I've had the S4 for half a dozen tankfuls now, have started getting over the whole "w00t! my first 600!" thing and feel like putting some words down. In this time I've commuted lots, blatted a fair bit, and neither toured, track-day'ed nor raced. I will be though. Despite my best efforts, comments will need to be tempered in the light of the whole first 600 thing too.
So, the bike. Better in the flesh than in photographs. Wider than currently fashionable it's very much of the previous generation of inline fours - the tank is getting towards being spherical. The frame is three (I think) aluminium castings welded, beautifully, near the triple clamp and with a thick powder coated finish. Likewise much of the front end is cast and falls a bit short of the artistry found on something like a Tuono, but is certainly solid. Chrome is kept, thankfully, to a bare minimum. Gaps between (say) tank and frame, or tank and seat are a bit bigger than I might have hoped for but since almost all bikes seem to have this it's no doubt for a good reason. Other than this the build quality is just spectacular. Beautiful. Excellent machine porn for those of us that are into such things.
Suspension appears to be by Kayaba and is adjustable for preload, compression and rebound both front and rear. The tyres sit on standard three 'prong' cast rims and are a ... something up front and 180 section on the rear. The 180 is maybe a bit fatter than it really needs, but looks cool. The stock exhaust is huge, heavy and stainless but sounds the biz.
Sitting on the bike it was instantly much more comfortable than I was expecting. The seat is at the curvier/squishier end of the scale. Foot pegs fell to hand (well, to foot) naturally which is good since they don't appear to be adjustable. The brake pedal seems a bit narrower than I would have thought sensible. The width of the bike is absolutely not a problem - you don't notice it at all. On my bike the bars (clip on) have been extended by a few inches and to my considerable surprise the bike can be ridden with little or no weight on the wrists. It may be of sportsbike heritage but while it's by no means 'sit up and beg' it's quite a relaxed position and certainly not of the 'nose down, arse in air' school of motorcycle ergonomics. After a couple of hours I do get a bit achey round the hips and lower back, however.
Instrumentation is nothing to write home about, except the LCD speedo is much more legible than I had expected it to be. The tacho has the engine temperature permanently displayed - which is a bit ominous. Mine came with an aftermarket faceplate, which I have since replaced with the stock one. This process is a major pain in the arse and means that either the tach wasn't calibrated properly when I first got the bike, or isn't now. Either which way, what I'm saying is to take RPM figures with a pinch of salt (but not as much as you'd need for the new R6).
So, the engine. You get three engines with a speed four. The first goes from tickover to about 3.5k and is amazingly good for burbling around town. You can take off from the lights on tickover revs only, change up through the cogs on bugger all throttle and be gently trundling through town in top gear at about 60k all without leaving this bottom end. It's quiet and restrained. It's a blessing.
The second engine goes up to about 8k and is markedly noisier and much more responsive to the throttle although it could definitely use some more torque. If you want to overtake quickly below about 6k you're going to need to change down a cog or two, although if you can't be arsed you'll still have no problem ... it'll just take a few seconds longer.
The second engine blends nicely into the third starting at about 7k. The first you know about it is a new wailing engine note starts to overlay the more civilised "brrrm" of the inline four. The next thing you know is a feeling of the handlebars being pulled away from you and, if you're not ready, your head tipping back. The bike remains pleasantly upright and composed, the wail becomes deafening then starts being drowned out by the wind noise round your helmet. The world blurs and becomes like the end sequence of 2001. There's a tremendous feeling of being launched forwards through reality through your hands, feet and arse. Ladies and gentlemen, we are fucking off. Given my current audience I'm sure I don't need to explain what an addictive experience this is.
Of course, within an alarmingly low amount of time one is going to need to slow down again. The front is slowed by standard twin disk, four pot arrangement - none of this fancy radial mount or anything. Feel is a lot more spongy than I was hoping for, but velocity drops off really quickly so I'm not complaining. Be very gentle with that handle. The rear appears to work just fine.
