I have ridden this year. Most of my riding is daily commuting and with my wife working 2 miles north of my office and gas hitting 4.00 a gallon I just couldn’t justify taking two vehicles. Also, forget the weekend rides to nowhere in particular. Anyways, enough with my whining and on to my review.
I purchased the bike with 4 miles on the odometer in November of 2005. So The bike is 3 years and 4 months old.
Thoughts:
No mechanical issues have cropped up which is what I expect out of a bike with only 30k on the odometer. I will actually be impressed when the bike hits 50k mark with no failures.
Valve adjustments, surprisingly have been zilch. This might be because 90% of my riding is to and from work so my bike rarely sees speeds above 70mph? !? My last check I had my friend who is a Yamaha mechanic measure my valve clearances because I could not believe they were still in spec! Granted, they were right at the limit so I fully expect to be needing shims at 36k. Of course from his perspective many of his brand bikes go 50k+ without needing adjustments.
The bike needs a true over drive gear or a 6th gear for riding on the freeway. I placed a 19t sprocket and that destroyed low-end grunt so compromised on an 18t sprocket. I do not do a whole lot of touring so this really is a MINOR complaint. I did one 2000(?) mile tour on the bike last year with my longest day in the saddle being 865 miles. Overall I enjoyed the bike and got used to the high-revving engine cruising at 80mph but…
The bike handles really well and I truly believe this is the best middle-weight cruiser on the market. Looking at the recent economic downturn, it could be a long time before I have a new bike so I am grateful when the economic music stopped, I landed in the Triumph Speedmaster chair. Other middleweight cruisers might have more HP or torque but NONE of them garner the attention this one has. They (all the other middle-weight cruisers) scream “starter bike” when you see someone riding one while the speedie doesn’t.
The one thing I do miss the most is more low-end torque and HP.
I am saving a little each month so maybe when the economy shakes itself out and gets back on track I’ll have a nice little down payment for a new bike. I might even keep the SM because it will not be worth hardly anything with 40k on the odometer! Prior to the economy tanking the local Triumph dealer would only give me 2.5k for it as a trade-in because it had 25k on the odometer! "Got to pay to play" is what the salesman told me! Not even worth trading it in for that little bit of money. I’ll just strip everything off of it and make it a hooligan bike: wrapped pipes; solo seat; no windshield; repainted flat black…yeah I could enjoy that!
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I know it is not needed. Heck, even two-up I have never needed more power on the speedie even on the interstate (I weigh 158lbs and the wife 125lbs (hope she doesn't read this!)). 
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