Italian Stallions vs The British Pony

This was actually written way back on 13 July 2015 elsewhere and I decided to post it here now. I haven’t back-dated it as it is a standalone piece.

First a little disclaimer : These three bikes are very different and therefore a direct comparison is somewhat unfair and that’s not really what I’m trying to achieve here. It’s rather a case of observations regarding each compared to the other and a lot of it might not be good or bad depending on the type of rider who it appeals to.

Also I should state that I have no real world interest in buying a Diavel and didn’t expect it to convert me in any way because even as a pipe dream it would also be a second bike kind of bike to me.

A little bit on my current bike first to tell you where I’m coming from…

2014 Triumph Street Triple R

Having had a Buell Lighting before I had a bit of “bomskok” after an accident and stopped biking for a while I’m fully converted to naked bikes with near zero interest in owning a fairinged bike of any kind least of all a superbike. I never say no to taking any bike for a spin, but I’ll never own a superbike again unless I win the Lotto and even then I’d park it in my garage and have a glass of wine with it.

Funnily enough before I even got on the Street Triple vibe I had wanted a Ducati Hyperstrada since they were first announced in early 2013 but then partly due to lacking local support and the overall price I had simply put the option out of my mind.

So out of what was left the Triumph Street Triple checked all the boxes as there was a brand new model released in 2013 with a design that finally made me really like the bike. I got the first MY2014 bike thinking that it being a new model you never take the first bikes and check out the issues first.

Although I could afford the Speed Triple it seemed like a waste of power and money since I ride every day. I would simply burn more fuel, tyres, sprockets and chains for something that maybe adds a real world 10% that I really wouldn’t use every day.

Naked check, medium sized engine check, fuel economy check, good looking check, comfort…reasonable. Luggage options…if you want anything more than a wallet and a toothbrush to go anywhere you are off to buy strap on bags or wear a backpack.

Over the last two years the comfort has become more and more of a concern. Half of it is the ridiculously sporty (super hard) suspension. Now lots of people think you simply buy the bike with the adjustable suspension and then you can soften it up for your comfort…that is not the case. You can’t make hard suspension soft without swopping the parts and that is not only an expensive adventure but more than likely will compromise the handling otherwise the manufacturer would have done it in the first place.
The other part of the comfort problem is simply the geometry. This is effectively a naked Triumph Daytona 675 superbike for all intents and purposes fitted with regular bars instead of clip-ons.

So the seat is very much the same and your grip on the tank identical, you just don’t lean as low into it as the bars sit a little bit closer. Two years later and many back pains and wrist aches later I can tell you that I might as well have bought a Daytona. Not really, I still can’t spend more than twenty minutes on a superbike without wanting to die, but you get the idea.

I fitted a 20mm riser to the bars and rotated them closer which has made a world of difference so that I actually use the clutch again and don’t have too many aches and pains too often. It actually does the job of getting to work and back without too much of an issue, it just limits me from touring or going on properly long day rides like I used to.

Let’s also not forget that I’ve gotten older and I have a hell of a lot more issues than I had 10 years ago, so it’s not all the bike’s fault.

The Triumph has a superb engine, probably the best in this class. Really, the capacity is perfect, the noise is brilliant, the power and torque are perfectly balanced. It’s really the perfect blend of Inline-4 power and Twin torque and is also surprisingly economical at 5.5-6 l/100km even when I’m smashing it.

The engine also never ever skips a beat and remains supremely reliable and predictable. I’ve had one warranty claim at 6000km from new and it was a small gasket at the front sprocket that was trickling the tiniest bit of oil. 20 000km later it hasn’t had a single drama.

At the same time that reliability and eternally predicatable nature also makes it boring. Say what you want about Harley and their motor in my Buell, but it had a soul. It was never quite the same twice but also never had any problems and always fired up and put a smile on my dial.

The 675cc Triple is pretty much like a german car. It will always do things exactly the same exactly as you expect it to do them and never have anything else to say about it, which makes it utterly soulless. It doesn’t shake or rattle and idles just like a 4-cylinder with a little bit of a vacuum cleaner induction noise when you rev it up.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant bike any way you look at it, but I think my needs have changed while the bike is still just doing exactly what it has always done.

2015 Ducati Hyperstrada

So two years on and I find myself looking at the same bike I did three years before when I first started thinking about getting back into the biking game again after taking a short break.

The Hyperstrada is the exact same thing as the Hypermotard and just defines the standard touring kit. So it comes with a different seat, proper windscreen, soft panniers, raised bars and a centre stand. All the parts can be fitted to a standard Hypermotard if you like and vice versa.

It claims to be a big bike motard, duh it has motard in the name. The Hyperstrada is just more of the comfort and touring sales pitch of the same thing. Now apart from my Buell which also claimed to be a pseudo-motard I’ve had little to no experience with these kinds of bikes that I can recall.

