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Dear All,
I came back after a long time to edit this as a lot of people have been referring to my updates for several years. So, thanks to all of those people who have appreciated the honesty and simplicity in my writing.
I am deliberately adding my latest update at the top and arranging all my write-ups in the reverse chronological order.
Whoever wishes to get into ownership of a superbike deserves to know this.
==============================
Very long term update (Sep-2024):
My bike will be very soon completing 9 years under my ownership. Not sure how many other people held on to their bikes for this long.
I obviously love my Street Triple 675 - that's why I held it so long. It is still having excellent performance and everything. Reliability is overall quite good except minor niggles.
Yet, by now I have seriously thought that I will end up selling it and downgrade to a KTM Duke 390. It sounds weird and painful (my heart is aching while writing all this!)
Till the 8th year i.e. 2023, my ownership experience was alright.
Last year, Bajaj - Triumph 400 cc products came to the market and Triumph India has kind of wrapped up from India. Their bikes have become CBU from Thailand apparently.
Spare parts, Service, Delivery etc India operations seem to have gone to Bajaj Auto from 2023 onwards.
This has affected the situation of spare parts inventory quite badly.
As a super bike owner, I do understand that we can't expect availability of spares the way we do for Splendor.
But, after having invested anything from 9 lakhs to 20-30 lakhs, why should a super bike owner struggle for very small parts that are hardly having a value of ₹ 200-400 or ₹ 1000-3000 etc?
Especially the ones that are prone to wear/tear OR breakage due to ageing (a few key rubber / plastic components) should be there in the inventory.
From late 2023 onwards, it has been my experience that for every small spare part, one has to wait 1-2 months.
Also, the spare part prices have been hiked by Bajaj Auto (now they are charging their own margin on top of already expensive Triumph parts).
When I bought this bike in 2015, the waiting times were in 1-2 months range for several spare parts but not everything at least.
Around 2018-2019 period, the waiting times had come down to 2-3 weeks and general availability of parts was better.
Come 2024, even small parts are not at all in the inventory - as Bajaj seems to believe in Just In Time (where Time is as per their convenience - not the consumer's convenience!)
By now, I have a very strong feeling that once a superbike is sold to a given customer, it becomes that customer's liability and Bajaj-Triumph combine doesn't care about them at all.
The attitude of Bajaj is that once a customer has spent so much money, that customer anyway has enough money and patience to wait whatever time spares may take while arriving. Customers are stuck with the given bike and will pay through their noses to keep the bikes running - that seems to be the assumption.
So, Bajaj can charge high margins and take their own sweet time to delivery the spares - your 10-20 lakh worth motorcycle can sit idle for any amount of time due to a very small component!
On the other hand, newer 400 cc segment models get cheap service and easy spares availability (naturally because the manufacturing is in Pune itself).
My real life examples:
(Aug-2024)
I gave my bike for regular servicing to BUB Triumph (Pashan, Pune) last Saturday (31-Aug-2024).
Later in the afternoon, I got a call back from my service advisor and he said that one small rubber or plastic elbow shaped component that allows coolant overflow pipe to connect with the underbelly coolant reservoir has gone kaput.
It's not a large sized part and the value of this part is hardly ₹ 200-400 something like that.
Guess what? The part is not in inventory (as usual).
Earlier this year (Jan-2024).....
I sensed that the chain-pad of my Street Triple 675 was nearing its end-of-life and hence wanted to get it replaced at B U Bhandari Triumph, Pune.
They asked me to pay the full price in advance (about ₹ 3400) which I did on 24-Jan-2024. It took 2 months or so to get this wear-tear part.
That's when I wrote this article and even got a call from Bajaj Auto after this article went viral -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superbikes-imports/276176-issues-faced-triumph-motorcycle-owners-open-letter-triumph-india-triumph-uk-2.html
Bajaj Auto did assure me that things will improve - well, they haven't improved at all.
Unfortunately, I am not even thinking of switching to any other premium brand like Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, BMW etc - their spare parts situation is not very different from this. Chances are that it could even be worse than Triumph.
Finally, KTM (which indirectly is still Bajaj!!) seems to be the only brand and 390 range seems to be the only optimal combination of moderate price and ease of ownership. Anything beyond that is not maintainable for a normal person.
I didn't feel so frustrated through 2015-2023 period but now I am done with this bad experience.
=============================
===============================================
My past update after 5 years of ownership - Nov-2020!
It has been quite a while since I revisited XBHP website and my own thread so I felt it is time to update the original thread itself - there are of course many interim updates elsewhere within the thread but below are some useful observations.
1) Street Triple remained a fairly reliable motorcycle through 5 year ownership so far. Most importantly, the dreaded STALLING ISSUE WENT AWAY ENTIRELY (because I installed a MANUAL IDLER on my bike - no stalling from that point onwards at all!)
