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2016 Street Twin: first day impressions

143K views 457 replies 85 participants last post by  steve59 
#1 ·
I've been riding for 1.5 years, started at ripe age 48, this is my 7th bike. Previous was BMW G650GS. I have a habit of test riding lots of bikes, as long as dealers don't mind - I am being very upfront. I was really skeptical about Street Twin, but left $500 deposit so I could test ride it when it arrives first. I test rode it, 2012 Bonnie, 2016 Moto Guzzi V7II, and 2015 Ducati Scrambler in a close succession, to have a good basis for comparison. Street Twin won hands down, and now is at my garage. After a day of riding around town, those are my impressions.
First, the things I don't like:

1. Mirrors don't have enough reach to show what's behind me. Will look for bar-ends.

2. Not having tachometer is weird, but mostly psychologically - I shift by feeling anyway.

3. I wish the bike would remember that I want the digital display to show the clock, not the mileage. It forgets after every shutdown.

Things that I like:

1. Subjectively, it just feels amazingly "right". Nothing is off, nothing is distracting, but the bike doesn't disappear either. Perfect compromise between smooth and rough.

2. Torque is amazing. Nothing like Harley, though - it is not jolting you at start, but rather it's everywhere.

It won’t stall. It will pull you away immediately if you ask. It won’t betray you if you don’t ask.

You can ride the city end to end in the second gear. I just did :) The way it takes on Seattle hills is nothing short of amazing. Just challenging enough to feel like riding a fine stallion. Not a raging bull, not a docile donkey.

3. Fueling is very good. No snatchy throttle of the previous year Bonneville, or Scrambled Duc. Very smooth start, very quick buildup, no stalling, and no surprises.

4. Suspension is good. It's not world class, but it's very good for city riding. No complains yet.

5. Handling is very good. Very easy to drop into a turn, very stable in the turn. I stopped thinking about it after 15 minutes, and the rest of the day was just riding telepathically. Really, it feels like it reads my mind. The only other bike that felt the same was Ninja 250, a very different tween.

6. The quality is amazing. It just feels like an expensive machine. However, it also feels quite businesslike, not like a garage diva or a parade queen. Very British. Yeah, I know it's built in Taiwan. So what.

7. Gear switching is very satisfactory – not clunky, but reassuringly clicky. Slipper clutch works very well on downshifting, but I still blip the throttle most of the time, it feels gooooood :)

8. The sound. Oh, the sound. So throaty, so blurpy, but not loud at all. Very impressive engineering here. If I can find the way to ditch the cat converter but keep the stock silencer, I will.

9. Little nice things – for the rare cases when I forget which gear I am in or how much fuel I have left, it’s there. Mysteriously absent tachometer is mysterious.

10. Wheels feel… light? And very solid. I would not want to go back to spoke wheels.

11. Stock tires are very good.

12. Finally, the seat opens with a key! Welcome to the 21st century!

All in all, I am one happy rider.



 
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#2 ·
I have been riding the Street Twin for 4 days now. I agree with everything you say. It is a hoot to ride this bike. Absolutely responsive & up to whatever the rider asks. The positives overwhelmingly outweigh the lack of a tachometer & setting the clock every time you turn the power on. The only thing I would add is that the ONLY thing other than "OK" rear suspension would be the need to go after-market for front & rear turn signals. The cheap plastic stock ones need to go. But that is nit-picky compared to the fact that it is the BEST all-round bike I have ever ridden for my needs...city & country roads :smile2:
 
#3 ·
The only thing I would add is that the ONLY thing other than "OK" rear suspension would be the need to go after-market for front & rear turn signals. The cheap plastic stock ones need to go.
I've been thinking... is there any way to combine the front turn signals with auxiliary lights? The rear ones should be probably built into saddlebags...
 
#6 ·
But...but...it has less power! You're not allowed to like the bike because IT HAS LESS POWER!!! You need to remember that the only thing that matters in a motorcycle is the top HP number.

Please revise your review immediately to indicate that the decrease in HP over the previous Bonneville is totally unacceptable, and that you will be dropping the Street Twin off at the local junk yard as soon as possible.
 
