Street Triple
Wow. Just Wow. I don’t know if I can find the right words for this, so here’s a few that I just slapped together:
Stunning day again, Summer has finally arrived! Pillioned into AMPS on a mate’s 1200 Bandit (my bikes still in the shop). Interesting experience, I make a terrible pillion, leaning into different lines than he normally would, not to mention that I’m twice the size of him, and riding bitch must have looked rather amusing to the 15 or so rugged-Harley types standing outside the bike store as I clumsily dismounted. Got inside and all the staff were phenomenally busy, but the guy I was dealing with managed to juggle everyone at the same time, while getting the demo gassed up, and ready for me
The looks are something that makes me tingle in funny places, but I don’t think that my mates have ever truly understood why. Seeing it in the flesh gave them a whole new appreciation for it, I don’t think there’s a bad angle on it. I still think the massive bug eyed headlights are a thing of beauty. Anyway, I think they now have a newfound understanding of my lust for this particular bike.
First thing I noticed while it was sitting there burbling away was the noise. The Demo had a pair of Arrow cans fitted to it, and the sound while it was idling was just amazing. It’s just so unique. Jump on it, and I’m totally and utterly amazed at how light it is. Usarka warned me it was light, but I was starting to wonder where the pedals were.
Seating position was good, bars were perfect for me, pegs were a good distance too. Dash was good and easy to read, with a gear indicator, clock, oil temp, digital Speedo and analogue Tach. I didn’t have a play with the settings, so I’m not sure what else it had to offer. The blue LED shift lights were a nice touch, and it was pretty cool seeing everything light up, and the needle do a lap every time you flicked the key on. Mirrors were good and very adjustable; I got more than a good view of my elbows for a change. Seat was comfy, good sponginess (Hitcher, is that a real word?), but a little too steep for me, I found that I was sliding into the tank and…. um… squashing my jolly rogers. Perhaps it’s not too big a job to get it redone with a bit more stuffing at the bottom end of it to flatten it out a bit. Then again, who wants kids anyway?
Took off gently- gently through the lights, through Pon-snobbery doing my best to give it a decent rev at the lights to make sure all the Latte drinkers paid attention. Every set of lights that we stopped at, we had people in cars leaning out of their seats to get a better look, it’s such a unique bike, and it attracts a lot of attention. The noise doesn’t hurt either.
Onto the Motorway, giving it a bit of stick, when I realise that the steering is really quite vague, followed by a *THUD*. That would be the front wheel landing back on the tarmac then. Whoops. Steering is actually fantastic, when both wheels are on the ground, which in all honesty, probably isn’t all that often. It does seem to drop into corners with the lightest feather touch to the bars due to it’s Kate Moss-like proportions.
The engine is absolutely spectacular. It is just so well balanced, seemed like enough “go” in any gear, and the brakes provided plenty of “whoa” to counter the 675cc’s of awesomeness. Headed up, and did Coastesville/Riverhead, as that’s the route that I’ve been taking all the test bikes so far, I figure I’ve got a better comparison between them if I stick to the same route. Awesome ride, headed back to AMPS…uh…an hour late, with a massive, helmet-breaking grin on my noggin.
Got home, and started thinking it over in my head. I’d pretty much given up on the idea of a nice, sensible SV650 as a next step up, while there’s certainly nothing wrong with it, I started thinking of a new bike that involved my brain and my heart. Of the previous bikes that I’d tested, the GSX-F 650 was leading by a decent margin. I’ve already decided that I’m not too interested in the GSX-R/ZX/CBR/R6’s , as I have absolutely zero ambition to be the next Rossi, and I think I would get frustrated by having a bike that I could only ever use 1/5th of the available potential. Fuck taking corners at close to Warp 9. I want to have fun.
The GSX-F 650 is a far more comfortable bike, it would be a better commuter, it would get me to work with no hassles, all the time. The Street Triple would get me to work late because I took the long way, with a massive smile on my dial.
Striple wins.
Where do I sign?
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Originally Posted by Gubb
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