Triumph gear boxes appear to come in for quite a lot of grief from journos but mine (perhaps because of it's 15k old status) is as smooth as you like. First is really just for pulling away from the lights although you can wheelie off the throttle using it. Yes, I found this out the surprising way. I do keep hitting the top of the box though, mostly caused by wanting to burble along quietly rather than wake the 7k monster. It's not a real problem and I'm rapidly getting over it. No false neutrals, and no problem getting into the real neutral either. Oh, and the gear whine adds a really awesome aural aspect to hard acceleration below about 100k - loud enough that it had be stopping and checking the oil on my first trip out.
Handling is ... fine. My cornering is abysmal, truth be told, and I'm looking forward to some expert advice and a track to try it on - I'm sure that will fix it. The bike is very sensitive to front tyre pressure. Less than 30 and you're going to have problems, weight starts to show up on the handlebars, you need a lot of work to tip in. Generally it's shite. Around 36-37 it feels a bit too tippy for my liking and gives the impression that front end traction is down and that the tyre is not deforming to the road at all. Keep it between the two and you're fine. I run pilot powers, which I think actually are *A* stock tyre - the manual certainly mentions them by name. Mid corner stability is fine (but the first thing to go with a lack of tyre pressure). You appear to be able to get away with braking a bit too late into a corner without it popping upright. Which I've been glad of once or twice. I also lost the rear being hamfisted in the wet and the suspension took energy out of the resulting wobble very well indeed. Sure as shit wasn't me that saved it. Exits are absolutely glorious - fast, controlled, stable, noisy, grippy and probably the best part of riding the bike.
In a straight line the suspension does an excellent job of soaking up bumps and dips. The coast road from Wainui is covered with lots of sudden and mostly invisible drops and there was never any danger of the rubber leaving the road. I have it set 'as delivered' and it's perhaps a drop too soft.
The 'fairing' does make a difference although it's clearly nothing like travelling in a nice gentle bubble of air. Good results have been reported from a laminar lip or similar aftermarket widget. The fairing is also removable and when you do it becomes apparent that the instrumentation is attached to another nicely made aluminium casting, is mounted on rubber washers, and is weatherproof including a boot that goes over the connector. In other words, it's reasonably clear that Triumph realised a lot of people would be wanting to take it off.
The lights are OK. Nothing special. Perhaps a bulb upgrade is called for.
No problems with reliability, although I did make a tit of myself trying to start it in gear - the engine will turn over but not fire. Fuel consumption is, I think, abysmal. About 200k off a tank (at $22 a pop).
Niggles? The big one is that the transition from engine one to engine two at 3.5k is quite marked. A big deal if you go round a roundabout in first while gently accelerating. It's also possible to get caught in a sort of faster-slower-faster almost 'learner on the clutch' type thing while commuting. The fix is to either go faster, slower, change gears in either direction or maybe slip the clutch. In other words it's not a big problem but it is a pain in the arse and one that makes itself apparent daily while commuting.
Ergonomics round the headlight controls are also a bit dodgy. It seems a long way to the dip switch, fiddly with gloves on, and possible to hit the off switch instead. Clearly fun since you were almost certainly dipping the lights because there's a car coming towards you. Again, practice will probably fix this.
But they are only niggles. Realistically there's only one thing you actually need to know about a Triumph Speed Four: I love it. I grin when I start it up. I make my non biking mates sit on it, start it and give it a few revs - and it makes them grin insanely, especially beautiful when they're trying to be really nonchalant about the whole thing. I enjoy riding to work. I really enjoy coming home again. I love going for a blat at the weekend. It's also the first time I've experienced "pride of ownership" really at all. It's a much nicer bike and in general a much nicer mechanical anything than I ever thought I'd own. It kicks a lot of arse. Get one
Dave
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Originally Posted by Devil
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