Needless to say then I expect it to be very similar to my Buell…what a shocker when it wasn’t.

Getting on the bike it’s firstly really damn tall…especially when you try to dodge the panniers to get on. I had checked the spec sheet beforehand and there’s only meant to be 5mm seat height difference between my Street Triple and the Hyper but in the real world that translates very differently.

Then the part where it gets weird is that you sit on..where you expect the tank to be. Normally I’m used to having the tank in front of me and gripping around it. In this case there is no normal “tank” in front of me and it’s all flat with me holding onto the frame instead.

It’s a bizarre feeling as if I’m sitting on the front wheel and that part is much like my Buell where you lean forward and see the front wheel touching the ground in front of you, but the main difference here is that it feels like the windscreen will klap you in the face if you just lean slightly forward.

As strange as it is, it’s an incredibly commanding position and I found myself quite at home within a few kilometres and also immediately knew why these motard okes want to put their leg down to shift their weight because it seems much more natural to do that than shift your ass off the seat.

However I did have a problem moving off as the freeplay in the throttle wasn’t at all to my liking and I would adjust that out immediately should my own bike have that problem and the clutch was biting way too far out. I get incredible wrist pain very quickly riding like that so the Triumph has been adjusted to start releasing within a centimetre or so from the grip.

One also tends to forget that over two years your own bike has been perfect adjusted little by little for your needs. Suspension is perfect (as can be) and all the other bits have either been setup for you or you’ve adjust to them perfectly over time.

So it took a bit of doing to get my shifts right nicely and the bike being virtually brand new certainly didn’t help. Never had a problem with the gearbox not working as expected but it’s not as defined and clicky as my Triumph or other sportier bikes which I would prefer actually.

I hated having a gear indicator on the Triumph at first as it was quite distracting…and here I find myself moaning about the fact that the Ducati doesn’t have one. It also doesn’t have a fuel gauge but only a fuel light. Neither are deal breakers, but it just shows how you get used to the little comforts in life.

The 841cc motor in the Duc is very tricky to define. It’s extremely linear so you don’t really feel the power through the rev range and then get massive surprise when you look down and check the speedo only to realise you are way past illegal. Looking down is also an odd problem, as I feel with my STR I look forward and down still seeing the road and now I have to look straight down to see the dash.

Which is also why I found myself thinking that the “touring” windscreen wasn’t do jack ****, until I looked down and saw I was doing 170, this while sitting bolt upright in supreme comfort. On my STR with no real windscreen to speak of, more of a cosmetic trimming in front, when I get to 150 it becomes hard work and 170 is just downright uncomfortable.

The seat is a catch 22. It’s a terrifically comfortable thing and does a superb job of holding you in place. However, this also means you aren’t moving anywhere but at the same time with the windscreen right in your face you don’t really have anywhere to go. For me personally it was superb, but big/smaller guys might not find it as accomodating. I suspect the Hypermotard will offer you more options in this regard though and really if need be you could probably put that seat on the ‘Strada or choose one of the other optional seats.

Suspension wise I took some purposely familiar roads with known bad patches and also some speed bumps I’m quite familiar with. I clocked a speedbump I normally take in 1st on the STR in 3rd on the Hyper and it was pretty comfortable whereas normally I would be clamping down to fight the hard bumps.

Another catch 22 is that the front suspension isn’t adjustable. Not at all from what I could see while the rear has preload and either rebound or compression settings but not both. Preload is with an auxiliary adjuster as well so you can easily tune it for luggage or a passenger which is nice. Now on one hand I would feel that I need to be able to setup my suspension, but at the same time if the stock suspension works for me why worry. At the same time I feel that if it is adjustable you just end up worrying about it and never quite getting it right, whereas in this case you simply deal with it and move along. So while I do find it a bit odd, especially on a machine of this calibre, it’s not going to stop me from buying one.

I specially asked to have the panniers fitted for the demo so I could see how hard they are to handle in traffic. Well…I forgot they were there and my mate claims I never really came seriously close to hitting anyone with them. Reason I worried is because they are the widest point and peak out about 10cm from the bars I reckon. Obviously I didn’t have luggage with me so I can’t comment on how they affect weight and handling when loaded up. Sadly they don’t lock in a normal latch setup but come with pinlocks to connect the zippers together. Not ideal but at the same time similar to what I used on my Buell. I wouldn’t leave it overnight like but short stints would be fine and they do clip off easily enough and do lock to the bike itself.

Personally though one of the big reasons I want this particular bike is because it has a factory Topbox setup. Something I’ve always wanted to have but was never willing to compromise a bike for. In this case they look like they belong and therefore my day to day riding would simply be with the Topbox to put my laptop bag in and when I get to work take my jacket and helmet off and swop the two. No more having to do a plie through turnstiles or carrying your kit with you everywhere. Jeez I could probably go buy Sushi and get it home in one piece.

