my name is mwd

Yesterday was a sort of pre-christmas day for me, I went out test driving motorbikes. As much as I love my Ducati 907IE, it’s not been the most reliable of bikes – I think it’s cost me about 50p a mile in garage fees so far, and it’s currently in an unmantled state in the garage whilst I find the right tool to let me drain its oil out due to a mistake related to a broke oil gauge. So, a replacement is called for, and to save me going through dodgy bikes again (one hopes) it’s time for a spanking new bike I fear, or at least sufficiently new that it’ll have a warranty. I’m also getting rid of my car (equally unreliable), so a reliable bike is essential.

First things first (as Laura pointed out) – what do I want from a bike. Well, as I said to a bike shop dude recently, something that goes would be nice. But there’s more to it than that. I got into motorcycling and got the Ducati 907 as I liked the idea of touring, so a bike that won’t cripple me after a couple of hundred miles is essential – as fun as something like a Ducati 996 is, it does leave you unable to exert yourself much the next day if you’ve done 150 miles on it (says the voice of experience). Something that is comfortable two up is also very important; whilst motorcycling is a fantastic way to switch off and get some self time, I’d also like to be able to go places with my beloved (who furnished herself with a motorcycling jacket yesterday for such occasions). Again, something that’s capable of holding luggage would be another feature for such jaunts. I have some soft luggage, but I think well fitted hard luggage is definitely the way to go for such jaunts.

This is is all well and good, but doesn’t really represent what I’ll use the bike for 90% of the time, which is getting to work or going for a quick jaunt around the nearby countryside. Thus I want something that’s practical for the commute to Ndiyo Central (about 5 miles away), and is enjoyable to ride on a weekend blast around B roads. Biking is definitely a large part about having fun, being able to both sit and watch the scenery, and also to enjoy the rush of being on a lightweight vehicle with a (dis)proportionally large engine, as anyone that’s twisted the throttle in response to a “National Speed Limit Applies” road sign can tell you.

So, given this vague set of requirements, I looked up some bikes that might fit these requirements. Most bike companies do a sports tourer bike, which is a sporty looking bike with less aggressive ergonomics, making it more comfortable over long distances. This is the category my Ducati 907 falls into. Then there’s the more traditional touring bikes, which are aimed at purely touring but won’t be ideal commuter bikes, which I’ve mostly ignored. Then there’s the “Adventure Touring” or “Adventure Sports Touring” bikes, essentially the SUV (albeit the Porsche SUV end) of the bike world. These have become popular in part due to the Long Way Round, which has seen BMW’s offerings rocket to the top of the sales figures in that category.

After a bit of pondering I picked a set of bikes from BMW, Triumph, and Buell. From BMW I was interested in the BMW R1200GS, the adventure tourer, and the BMW R1200ST, their sports tourer. BMW’s popularity makes it an obvious choice to consider. From Triumph I looked at the equivalent two offerings, the new Triumph Tiger, and the Triumph Sprint ST. Triumph’s Tiger seems to be getting good reviews, and the Sprint ST was the best selling sports tourer in the UK last year. Finally, a bit more off the beaten track, I cast my eyes on the Buell XB12X Ulysses. Buell are the “traditional” bike arm of Harley Davidson. They mostly build sporty roadster bikes around Harley V-Twin engines, and the Ulysses is their venture into adventure sports bikes. The jury is still out in our household as to how best pronounce their name.

This set of bikes misses out loads of bikes, but one has to make some random filtering decisions, otherwise I’d be test driving until 2009. I have a vague prejudice, which I admit is completely random, against Japanese bikes. They seem a bit dull. Practical, but dull. Now, there’s an argument that after the Ducati that’s exactly what I should be aiming for, but biking is also about fun, so I have a more European bias on my selection process. Though in the end I did look for a Suzuki V-Strom (not V-Storm as I original misread it), which does get good reviews, but proved elusive at the local Suzuki dealership.