2) The dealership friendliness at TRIUMPH BUB has seen some ups and downs but it still remains relatively much better than many other brands in this particular category. Much water has flown under the bridge where some showrooms already folded up - e.g. MV Agusta, Ducati, Kawasaki etc though they either already made a comeback in these 5 years or are now making a comeback...
3) During 2019, Triumph came up with 2 years extended warranty scheme which I did avail. It cost me approx ₹ 26000. Ultimately, in Nov-2020, I ended up making use of this extended warranty - so now I am happy that I ended up buying this kind of a warranty package. You are requested to purchase this kind of warranty after thoroughly checking what are the exclusions (that list is fairly long but there are still quite a few critical parts that are covered by the E.W.)
My bike's radiator recently showed minute leakage and I took the bike to the showroom. After a while, they did agree it was a manufacturing fault and there was no physical damage seen or even the puncture on that radiator was not visible at all to the human eyes but coolant was leaking out.
So, they have ordered the replacement part under the warranty. Very soon my bike shall have a brand new radiator and I will get a thorough flush done during the new radiator installation.
4) In the year 2020, I not only ended up spending plenty of money on my bike (major service, tyres, insurance, fork seals, brake pads and what not!) but unfortunately due to Corona effect, I have not been able to use it too much. Even then I have done approx 42000-43000 km of running on my bike so far over 5 years and I am certainly clinging to this bike for another 2 years if not more.
5) What are the major and frequent expenses on this bike?
- Tyres - almost needed every year (around ₹ 26000 so far but it looks like now the prices will go up a lot to the range of ₹ 35000 if not more)
- Servicing - Mandatory every year (alternately this number can vary between ₹ 8-9000 to anything up to ₹ 23000 especially if you have fork oil replacement and so on during a major service)
- Front Brake Pads - Almost every year replacement needed. ₹ 6500-7000 approx
- Headlight Bulbs - Almost every 15-18 months one or the other headlight bulb conks off for unknown reason (referring to LED as I had the OEM halogens for only a short time - after that first I moved to Cyclops and then to Novsight bulbs and happier with Novsight) - Approx ₹ 2000-4000 depending on what brand you use.
6) Upgrade options - While I haven't seriously thought of going beyond this particular bike, many fellow street triple riders did upgrade to higher capacity bikes such as Aprilia Tuono, Ducati Panigale 959 and so on. I don't have a budget for this and I am quite happy with the existing capacity itself but obviously in the company of such bigger and faster bikes, Street Triple suddenly feels a tad slower (which it is not - but the others are way faster!)
7) Even though I ride fast, I don't overly stress the bike and my bike is used in a fairly regular manner - at least 3-4 times a week if not more - due to this I have got a much higher mileage from many of the things that I have on my bike.
E.g. My original Yuasa battery lasted 4.5 years! While majority of the folks have replaced it under 3 years or so.
My Chain-Sprocket are still going alright at about 43000 km while some people have finished 1-2 sets by now within a similar mileage (not talking of those who did track days and all - that causes much faster parts replacement).
My original accelerator, clutch cables etc are still working ok at the end of 5 years - though I may have to replace these in next 2-3 months max - or may be earlier.
8) Over the period, I got used to the lower ground clearance issue of my bike. Also being a heavier rider (about 86 Kg!) I got the rear suspension adjusted for a stiffer setting which did help me though it reduced the comfort slightly. Overall, I have scraped the bottom of the bike very rarely during 5 years of ownership and that is despite frequently travelling over bad roads or places having fairly sharp / high rising speed breakers. It does take some practice and absolutely care to slow down well before approaching a bump but with some care, it is possible to negotiate bad roads and speed breakers to quite an extent - of course, I would not recommend going to bad roads on purpose but if you occasionally do end up in such places, with some care you and your bike will survive alright!
I had only one major front rim-bending experience in the 2nd year of the ownership and after that I have been successful in avoiding that issue.
9) Insurance - From 2nd year onwards, I have stuck with IFFCO Tokio insurance company regularly because of their friendlier policies of ZERO DEPRECIATION till 8-10 years and also it is one rare company providing insurance for a bent rim. Many leading insurance companies like ICICI Lombard are not providing Rim-Bending cover for premium bikes. Claiming insurance after a bent rim is somewhat painful so just because you have an insurance, don't be too cavalier with your riding habits. But at least you will not end up coughing up huge sums on the rim (front rim alone costs something like ₹ 56000 - prices vary due to GBP-INR variations !!)
10) Wear and Tear of Riding Gear - This is one more very expensive affair for a motorcycle rider. My jacket and riding pants have survived for 4 years (I had bought them in June-2016).