I quickly went home to show my wife the bike and even with her and baby on the back it still felt like there was more than enough room. Look I took a Buell, probably the shortest bike in the world, touring with two people and luggage before so probably not the best judge there. But I think even with the Top box fitted it’s been thought out well with grab rails and everything. Normally my wife complains that the footpegs are set too far backward forcing her to lean forward, but she was quite happy in this case. Even as the rider I didn’t once consider the footpegs which means they didn’t bother me at all.

About the only thing I could complain about ergonomically is that the normal footrest and the centre stand tend to overlap each other and therefore getting the stand out was pretty tricky. That being said I struggled with my Triumph stand for weeks as well so I’m sure ownership would change that in time.

Oh the other thing I forgot to mention were the electronics and riding modes. Firstly in typical Italian fashion some of it was needlessly complex…so much so that I still don’t know how to reset the fuel economy trip meter…and neither did the salesperson. Changing between the modes is simple enough and you click the indicator button to jump through them and then hold it for three seconds to select. You can do it while riding but you need to have the throttle closed and brakes off.

Speaking of the indicator switch I had an incredibly hard time on both bikes to know if I had pressed it or not and needed to look down every time to make sure that it was in fact on. It might be partly because the light isn’t in my peripheral vision but I think it’s genuinely the case of the action being too soft and lacking a definite click. It wasn’t ever not on though, so maybe it’s more sensitive than I think and won’t be a real world problem.

The riding modes are Urban, Touring and Sport. Effectively Urban = Rain and limits you to 75hp and puts the ABS and Traction on super sensitive mode. I didn’t even bother using this. Touring is meant to be the middle ground day to day mode with full power but more restrained power delivery and normal level of ABS and Traction. Sport is balls to the wall mode with sharper throttle and although ABS and TCS remain on they are much lower. I’ll be honest and say I really couldn’t’ feel the difference between Sport and Touring. And although I didn’t track the bike or go completely nuts with it I did a number of purposeful hard stops and also accidental ham fisting of the throttle due to the freeplay as well as just dropping the clutch and not once did the TCS or ABS intervene.

My Triumph also has ABS and I’ve only ever managed to activate it using the rear brake when getting a little too frisky. I think for a new rider these things will probably play a paramount role but as someone who has done this in excess of twelve years now on a myriad of different bikes my self-preservation is well and truly in place to ride properly. That being said I’m not trying to say you don’t need them…one of the reason I want this bike is for the ABS and the new addition of traction control because the day that I do make a mistake I want it to be a non-event.

Stock the bike doesn’t sound terrible but it certainly doesn’t sound amazingly awesome either. It sounds great coming past you, just much more subdued when you are riding it yourself. The big problem here is that the Termignoni pipe you really want to put on there costs R24000. Yup that’s not a mistake. And sure there are other options…but they just aren’t quite the same.

Overall I was immensely impressed with the bike and it ticks all the boxes that I want right now. I still question myself whether it’s worth holding onto the STR for another year and then buy a Multistrada, but then much like the Speed Triple all over again I ask myself if that’s simply too much bike for my purposes. Sure it has all the technology in the world but at a phenomenal price as well, even second hand. So I find myself coming back to the Hyperstrada being the logical/sensible/practical choice while still being Italian and maintaining some of that exotic flare.

2015 Ducati Diavel Carbon

You don’t ride the Devil, the Devil rides you.

That pretty much sums up the Diavel experience in one sentence. It’s an utterly unadulterated, unapologetic, balls to the wall riding experience. Actually I’m not even sure calling it a riding experience is fair, it’s more like a rollercoaster that does it’s own thing and you just happen to be holding onto it.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is a Diavel? Ducati’s official blurb says “Don’t call me a cruiser” and I tend to agree. Most people would call this a Muscle Cruiser and place it in the same segment as the Yamaha V-Max and Harley Davidson V-Rod series. Cruiser looking things with big horsepower engines that have been somewhat tuned to handle as well as they possibly can for what they are. On face value the Diavel seems exactly like them…then you ride it and realise this isn’t a Muscle Cruiser but instead it’s a Cruiser Superbike which is something altogether different.

Three things stand out about this bike that set it apart from everything else even close to this segment.

Firstly there are the looks which I will simply call…interesting. I would never call it pretty in totality but it’s most certainly unique and that gives it a certain allure. Individual parts are something to be marvelled at especially the carbon fibre bits all over this particular model. The entire look is scifi and space age with modern LED tech all over, super sexy exhaust headers with twin pipes. The front and rear end are both a little bit odd but I wouldn’t dare say ugly, but strangest of all actually sitting on the thing the view from the seat and out over the tank and bars is actually what was most pleasing to me. The seat in and of itself is a work of art, especially that carbon cover over the pillion section when not using that. Oh and the pillion footpegs…man why can’t everyone have something this sexy that completely hides itself out of the way when not in use? I wish I had taken a video or time lapse pictures of those because it’s the hottest thing on this whole bike.

