Triumph demo day

[cswett]

Just for fun, I went to a demo day at local Triumph dealership. Rode a Tiger (1050 cc triple) with full luggage, which was pretty tall for me, but smooth, fast and amazingly well balanced, easier to handle at low speed than my 1150r with low seat. V. impressive. I have not ridden a K-model BMW and it might be equally smooth, but this was pretty darn nice.
Also, rode a Street Triple, a 675 cc sport bike -- my first time riding a sport bike and I can see why people love it - so light and nimble and quick. Tach redlines at about 14,000 and I never got it past 5,500 and it still was amazingly fast. I can see where you could get into big trouble on one of those things.
I have no idea about Triumph reliability vis a vis BMW, but they seemed like pretty sweet rides.

[wncbmw]

Those are the 2 top bikes on my "If I ever leave the BMW fold" list!

However, they may be replaced on my list by the new Triumph Tiger 800 about to be released after years of rumors about it. It is a long stoke, larger version of the 675 engine, with both a street version (17" or 18" front wheel) and a XC version with a 21" wheel, taking dead aim at the BMW F800GS!

To be unveiled next month in Milan, I think. But google it and see the teaser videos and pictures! Looks great to me! I have said for a while that a mid-weight Tiger would be an attractive bike to me.

[Buckster]

I rode both of those on a demo day two years ago. Have to agree with you. Tiger was nice, but too tall for me. Really liked the Street Triple. Ergos were great, and a lot of usable power on tap. I didn't care for the close ratio gearing. I actually had the bike in 6th gear doing 35-40 MPH and it didn't bog at all. I was afraid of what 70-80 MPH highway speeds would feel like.
Vann, I read about the new bike and will be interested in seeing that one!

[CRazyCam]

Just for fun, I went to a demo day at local Triumph dealership. Rode a Tiger (1050 cc triple) with full luggage, which was pretty tall for me, but smooth, fast and amazingly well balanced, easier to handle at low speed than my 1150r with low seat. V. impressive. I have not ridden a K-model BMW and it might be equally smooth, but this was pretty darn nice.
Also, rode a Street Triple, a 675 cc sport bike -- my first time riding a sport bike and I can see why people love it - so light and nimble and quick. Tach redlines at about 14,000 and I never got it past 5,500 and it still was amazingly fast. I can see where you could get into big trouble on one of those things.
I have no idea about Triumph reliability vis a vis BMW, but they seemed like pretty sweet rides.

I, too, found the Tiger a really appealing bike, but a bit too tall for me.

The Street Triple, however, is the one I bought!

It is a sweet wee hooligan bike, lots of fun, waves the front wheel in the air quite easily, and superb for blasting round twisties.

BTW, it really only revs to a bit over 12,000, unless you change the rev limiter setting..... trust me, I know of these things. :-)

In a way, it was the Street Triple that caused me to return to BMW ownership, since my wife to one look at the rear seat of the Triumph and snigger, so I had to buy a BM for shopping, carrying the boss on the back, and generally riding like a mature gentleman.

As for Triumph reliability, <shrug> so far, so good, coming up to three years ownership, but feeding it tyres does get a bit expensive!

regards,CrazyCam