#7 ·
Yes the dyno sheet says it's down on HP so that's all there is to it . All she wrote and any ride review from folks claiming to like these new street twins ,their power delivery etc is surely some kind of triumph voodoo black magic at work
After all there has been 3 or 4 on here for months trying to educate people on how to feel dissapointed about these new models
Folks can't be upsetting their turnip carts with ther positive reviews .
 
#11 ·
nice review guys. Wife will be placing her order for one soon. I already have my Thruxton R on order. can't wait for it to arrive. I saw a youtube video over the weekend reviewing the Street Twin. (i'll see if I can find it) They did mention a drop in hp but an increase in torque which they say still made the bike feel faster especially in local and canyon roads. very nice bike liberpolly.
 
#13 ·
Also guys, if you read/watched all the mag reviews you;d know that while PEAK HP is down, it actually has 22% MORE HP in the area up to something like 6K RPMs. That and being lighter and having 18% more torque down lower should make it considerably quicker than the old models, and so far thats what i hear. Of course the new 1200's should be killer. But at the sticker price, unless you;re a speed freak this should be a heck of a great bonnie for those who just want a great bike without sacrificing anything. I also heard from one review that unlike the old models the street twin's engine noise is virtually non existent. Major plus for me because i had a speedmaster and the noise was horrid.
So far i have read thoughts/reviews from 3 or 4 new owners or people who took one out for a demo and a number of mag reviews and to a man there has been nothing but raves. I need to demo one myself first chance i get.
 
#26 ·
So far i have read thoughts/reviews from 3 or 4 new owners or people who took one out for a demo and a number of mag reviews and to a man there has been nothing but raves. I need to demo one myself first chance i get.
Careful. There's no way back out of that, so make sure your finances are in order, or you'll suffer from TSTWS (Triumph Street Tween Withdrawal Syndrome).
 
#19 ·
Fantastic reviews, fellas. Good on you for not leaving out the negative, even though it's human nature to WANT to like everything about something you've just paid good money for. Critical thinking rules! Has the rear suspension improved over the previous Bonnie's? Or do you still get a jolt over every bump?
 
#24 ·
I was very critical of the bike, so it behooves me to post any gripes :)

Rear suspension seems better than 2012 Bonnie, and muuuuuch better than Ducati Scrambler. It seems on par with Guzzi V7II - but that one is lighter. There are some jolts on Seattle lunar landscape roads, but nothing I wouldn't expect from any bike, maybe short of BMS GS monsters. The worst it got was getting bouncy over one section of concrete paved street with uneven seams every few feet at certain speed, speeding up a little took it off the resonance I guess. My 50 years old spine is very pleased overall.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I said this over 4 years ago:

A lot of manufacturers seem to have forgotten that high torque over the widest possible range of revs is the greatest attribute that an engine can possess.

If you think the torque on the Street Twin is good (80Nm at 3200rpm), I can't wait to see what folk think of the T120 (105NM at 3100rpm).

I'm experiencing the same effect on my new MX-5 Miata ND. The Skyactiv engine is not that powerful on paper (158bhp for the Euro version), but the high torque output and wide power band makes it a huge pleasure to drive and it's deceptively fast. It's also 25% more economical than my previous NB model, how boring!
One road test review even goes as far as stating: This car is joyfully, frighteningly fast in the real world.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Congratulations to all the lucky new owners. Thanks for the objective real world information -- keep it coming.

I envy you guys -- nothing more exciting than a new bike, especially one as nice as the ST.
 
#32 ·
Am I in the wrong forum?

I'm so used to the 'big boys' slagging off the new liquid cooled models (since the end of October) that anything that comes across as mildy positive has me reaching for a defibrillator!

How refreshing. Thanks for posting.

Now you'd all better delete these posts before you're found out :wink2:
 
#44 ·
I've been riding for 1.5 years, started at ripe age 48, this is my 7th bike.
Cool. That's a different bike every 2.6 months. We'll just be getting rid of the last of the snow by then and its perfect timing for me to be the 2nd owner. Keep her safe for me in the meantime... ]
So none of you ever had more than one bike at a time? Or are you just bad at math?
 
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