Second up is that incredible 240 section rear tyre. It just looks crazy badass, they always do on any bike that runs them. But then you always assume it simply can’t go around corner…but it does…incredibly so. Granted at slow speed it’s a bit of a beast to maneuver around the neighbourhood, but this has more to do with the wide pegs which make putting your legs down “interesting” especially on painted lines. Obviously living in the real world you expect a certain kind of handling from a bike this bike that weighs 234 kg fully loaded, but even then the Diavel really surprises. The only thing I have an issue with is the Italians over engineering a problem that never existed in the first place in the shape of the number plate bracket the comes off the swingarm and also acts as a mudguard of sorts. It just looks a bit silly and in a way you expect the arse of the bike to carry this which is not just a massive blank space and partly why it looks weird, but it also blocks the view of that massive rear tyre.

Lastly there is the power. This thing runs 162hp from a superbike engine which I believe was used in the pre-Panigale 1198. Now technically the V-Max has a bit more power, but less torque, but at the same time also weighs more than a 100 kg more so that is completely negated in real world terms. It is unbelievably fast as long as you keep it above 4000rpm and manage to hold on, because there is no windscreen or any kind of aerodynamic protection to keep the world at bay. Below 4000 rpm though it tries to rattle itself apart. You could think a bike with a massive motor like this would run off idle using the clutch alone but that is not the case, get the gearing wrong and it bogs right down. In contrast the Hyperstrada would pull from just about anywhere in the revs in any gear. On the upperside of the rev range though this thing would pull the Hyperstrada at crazy speed like I mentioned earlier and because of it’s low profile and weight remains completely stable doing so with aerodynamics being the only limitation.

The seat does an excellent job of stopping you in place under acceleration much like the V-Max I’ve ridden previously, but unlike the Hyperstrada there is a bit too much motion for my liking and under braking you end up sliding forward and then back again under acceleration. Ergonomically I wasn’t exactly compatible with this bike having to stretch too far forward to manage the controls and getting especially uncomfortable under acceleration. The Nightrod Special I rode before had similar issues for me, but Harley give you a hundred options to customize your bike as part of the purchase price to sort exactly this out. The Night Rod Special had forward controls for footpegs and shifter/brake which I hated at the time but in retrospect I feel that’s exactly what the Diavel needs to make it work for me. In previous years Ducati had the Diavelstrada which was also a more touring oriented bike but now it’s missing from the website so I can’t confirm the differences, but I suspect that might be the one you would really want to be truly comfortable on the thing.

It’s aerodynamic and ergonomic issues are ultimately what make this a pure poser bike for me personally and not something I would want to ride regularly or even own in this specific form. It’s a little bit like doing a Moon Landing all over again in that it’s nothing more than a pissing contest that is utterly pointless. Especially when you consider the R258 000 price tag attached to this Carbon model.
Much like the Hyperstrada the engine sounded great when it was riding past me, but somewhat subdued and tractor-like when I was riding it myself. Again though with some pipes on I’ve heard these bikes before and they are absolutely mental. At idle it also sounds like there is a marble running around in there somewhere, but it might simply be Ducati’s timing system that I’m not used to or even the hydraulic clutch setup.

Speaking of the clutch I expected it to be super light being hydraulic but that wasn’t the case. It certainly wasn’t terrible by any means and I’m just happy that it grabbed at the right place for my liking because you can’t adjust it like a normal cable clutch. Again like the Hyperstrada the riding modes were much of a muchness to me and I never had the traction or ABS lights come on. That being said with a 162hp bike I would most definitely be using the 100hp limited Urban/Rain mode when it gets wet, or even every day for commuting as it will save some fuel as well…but then I would never own this bike so that would never happen.

Overall it was a fun and interesting experience and I think definitely something every motorcyclist should try at least once. Short of some serious modifications or the Diavel Strada model I can’t see myself ever owning one or wanting to spend serious time with it. In this price range there are a hell of a lot of options and in this particular category I would probably end up buying a Harley Davidson Night Rod Special as bizarre as that sounds to myself.

Back on the Triumph

As with all test rides of any other bike you always find yourself jumping back on your own steed and then being right at home, no matter what it was you’ve just ridden.

With my Buell this would happen time and time again where I would go ride something else thinking this is the one I’m going to buy and then I end up back on my bike and think to myself “Nope…this is still awesome”. If it wasn’t for the fact that I needed some mental time off after a crash and that Buell doesn’t exist any more I would probably still be riding that bike today.

