After the last couple of rides with the Fat Bastards Tourers, it was obvious that if I wanted to ride with them more regularly I needed to upgrade my transport to something more than 250cc. My Honda Forza scooter has been the picture or reliability and practicality, taking me to and from work every day no matter what the weather. Over it’s 36,000 odd Km’s I have had only one part failure and that was the Stator in the charging circuit.
Over the last month or so I have been looking for a tourer or sport tourer motorcycle without and insanely large motor, something under 1000cc. So I tried the Honda DeVille, and found the ergonomics all wrong and I had sore wrists even after 30mins. The Suzuki VStrom was just a little tall but otherwise good. The Suzuki Bandit (1250cc) was a great bike ergonomically, however that motor was just WAY TOO much for me, also the luggage options were just to optional looking.
So after riding a 2nd hand Triumph Sprint ST 955i with 40,000km on the clock, I loved the ergonomics and that motor! The 995i has more than enough power and torque (88 kw and 100Nm) but it is really manageable, the power comes on steady and strong very predictable and controllable. So I spent some time looking for a good 2nd hand one with the hard luggage option. After looking around I found a good one about 300km away, a low k (6,400) 2004 model with the soft luggage at a price I couldn’t pass up. I am aware I will have to sort out the luggage as the soft panniers are not quite shaped right for my trip to work but with the money I have saved I can sort it out when I sell the scooter.
I picked up the Triumph yesterday and rode it home. For the hour and a half I was riding down the range in the rain and fog… wonderful introduction to the bike. The rest of the trip was fine, however the road was wet and the police were out in force on the long weekend. The bike is home now and needs a bath.
