[inspiron]

For the last couple of years, I've been secretly in love with the Triumph Sprint ST. No other bike has "turned my head" like the Sprint ST. It looks good, it sounds good, and when I sat on one at a bike show, it just felt good.

Now, I am VERY happy with my Suzuki. It is almost perfect. If Suzuki had offered an ABS option for the GSX 1400, it would be perfect.

But, being a guy, there is always this thought in the back of my head that I am never 100% satisfied. I'm very happy with my bike, but maybe another bike would make me even happier … ?

In any case, I had some time to visit my local Triumph dealer this morning.

I looked around the showroom and noticed that they didn’t have any Sprint STs around. Hmmm.

I got to talking with the owner of the shop, and he told me that the Sprint ST is simply not available in Switzerland anymore. He suspects that Triumph is re-engineering them and going to announce a new model later this year. As we discussed this, he mentioned that there is some heat issues caused by the full fairing and the underseat exhaust, making the bike uncomfortable in traffic.

But, he recommended a test ride with the new Triumph Tiger 1050. It has the same engine as the Speed Triple and the Sprint ST (3 cylinder inline, water cooled, 1050ccm), and is designed as a pure touring bike (versus the Sprint "sport-touring").

So, off I went for my first ride on an English motorcycle.

My first impression was … wow! Compared to my Suzuki, the Tiger is very agile. It has a higher windscreen, and a very comfortable seat position, and is extremely "willing" to dive into twisties. The forks seem to have miles of travel – when braking hard, the front seems to really dive down. The engine sounds and feels like a motorcycle should sound and feel. My Suzuki is, (as the Triumph dealer described it), "a perfectly engineered machine that evokes absolutely no emotions". The Triumph engine is exactly what I expected – smoother than a 2 cylinder, but not as tranquil as an inline-4. The Triumph engine has an almost linear torque line – there is plenty of torque and power available no matter what gear you are in.

To summarize, I was pleasantly surprised by the Tiger 1050. It certainly evokes some emotions – it sounds like a motorcycle should sound, it feels like a motorcycle should feel, and it is just plain FUN to ride.