Sadly with the Triumph this wasn’t quite the case after jumping back on. Immediately the clutch and throttle work as expected and the timing is perfect changing both up and down with throttle blips and no slipper clutch required. However it’s immediately apparent that the seat is hard as all hell and the suspension certainly doesn’t help either.

The slightly pitched forward upper body also doesn’t help things and you try your best to compromise between laying into your arms or holding yourself onto the bike with your core. So you end up sacrificing either your back or your wrists or to a lesser degree both.

In the Triumph’s defense that was after a hectic demo ride and with the Diavel being last which is more uncomfortable but in a very different way. Today riding into work it doesn’t feel all that bad and I can see myself riding the STR for as long as I need to especially if Ducati don’t play along with the trade-in that is sensible and doesn’t see me taking an unnecessary knock..

The Ducati Experience

I feel I just want to say a few things about the Ducati bike experience as a whole and also some things specific to Cape Town and trying out Ducati’s.

Regarding the bikes themselves, there is absolutely no denying that you are getting on or looking at a Ducati. Even with these two bikes being at significantly different price points they are both equally special and you feel special riding them and looking at them.

There are a hundred Ducati logos on each of them to make sure that you know it’s a Ducati. But none of them are brash or in your face and are done quite subtly just as a little token reminder. From the logo on the engine itself through to the embossed logos on the tanks and the inlay in the carbon fibre on the back of the Diavel. There are Ducati logos imbedded in the handlebar grips and machined into the aluminium protector of the panniers. Best of all when you start each of these bikes it says “Ducati” on the screen with a little animation and then swipes that away into the model you are riding. It seems like a silly thing but it really makes all the difference in adding that special Italian flair. The workmanship overall makes you understand exactly what you are paying for here (ignoring the ridiculous Italian export taxes inflating the price of course) and the little details everywhere really makes it stand apart from other brands. I look at the stitching in the real leather on the “cheap” Hyperstrada and then look at the plain piece of fake rubber pretend leather on my Triumph and it’s clear which one was paid more attention to. Heat shields along the header pipes, those beautifully engineered fold away pillion pegs on the Diavel…man just looking at the paint up close it all screams quality.

Then you get back to the shop and a new owner fires up his 899 Panigale for the first time and that “How is this even legal?” noise that erupts from the exhausts gives you goosebumps. Doesn’t matter what little detail you look at you really feel special.

There is of course this little matter of an obvious peeling sticker on a very new Diavel Carbon which is pretty sub par…

As for the shopping experience, Ducati Cape Town technically doesn’t exist. Not since Ducati South Africa folded a few years ago and was reborn under Porsche South Africa when Audi bought out Ducati as a whole.

As such they run a “satellite office” of Ducati Johannesburg through a Superbike Solutions in Somerset West which has been associated with Ducatis for years and have trained staff on hand to look after the bikes.

Right now if you buy a Ducati in Cape Town you do so via Johannesburg and it gets delivered to you at Superbike Solutions who will then also do all warranty and service work going forward.

Until recently Ducati offered the Ducati Ride Plan as part of the purchase price. Essentially this came about as part of Audi taking over and is a two year “motorplan” for their bikes. Sadly this year they decided to make it optional and although you technically always paid for it, having been built into the price it now doesn’t seem so lucrative. Then again if you finance the bike you get to throw it all in for a minimal monthly cost difference, so there is that as well.

Superbike Solutions seems like a small time venture and don’t quite have the Ducati presence that the shop had in Johannesburg when I visited there. Nowhere near it to be honest. They pretty much just house the demo bikes and the sales guy Anston is employed by Ducati Jo’burg.

So although they have pretty much the whole range of demos available don’t expect a fancy Italian cappuccino when you walk in the door or a room full of Ducati gear and paraphernalia.

That being said they have the “small town” feel about them and also are a lot easier to deal with. In the big Jo’burg shop you get that typical vibe of “you don’t look like you have the money to be here” and that you should dress up for the occasion or something. The guys are much more down to earth and ready for a chat and I honestly prefer that kind of experience.

Anston has told me there are plans for a proper Ducati Cape Town in the future…but who knows when that future is. I do expect it will happen though and it will be very similar to the Johannesburg experience.

Overall it was a magical experience riding these bikes and visiting their shop/s and I’m fully converted.

I suspect the bigger problem will come in when trying to trade in my bike for a reasonable offer and then I might end up right back at the Multistrada but do the upgrade in a few months to a year.

 

2015 Triumph Tiger X800XCX

So seeing as my Street Triple had to go in for a bit of work this morning and I only needed to come into work late I figured in my search for comfort with my next bike I’ll take up Mike Hopkins with their promotion of the Tiger 800 and go for a little spin.