A call around later I was left with appointments to test the two Triumphs and the Buell. BMW seemed far to busy to allow me to test drive their bikes, assuming they had them, and no one seemed to have an ST in any of the local dealers I called. And as nice as the GS seems, I suspect it’s a bit big for a commute around town, so I decided to skip on the BMWs for now (a decision helped by the extra 2000 pounds the BMW would have cost), though I still aim to test drive a GS for fun at some point to see what all the fuss is about. So, now I have three bikes to test…

Triumph Tiger 2007

The new Triumph Tiger is based on the 1050cc Speed Triple engine, and is Triumph’s adventure tourer. Previous versions had some pretence to off road touring, but the new version is squarely aimed at on road touring. First impressions is that it’s a quirky but nice looking bike, it feels quite high, though I suspect it’s not really that much different from my Ducati, and the seating position is very different from what I’m used to. In these tourers the rider is positioned in a very upright position, unlike sports tourers where you lean forward much more (and sports bikes where you feel like you’re toppling forward…). This position is much more comfortable for long distances than sports bikes, but does take some edge off the fun aspect of riding – it’s a very sedate experience.

The Speed Triple 1050 engine was very good. The bike would easily take me up to the 70+ mph range without effort. I’d be going through the gears waiting for the engine to start struggling as it reached for such speeds only to find I was already there, and the bike was ambling along quite happily. Herein lies the advantage of the large engines on the bikes I was testing – it’s not about doing 180 mph (as the Sprint ST speedo boasted was its top end), but about how comfortable the engine feels around the average operating point for long journeys. The gear changes we very clear and well defined, never leaving me fishing around with my left foot trying to work out whether a gear had taken or not. On the subject of gearing, the engine has 5 gears, and you can happily sit in the top gear from about 40 onwards without the engine struggling – in fact, I took it as low as 30 and whilst you could tell it might like to change down, it still wasn’t juddering. All in all a very forging, easy going engine.

However, partly that was the Tigers downfall too. When I left the dealer to take the Tiger out I was told I would return with a big grin, it didn’t evoke that emotion. It was a very driver friendly, capable, comfortable bike, but it took the fun out of riding for me. This is not the Tiger’s fault, more that in looking towards the Adventure Touring class I was probably looking in the wrong place for what I wanted from a bike. Which is a shame, as the Tiger is a very nice bike, but it just didn’t sing to me. Price wise it’s also quite reasonable for it’s category, coming in at £7999 for the non ABS version.

I took Laura out on the back of the bike for a spin, as I wanted to see what she thought of the tourer category, despite my misgivings, and also to feel how the bike coped with an extra person – the 907 struggles a bit in places with another body. My guess before hand was that the Tiger would provide a much better riding position for the pillion and be much more forgiving performance wise, but I only got one out of two correct there. The 1050 engine certainly did handle the extra person without any problems, it felt just as responsive as ever, showing another benefit of the large engine capacity. But although the pillion position was different, it wasn’t necessarily better was the review from behind me. Laura could see a lot more, being elevated above me for the first time, but this also meant she was subject to more buffeting by the wind (which may have been helped by the touring screen – the test Tiger only had a standard screen on). The stock Tiger also had side grab handles for the pillion, which were appreciated, but she still felt less stable in turns, and had I got side panniers then they would have been replaced with a single rear grab handle.

So, all in all, a nice bike that I wanted to like more than I did.

Triumph Sprint ST

After a quick cup of tea it was back out, this time on the Sprint ST. The Sprint ST has the same engine as the Tiger, again the three cylinder 1050, tuned slightly differently. The riding position is much more sloped forward, and much more like the 907. The looks are, frankly, dull and uninspiring. This doesn’t bother me too much, as I don’t see them when riding, but one can’t help but feel they could have made it look a bit more exciting somehow. The looks certainly don’t match how it felt on the road.

Immediately the Sprint felt much more fun to ride. The power delivery was much more instant, and gave me much more confidence in overtaking than I usually have from the Ducati (which is probably more to do with the Ducati’s age than anything else – it may be 900cc but it’s much heavier). Around back roads it was indeed a blast to drive. On the windy and busy A roads near Peterborough though it was a struggle to ride at 70+ compared to the Tiger. Yes, you feel (and thus enjoy) the speed more on the Sprint, but in the wrong wind conditions it becomes much harder work. Although I can see I’d be able to do a few hundred miles on the Sprint okay, it’d clearly not be as restful as on the Tiger.

