Triumphrat

Echoance · 04-05-2007

Hi, guys. A few quick questions before I head off to work. I test rode an '07 Speedie last weekend and I loved it...well, I loved it until I had to do anything slow. I found slow-speed maneuvers extremely difficult to do and, to be honest, they scared me because that front wheel becomes very noticeable. Does it get any easier with familiarity or is it always going to be cumbersome to move? Do they require any more thought to ride, once the initial learning process is over(over a normal bike)? Is it a practical 'jump-on-it-to-go-to-the-shops' bike?
Also, a question for UK SM owners...do cruisers work on this island of ***** weather, traffic-lights, bike-blind car drivers, etc or would a standard Bonnie be more practical?
Any help will be appreciated.
Ride safe.

neill

(Should I just shut up, buy one and ride it?)

promisekeeper · 04-05-2007

This is a very nimble cruiser. I have dirt bikes, sport bikes, and this cruiser. I sold my 2004 Concourse to buy it. You'll not just get used to it, but you can really ride these babies...dragging the pegs and all!

khatt · 04-05-2007

I had the same problem, but I was a new rider as well. The problem faded as my experience grew. Now there's no problem. Have no experience with other bikes to compare but from what I read these bikes are on the top of the list for maneuverability. So don't worry to much about it, you will enjoy your speedy ownership and wounder how you ever got along with out it!

Silverado57 · 04-05-2007

That's why the bike is not called a Slowmaster. :-D

Seriously, it'll get better with some practice. I love my Speedmaster and if the slow-speed manueverability is the only thing that troubles you, BUY ONE. It's a great bike.
Good luck!

ErwinM · 04-05-2007

It definetly gets eaiser the more you ride. There is a riding technique for very slow manuvers(spelling? :???: ).
Apply rear brake and throttle at the same time, this way the bike will take you where you want and you control the speed with the brake. At slow speeds inertia isnt enough to move your bike and you end up falling over. Give it a try. Its hard to get used to.

Erwin :hammer:

rwright · 04-05-2007

If you're talking about really slow manuevers like figure 8's try the counter balance move by shifting your position in the saddle just a bit to offset the bike's lean.

Echoance · 04-05-2007

Decision made...I'm getting the SM. I was gonna wait til Saturday to test-ride a Bonnie and then decide but I really want a Speedie. I realise it'll take a bit of getting used to, but, let's face it, so do most new things at first. I'm just gonna find a quiet car-park and practise going slow.

Thanks for your comment, guys. I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions in the near future and I do look forward to, perhaps, seeing some of you (UK-based) out in the real world.

neill

Echoance · 04-05-2007

Post-script

These are just a few other thoughts and observations I had/made when out on the test-ride:
~the forks are very dive-prone. (It probably didn't help that I never used my back brake to stabilise the bike as I always had my legs dangling in the air, ready to put 'em on the floor!)
~the front brakes work well but there's little feel in them and they seem a bit grabby.
~my foot kept getting caught under the gear-changer.
~the stretch between grip and clutch-lever is hyooge, despite me playing with the adjuster. Even ungloved, I struggled. (I'm 6' and play bass so it's not like I've got small/inflexible hands, either!)
~it was bloody comfy for the hour I was on it.
~black '07 are a lot nicer-lookin'!!! :P
~sounds horrible stock.

If you've any comments to share about any of the above, or you want to add to, clarify or debunk anything that I've written, please do. Again, your replies are all much appreciated. :-D

[ This message was edited by: Echoance on 2007-04-25 16:13 ]

khatt · 04-05-2007

1. The forks will dive on you if you brake to hard on the front brakes. But the standard safe way to brake is to use both brakes any way.
2. The breaks will grab if your not care full But remember you got two disks instead of one. Proper braking is a skill and with experience your braking skills will improve.
3. Never had trouble with the levers and I'm 5'9" and my hands are not large either.
4. The stock seat is fine for an hour or two. I don't ride longer than that at a time any way and if I do take day rides I'll take breaks in between. Some have gone to the Corbin seat to extend riding time.
5. mulberry or tornado red are my favorites in the speedy.
6. And YES the stock sound dose suck! I have the TORS(triumph off roads) they're much louder but not too loud. There are a number of after market ones you can buy, just depends on your preference.

Echoance · 04-07-2007

ORDERED MY SPEEDIE TODAY!!!!! YAY!!!

heehee

Erm, *ahem* yeah. Not that I'm excited at all.

It's due in the shop on Tuesday and I should be able to pick it up next weekend. I'm looking forward to a week without sleep.

Black with Triumph alarm=£6000...a pretty good deal, I'd say. I'll keep you posted, if you're interested. Just gotta work out what letters I want on my registration.

Mods: I'm looking into getting the insides of my headers coated with a hi-temp paint or similar, to avoid the pipes going blue or, worse, gold. Yuk. My long term plan is to remove all shiny bits and have the pipes as the only 'accent', hence, they need to be perfect. Any comments on this?

Remove A.I. (Someone, somewhere, suggested that you can just get away with blocking one pipe and doing that disables the A.I. I'd rather do it this way than remove it all and have potential trouble with the warranty, should the dealer be 'funny'. Again, any comments?)

De-baffle the stock exhaust. This is the only non-reversible mod I'm doing, initially.

Pull snork. Add performance air filter; thinking of K&N or DNA-anyone had experience of DNA? http://www.dnafilters.com/filterdeta...p?filterid=192

Cheers, neill