After weeks of scorching death of course today would be the first sign of rain and even after checking the weather forecast I didn’t actually expect water to physically fall from the sky. Needless to say I got to the dealership more than a little bit wet, but not really uncomfortable for it as it’s the lovely summery variety.

When I got to the bike I was informed that the seat had been lowered all the way to the bottom, I’m guessing because they may have had a few people keeling over on them. I was mock offended at the notion that I’m short arsed, but then again I’ve almost seen my arse in front of their shop more than once due to the road camber so I did appreciate the notion. If I were to set it up as my permanent steed I would probably jack it up a little bit for some better leg comfort while on it, especially long distance, but it certainly was easy to manage and not uncomfortable. Much easier to lift off the stand compared to the GS’s I rode recently, but then again I also learnt my lesson there to use my arms more and not just my legs as I do on sport bikes. So no ass muscles were pulled when setting off this time.

The pleasant rain heading in had now become a little bit more angry and the wind was also picking up. Most dealerships probably wouldn’t let people out with their demos in this kind of weather, so I guess a longstanding relationship of not crashing does go a long way towards mutual trust. These are really the perfect conditions to test a bike in as it paints a truer picture of day to day riding and if it performs well in wind and rain it will perform even better on normal days.

Heading out from the shop I was immediately fighting the throttle as it just seemed way too sensitive and matching it with the clutch was way more tricky than expected going from one Triumph to another. It seems this bike is ride-by-wire whereas my STR is old school cable operated still, but beyond being sensitive as hell it also just seemed way too revvy for small inputs. The clutch on the other hand did at first seem much softer than mine, but through the ride it became a bit more taxing as it’s bite came in pretty far out where I prefer it almost on the bar. Easily adjustable but I wasn’t going to mess with the settings on such a short ride.

I hit the famous De Waal Drive and was immediately surprised by the surprising amount of wind hitting my head. I purposely didn’t wear ear plugs so that I get the completely raw experience, but I could almost swear it was worse than my STR which has virtually no windscreen simply because it’s more compressed or channeled towards your head. Oddly I don’t recall experiencing this on the GS and GS Adventure I rode some weeks ago which I pushed to 160 km/h quite comfortably. Granted I don’t recall if I had earplugs in on that day or not, probably did.

The seat is very comfortable as expected and generally the leg to peg ratio is also lovely but like I said earlier could probably be enhanced a little by jacking the seat up slightly. Oddly I found that where the STR gives you no options to move around, here you almost have too many options which isn’t necessarily a good thing as it doesn’t hug you as well. By this time I also noticed the rather odd and completely square mirrors which had the bizarre notion of making me spot the top box on the back and each and every time thinking it’s a car sitting right on my ass.

I also noted that the bike in question didn’t have heated grips, but it did have cruise control presumably as standard. An odd configuration, but at the same time I’ve always believed that with hand guards fitted the need for heated grips is somewhat irrelevant in our African climate and riding in this weather with my summer gloves on did confirm that somewhat.

Granted I can’t really compare this cruise control setup to any other as it’s the first time I’ve ever used it on a bike, but it was very strange. Firstly the button placement next to the throttle seems strange to me as it’s tricky to hit them and hold the throttle steady. Fitting it on the left would make it so much easier to operate. I’ve never used cruise control in a manual car either, but I would have assumed that you could change gear without it disengaging, but then I guess that would cause the car to rev up so probably not, which might explain why it disengages here when you touch the clutch. I’m not sure I would use this very often on a day to day basis, but with those long trips and the endless straight sections in the Karoo it could certainly be life changing.

It’s round about this time hitting the M3 and settling into some lane splitting due to traffic that I realised just how much bigger the Tiger is, or at least feels, than the GS800. It just feels very wide and bulky and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there isn’t all that much difference between the 800 and the 1200 versions or that they share some frame parts.

It’s a lighter bike than the GS from a lifting off the stand, top heavy perspective, but it does feel like it needs a bit more input to the bars to get moving. The GS seems much more prone to steering through weight shifting while the Tiger wants direct control input from the bars and leaning doesn’t seem to do much.

I’m being a little unfair towards the Triumph here as I road the two GS’s on a short trip in a balls to the wall fashion without too much contemplation to what it was doing. On the Triumph I was doing real world day to day riding and therefore had time to contemplate and evaluate the bike much more deeply.

The engine is a strange creature. More so for me jumping from the 675cc version but also compared to the GS. I found the GS engine very boring as the torque delivery was so linear and at the same time it didn’t make much of a noise at all. The GS Adventure had a Remus pipe on and was much better for the noise factor and could be heard at cruising speed while the stock one was whisper quiet. The Triumph is very quiet at lower revs and seems oddly gutless compared to my Street Triple but then it starts to make a familiar and lovely sporty noise when you rev it out and gets moving properly. It’s with regards to the engine that I wish I had ridden the road going version without the knobblies on and larger wheels as it may have delivered a very different road bike experience that I was looking for. As much as I disliked the GS engine on the day, I feel that the Tiger engine in this form is less usable for daily road riding. My offroad nutter friends believe the same thing for offroad use and that’s why they all have BMW’s.