I was annoyed halfway through my test – I clearly enjoyed the Sprint more than the Tiger, and for some reason I wanted to like the Tiger more. The Tiger was the sensible bike for long runs, and I suspect still the better bike for 2 up riding, but for riding every day or weekend jaunts the Sprint was calling to me more, A road wind issues aside. But then I hit town.

I took a wrong turn on my planned test route, and rather than having more fun on B roads I ended up driving through Peterborough city centre. In some ways, this was more interesting from a test point of view, but definitely less fun. Like the Ducati, the Sprint was less happy with the city roads. The low speeds and the stopping and starting I could feel the engine heating up and wanting to be out on open roads again. I couldn’t blame it, but it did make me feel unrelaxed about taking it through towns. I’m sure it’s fine at coping with the heat, but given my commuting requirements I felt a bit unsure about it’s suitability.

But it was fun, and when I returned to the Triumph dealer to get the low down, Laura had discovered that there we a very tempting deal on the Sprint ST, with the 2006 model (basically, I had to have it in silver) with side panniers coming in at £7499.

Despite my short comings on both Triumphs, they’re both good bikes, and although neither did all that I wanted, that’s not really a surprise. I left the Triumph dealer quite conflicted. Two very good bikes, reasonably priced, but neither quite what I was after, but good enough that I could imagine I’d be happy with one or the other. Oh, and top marks to Peterborough Triumph, who were very helpful without being pushy, and made the testing experience go well.

Buell Ulysses

A quick lunch stop later, and we were at Black Bear in Newmarket to try the Buell. First impressions again – the Buell is a very interesting bike. It brings out the nerd in me, as they’ve designed the bike a bit differently. The engine is a Harley Davidson 1203cc V-twin engine. Whilst the Triumphs were smooth and quiet, the Buell roared the way only a V-twin can (like the Ducatis, though it was still quite a bit quieter than my Duc). The Buell has been designed to lower the centre of gravity as much as possible to help with stability. The fuel tank is the frame, the oil is kept in the swing arm, and the exhaust is slung underneath the body of the bike. It is also belt driven, rather than chain driven, which is theoretically maintenance free.

Then there’s the paddle at the rear of the bike you can see on the pillion seat in the picture. This can sit up at 90 degrees as a back rest for the pillion, or be extended back 180 degrees to carry luggage. I was worried it would be a bit too flimsy to be a meaningful back rest, but I gave it a good tug and it felt solid as a rock. In fact, this got a rave review from Laura, as it gave her much more confidence in being on the back. She suggested a top box might also give her such confidence, but then one doesn’t always want the luggage on. On the same theme, the seat on the Buell is quite wide, which meant she felt more balanced on the bike, so all in all a good review was passed on the pillion.

Riding it, for the first mile I didn’t like it. It vibrated lots, like my Ducati does when it’s in neutral, and I struggled to get to grips with the gearing. The gear range is very different from the Triumphs, and it took me a while to get used to. 40 was done in second, not top. In fact, it was only when I had the pillion on, which the 1200cc engine handled with ease, that the gear range made sense.

But once I’d got my head around the engine’s responses then the Buell became a fun bike to drive. Like the Tiger the seating position is very upright and distance orientated, but then the engine response made it very fun to drive. It had omph that the Tiger was lacking. Indeed, the Ulysses is almost a half way house between the two Triumphs. The bike also was fun without feeling the need to max out the engine. It has 1200cc of power, but it was a blast to ride in the 60 to 70 range, with the power there when you wanted to tackle hills. Strangely, for Cambridgeshire, I found quite a steep hill and the Ulysses took it like it wasn’t there.

There are some negatives of course. The Triumphs both had very nice dash consoles, including fuel guages, which my Ducati doesn’t have (more brokenness). I’d been quite taken with the nice displays on both Triumphs, but the Buell was more primitive. But on the whole, it was yet another great bike, and at £8200 it’s not that different in price from the rest, and Buell have a very good insurance offer on the go at the moment, which would save money (based on how much I’m paying for the Ducati at the moment).

And the winner is?

I’m not sure :) All three were good bikes, but I think the Buell has the edge. It was more fun to ride, but had better touring credentials and the beloved found it nice to ride. It certainly was the bike I came back with the biggest grin on. All bikes are available at short notice, so now I have a day to try and figure out which one I really want the most. I hate decisions!