Virtually all modern bikes suffer from the same
affliction of fashion getting in the way of practicability and service life.
I had a brief test ride and felt instantly at home on the
bike. Everything fell easily to hand. Comfortable riding position and I
immediately felt I could ride this bike all day.
Likes
- · Lovely gutsy flexible engine. Plenty of power for touring and good low down pull. It does not demand to be revved.
- · Superb predictable handling. So easy to chuck around with confidence.
- · Great carrying ability. This bikes feels nearly as solid and planted 2 up and fully laden with luggage as it does solo. A remarkable achievement.
- · Long service intervals (for a motorcycle).
- · Good lights and generally good instrumentation (see moans below).
- · Decent range from the fuel tank, probably 200 miles solo.
- · Comfortable seat for both rider and pillion. My wife loves it on the back.
Observations
- · The brakes are good but seem to require more hand power than I would expect from a modern bike. Not like the Brembos on my old 900SS Ducati which would stand the bike on its head if you looked at them.
- · I have the low seat option. I have a 29” inside leg measurement and ideally would like the seat to still be a bit lower.
- · By modern standards the bike is not heavy but I think bike manufacturers should prioritise weight loss.
- · The finish generally seems to be standing up well to my lack of care.
Moans
Let us preface these with reminding ourselves that this is
supposed to be an ‘Adventure’ bike. In other words the sort of bike that you
could put on the cross channel ferry then head of across Europe and Siberia to
the Bering Straits or maybe even do Dakar on it. Why wouldn’t you want to do
this?
- · The unprotected drive chain. To be fair this is lasting pretty well but I am not riding the bike in hostile conditions and I do lube it frequently. Let’s wind the clock back to my 1957 Norton ES2 with its fully enclosed chain case. The chain was lubed by engine oil mist from a vent pipe and surplus dribbled out through a hole in the bottom (not very environmentally friendly I agree). I never remember lubing, adjusting or changing this chain, it just went on and on and on. Fashion over function.
- · The unprotected fork sliders. I am going to sound like a grumpy old fart but really none of my old Brit bikes had unprotected fork sliders and I have no memories of stripping forks down to change seals. Whereas the Triumph at 10,000 miles has had one of its fork seals go. I’m sure the other one won’t be far behind. This is POOR. A suspension failure making it an MoT failure after only 10,000 miles. Fashion over function.
- · A front mudguard that doesn’t. Perhaps it does not shorten the operational life and effectiveness of the radiator to have mud and road dirt continually chucked at it. I would think it did. Yes you can buy an extender but in my world mudguards are not an optional extra especially on a bike that is supposed to be designed for hostile conditions. Fashion over function.
- · Rear mudguarding. I have not used my bike off-road but the rear suspension unit is A) fairly inaccessible and B) covered in road dirt and crud. I know, I should be a conscientious owner and spend my weekends picking mud out of the radiator and trying to clean up an inaccessible unprotected rear suspension. Fashion over function.
Mini moans.
- · I would like to be able to read the clock without stopping to put my glasses on.
- · I would like to be able to reset the service icon when I have serviced the bike and not have to pay a Triumph dealer £400 to change the oil, filters and plugs so he can reset the icon.
Summary
A great bike that you wouldn’t want to go round the world on
without a Triumph mechanic in tow. Maybe a little jaunt across Europe stopping to lube the chain every 200 miles.
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