Another thing that is painfully obvious is that Triumph is new to this whole fuel mapping electronic throttle business by virtue of the fact that is was pretty tricky to understand without prior instruction and a bit finicky. Granted if you owned the bike you would read the manual and get to know it intimately, but from a first contact point of view it’s very troublesome. My understand from messing around with it is that there are three preset profiles, one for Offroad, one for on road and then a Rider mode which should read as “Custom”. Essentially you need to go fiddle in the menus to set the Rider mode where you can then put traction control on and off as well as ABS and I recall in each of them there was a road and offroad version as well. Then there is the fuel mapping which was Sport, Normal and I think Rain but don’t quote me on that. So there is no way of quickly jumping to Sport for instance on the fly, unless you happen to have configured your Rider mode as that beforehand.

I stopped at the other side of Hout Bay just above Llandudno to take these pictures and messed around with the riding modes because as I mentioned earlier the engine was feeling a bit gutless downstairs. I still suspect I didn’t actually have it in Sport mode as I hit the corners along the coast on my way back to Cape Town, and suffered a bit of placebo as it seemed to be better somewhat.

With the sun out and the wind somewhat more predictable and now being comfortable with the bike it was time to push it a little bit. Maybe because the knobblies were still quite new with less than 2000km on them or purely because of the bike, I felt much more comfortable on these tyres than the KTM and GS’s I rode recently where they had a very definite step mid lean.

Here I was only really weary of the tyres being a little narrower and so didn’t want to overextend myself. An odd notion of understeer was apparent in some corners and I was constantly modulating it with the rear brake to keep it in line. Maybe it’s my road bike sensibilities pushing a little too fast into corners and holding onto the front brakes a bit too late into cornering since it did seem to dissipate when going a little bit easier…but what’s the fun in that. Either way, it didn’t feel quite as immediately confidence inspiring as the GS did which I rode just as hard if not harder, also on very familiar roads.

Suspension wise the bike was very soft. There is so much fork dive, especially in town, that when I did some brake tests later I locked up the front wheel for the first time ever in my bike riding memory. The rear brake locks up for any reason at all, but I’m lead to believe this is by design for offroaders. The deeper issue is that this bike doesn’t have electronic suspension adjustment. Not from a too lazy to lift a spanner perspective, but from a value point of view which I’ll also touch on later.

As I was heading up the hill from Camps Bay I figured out the Rider mode thing and this time I was sure it was in Sports mode properly. Revved it out properly passing some cars and I must say it does pick up speed very well and is probably a whole lot faster than the GS in sheer all out acceleration, but in overtaking from 80-120 or 120+ in same gear there probably won’t be too much between them. It certainly is much more exciting on the higher revving engine and it makes a good enough noise to keep most people happy.

It’s a tricky beast to launch hard from a standing start, but I think mostly just because I still find myself concentrating heavily to miss the super wide pegs on these kinds of bikes without hanging myself on them in the process. Even by the end of the ride I still didn’t quite get the clutch and ride-by-wire to match naturally and needed to make a conscious effort to pull away nicely. Sure through ownership one acclimatizes and your own bike is always best, but this has been one of the most challenging ones I’ve just jumped onto.

Back at the Mike Hopkins ranch I was taking a stroll through the showroom and my fundamental conclusion is that the Tiger 800 isn’t a bad bike in any which way, but even as a Triumph die hard you would be silly to buy one. Why? Because it’s just not a great value proposition. 2015 models are standing on the floor for R 159 999 and that’s without any extras while at BMW you can have the 800GS for R 137 345 and it comes with Heated Grips and Electronic Suspension standard. For R 156 680 (still cheaper than the Tiger 800) you can guy the 800GS Adventure which is probably a waste of money too. But forgetting the competition if you have Triples in your blood stream you can for R 5000 more than the Tiger 800 get the 2015 1200 Explorer model that is on special right now with Panniers, Hand Guards and Heated Grips. Sure I haven’t ridden it (yet) but it seems a much better deal considering the extras, more power and the fact that it’s shaft driven meaning no messy chain lube nonsense.

In conclusion it’s not a bad bike by any margin, but you can do much better for the same money. If you were to venture outside Triumph I would simply get the BMW 800GS and spend the difference in price on adding a nice exhaust and a top box and/or panniers to the mix.

 

 

Achtung!

So today I rode a mate’s GS800 and his mate’s Adventure.

I didn’t exactly expect it to convert me but more of a “ride all the bikes” experiment.

