Reasons not to like a Triumph Sprint ST1050?

[dyzio]

A few days before heading to the TT, my Daytona decided she wasn't going anywhere, probably the reg/rec, but that's another story.

I ended up borrowing a ST1050 of a mate for the trip. It’s a 08 bike with 10k on the clock, which you can’t say had an easy life.
Anyway, first impressions – not as big as I’ve feared, not as upright as I’ve hoped (I think the clipons are lower on it).

Heavy when stationary, if I’d drop it, I’d probably leave it on the ground and walk home.

Headlights, dipped beam is not too bad, but the main beam... there’s hardly any difference!

Acceleration – bl**dy hell, my previous Aprilia was torqey, but this thing is different. Whilst the Falco wanted to rip your arms out, this one pulls smoothly through the revs, and then you look at the speedo and get a shock. Bike is deceptive.

Panniers – must be getting old, because I love them. Fill up, fix on the bike and you’re done. They do make the bike a bit wider, but filtering on a congested motorway wasn’t an issue (car drivers did help).

Brakes – couldn’t get used to them. I’ve got small hands and even the lowest setting on the lever was too big for me.

Heading down the motorway, it was great. At normal speeds it just munched the miles, but go over a ton and it gets a bit windy and a bit buzzy. Aprilia was better at high speeds, but then again, how often are you riding in a place with no speed restrictions. Heading back from the ferry, 60 miles of A road, 100 motorway at normal speed, got me 55 mpg .

There is a lot to be liked about this bike, handling, comfort, economy. I’ve seen these bikes being ridden at some proper pace on a few org meetings. I’ve done approx 600 miles in a week on it, the weird thing is the bike did everything I asked it to, but for some reason, as much as I would be looking forward to riding it again, somehow I don’t see myself buying one

I love them, but my hip to knee length is too long for them, and my knees hit the fairing, otherwise I would have bought one.

They're a bit too hot for summer. This, however, might turn into a bonus, given British weather.

Errr.. no space under the seat for anything and the cubby hole in the fairing is a bit badly thought out.
The numbers on the dial are too small?

I think I know, though, what the real problem is. I've found this with going from the sv's V2 to the tiger's I3. The v2 rumbles and grumbles every time I open the throttle. It pulls less than the tiger does, but because of all the commotion, it feels like it doesn't. When I put an airhawk on the seat, however, I was completely cut from the vibration of the engine. All of a sudden, it seemed like the mighty SV was pulling a lot less. It no longer felt like the mean accelerating machine I thought it was.

The I3s very very little vibration (if any at all), so they seem like they don't pull like the V2s. This is also, I think, the reason for the bike's deceptiveness. I had to do the no-vibration experiment on my SV to come to understand this. V2s brawl a lot more than I3s do, but they do both pull with very convincing torque.

[dyzio]

I forgot what underseat storage is. On the Daytona you can fit a map under the seat (a small one).
The cut out hole is big enugh fot thr tool kit, xena disc lock and a plastic thingy for your sidestand.

Interesting point about the vibrations, the Aprilia did vibe a lot more than the sv, especially at high rev's. The Triumphs are just so smooth.

Did I say how nice the 1050 exhaust pops and grumbles on the overrun?

[Paul the 6th]

tbh I think my 2-bike garage would be a sportsbike (SRAD 750 or 954 blade) and then a Sprint ST 1050 - they're great bikes apart from their little foybles with the headlight..

I have just come back from a 600 mile weekend in Wales. I cant fault The ST 1050. It goes like stink, handles well and a mile muncher. I have only had mine 2 weeks and love it more and more every day. There was 5 ST there over the weekend and all going well at a fair pace loaded up with two panniers and top box.

I personally think the tripple is a great engine, smoother and puncher than the Il4 I had before and sounds awesome.

Agreed the heat from the underseat pipes can be a PITA when the air temp its up, but can live with it for the 2 week summers we get here lol. Winter will be toasty

Originally Posted by dyzio

Did I say how nice the 1050 exhaust pops and grumbles on the overrun?

Most modern Triumph's do that sir. They have a system (called Secondary Air Injection) that puts fresh air straight from the airbox into the exhaust manifold, to burn any remaining unused fuel in the exhaust gases - cleans up the emissions.

[dyzio]

I'd never expect the green party to put a smile on my face

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Most modern Triumph's do that sir. They have a system (called Secondary Air Injection) that puts fresh air straight from the airbox into the exhaust manifold, to burn any remaining unused fuel in the exhaust gases - cleans up the emissions.

About that - it's one of my gripes with the tiger. The SAI does help to clean up emissions BUT it would be even better if there wasn't unused fuel in the first place.
While I think it's perfectly acceptable to have unburned fuel under normal operation, why the heck does it have fuel in there when the throttle is fully closed? Most fuel injection engines are able to completely scavenge fuel when running under closed throttle. If your car has an on board computer (OBC) which shows you instant fuel consumption, you'll see that, when closing the throttle completely, on a downhill, you will get 0L/100km. This is not some OBC glitch, it's the actual consumption.
I think that if bikes had fuel scavenging, they could easily cut 15-20% out of the city fuel consumption and 10% out of the highway fuel consumption. Unfortunately, good fuel consumption doesn't even register as a secondary design goal

That being said, the 1050s are decent at fuel consumption

I think the problem with the ST when I rode it was that it was hugely competent (as long as you don't ride at night), but didn't excite you doing it - I took one to North Wales, a different one to the last Essex AR and one to Denmark, and it just went about its business without fuss. That was part of the reason I went for the S3, which was that little bit more aggressive,

Derailing slightly, this is why I'm loving my KTM at the moment - panniers/top box and fold-up bed on, it buzzes along nicely, then I'll take it out next time without and it'll be a hooligan SM-lite again.