As even he’ll admit the engine itself is boring as all hell on the road. I rode the F800ST previously back to back with my Buell and it was the same story. It’s essentially too linear in it’s torque delivery and therefore doesn’t have a powerband of any kind at all. You also can’t hear it AT ALL above say 100km/h. It really is a train motor, essentially like a non-turbo diesel. Which is great for off-road I believe, so it’s just a bit too biased in that regard for my needs.

Suspension though is a charm, even on the road and you can definitely feel the different between comfort, normal and sport. Even sport though is nowhere near properly sport compared to my bike which is essentially track bike in comparison. Definitely easier on the body than mine.

Ergonomically it’s also miles more comfortable than mine and you could do 500km on it without even getting stiff I imagine.

Oddly I found the indicators a pain as you can’t feel them click on properly.

He has some aftermarket foot pegs one which made it very tricky for me to stop even with a lower seat on.

I did enjoy the “Meerkat” and can see why the off road okes love doing it.

As a shorter guy his aftermarket windscreen was a bit in my face vs the Adventure I rode later but even so it actually has wind protection.

Which also means I noticed the crazy heat on both bikes. Especially coming up through the seat under your ass. At one point though it maybe has a heated seat and I accidentally put it on but then the other GS did it too later.

Semi knobbly off-road tyres are a non issue with traction control it seems, unlike my bare bones experience on a KTM recently.

Overall its a great bike and I can see why people go nuts for them. It’s just not the right bike for me, which makes me wonder about the 1200.

The Adventure version was more to my liking largely because it had a Remus pipe on which in this case changes the engine quite dramatically as compared to most bikes.

You can now hear it at speed and it revs up a bit differently and has a stronger sense of powerband.

Being taller with a standard seat it was actually easier to stop as the pegs didn’t get in my way.

Both are hell to lift off the stand though and I found myself cramping when first picking up each bike. Getting on it like a horse and leaving it on the stand is awesome though.

Wind screen worked better for me on this one as well.

Having spent a bit of time on the other bike first I was full of confidence now so laid chase to my own Street Triple…forgetting the warning about the front tyre being at it’s end.

Kept up well enough in the straights until I over committed on a downhill left hander and the front washed out. Don’t know if traction control saved my ass or I did it myself but needless to say I took the straight lines through corners after that instead of the max lean ones.

I’m definitely awakened to BMW, just not GS’s.

The R1200RS might still deliver.

2013 Triumph Street Triple R

Well a big thank you to Mark from Mike Hopkins Motorcycles for their demo bike which myself and two mates really enjoyed riding this morning.

Bike seems to have been the euro-spec press launch bikes without ABS so I couldn’t really test that out, but I’m sure it will work just like any other bike’s.

Very comfortable seating position, surprisingly so as I felt very racy in the shop when I sat on it, but after the ride I can honestly say it was equally as if not more comfortable than my Buell. Compared to the CB1000 my friend brought along which was comfortable enough but I could find the exact placement on the seat that worked for me.

The optional crash protection bars don’t work for me as the right side bolt protrudes exactly where my leg goes. Granted I was in jeans this morning and in full leathers it might be a lot better but I won’t be putting them on my bike. I did find they spoilt it aesthetically anyway, so it’s an easy decision to make.

The engine is beautiful. Really super smooth with enough horsepower and torque to make it fun and easy to ride at the same time. The highly modified CB was too much bike in comparison when you hit 6000 RPM and too little grunt down low with a super heavy clutch as well. Stock CB is actually a nicer day-to-day ride I would imagine.

Gearbox is also fantastic, no clutch required if you are that way inclined and geared perfectly to the motor. Combine that with the lightweight chassis and perfect riding position and this is a true all-in-one road bike like I’ve never seen before…other than Buells of course.

Initially I thought the bike was getting 60km/l which I thought was ridiculous so I reset it while riding and it just kept going up. Turns out it was km/h and the average for the trip, not the fuel economy, which was actually 5.5 l/100km still pretty damn impressive.

Bad things? The mirrors are shockingly useless! Unlike conventional pivot hinged on a stalk this is adjustable inside the cover on the stalk. They are tiny, oddly shaped and not nearly adjustable enough. It’s easier to not use them at all and just turn around instead.

Grabbing the sides stand with your foot it also a bit odd, as there is no catch to grab it on but this should be overcome with practised ownership.

Didn’t do any highway stuff but did at least 140km/h in sections and it was no less comfortable with regards air resistance and buffeting than any other naked bike. If you are used to it there’s no problem, superbikers would probably take notice.

Overall I am astounded by how good this bike was to ride, I mean I expected it to be good but it really delivers. So much so that my friend with the CB has also been convinced and we might actually approach Mark about a discount if we buy two together.

I still want a white one, but the black is actually really nice with and excellent metallic finish. If I didn’t have two black bikes before I would have been tempted.