My X-Lite X 603 helmet is now wearing out (the cheek pads and head-liner are kind of gone). Unfortunately, the replacement liner and cheek-pads are so expensive that it doesn't make sense - approx 70-80-90 EURO for just these is way too much - as the same whole helmet itself is available at about 160 EURO (earlier it was much costlier at about 215-220 EURO - maybe this new price is a clearance price at Louis Megashop Germany).
I already ran through 2 pairs of gloves (Held in 2016, RST in 2018 and now again Held in 2020 same model as previously) and currently on 3rd pair of gloves within last 5 years.
My Cortech Latigo Air RR boots also went kaput and last year in May-2019, I bought up Sidi Vertigo 2 boots at about ₹21000. These seem to be excellent quality and should last fairly long - but these are not as comfy as the Cortech ones - but these feel far more secure.
I haven't been able to garner enough budget yet to get a full race suit and also do a track day or attend a racing school - but then one can't hope to get everything as and when one wants! So I will hopefully fulfil these dreams through the next 1-2 years of my ownership of this bike!
==========================================
[ORIGINAL WRITE UP - 2015]
Dear All,
I have finally done the unthinkable - I mean what was unthinkable at least for me till only few days ago!
Have gone ahead and bought Triumph Street Triple 675 (in 2016 colours!)
I was confused for a long time between Triumph ST and Kawasaki Z800. Other bikes I considered were DSK Benelli 600i and Honda CBR 650F.
But following things settled it for me:
1) Triumph people were the only ones to go out of the way to arrange test rides and answer various doubts etc
2) Honda and DSK people also arranged test rides etc - but I eliminated Honda as somehow I didn't overall like the bike. In terms of comfort it is very good but it somehow didn't feel the way I expected - this is entirely subjective and many can feel entirely in opposite manner. CBR 650F just doesn't feel that it has lot of oomph - which actually it does have. It can go fast, it can brake rather quickly and is comfortable. Yet somehow the package didn't feel as appealing as I wanted it. DSK Benelli 600i was quite good - but its braking was not what it should have been. Also it felt a bit on heavy side. I would have still gone for DSK Benelli if its price was about 50-70K more but it had ABS system. Unfortunately there was no indication when they will come with ABS and for me waiting for another 1-2 years was not desirable...So sadly I eliminated Benelli also.
3) Kawasaki Z 800 was the most difficult competitor to eliminate. It had many plus points like imposing looks, superb power and excellent braking. Though on heavier side, once on the move it didn't feel that way. Additionally Z 800 was whopping Rs 80000 less on-road in Pune.
BUT......It didn't feel comfortable on concrete or somewhat broken roads. This was my experience despite all automotive reviews saying Z800 has a more plush ride compared to Triumph ST. Actual on road feeling (at least when both test bikes were compared) was not matching that description. It also didn't feel comfortable for pillion at all - even my 10 year old daughter felt totally uncomfortable within 5 minutes of ride on Z800 - may be only the test bike was set up too stiff - but it spoiled the experience and hence opinion also. Plus Kawasaki folks were not ready to arrange a long test ride to allow a realistic comparison.
Now, nobody in his or her right mind will put Rs 8 Lakh or higher on a bike simply due to trust on its name without giving it a reasonable try first. On Triumph, I had multiple long rides where I took my friend (equally heavy-set as myself
) as well as my wife on different occasions.
Triumph turned out more comfortable in every condition. Be it heavy traffic, good or bad roads, Concrete or Asphalt, straight or turns...It was just quite easy to ride, very flickable and not scary despite being very fast.
Actual riding experience:
First thing to note is - compared to test bike actual bike is slightly more sedate sounding because of two things:
a) Currently I am continuing with stock exhaust. Triumph specialist told me to decide about changing the exhaust to ARROW only after running in period was completed and first I should use stock exhaust for few km when full blown power can be utilized.
b) As of now, can't exceed 5000 RPM. In fact I am not exceeding 4000 RPM really. Around 4000 RPM in 6th gear translates to about 68 kmph which is mostly enough for day to day purposes. The real sound would come only at a much higher RPM when one hits 120-130 kmph at least. Can't do that for now.
Bike pulls easily from 25-30 kmph in 4th gear, from 30-40 kmph in 5th gear and from 45 kmph in 6th gear.
Haven't checked fuel consumption yet. But found it quite easy to slice through traffic jams in Hinjewadi (Pune). It was not too different than KTM Duke 200 - only slightly more effort was required especially whenever we are in 1st gear. Finer control of clutch and slight increase in RPM is needed if you have to take off from standstill but don't want to accelerate too fast due to bumper-to-bumper traffic. But it is not too difficult. Height of the bike is quite manageable for me (I am 5 ft 10 in) with both feet easily reaching ground and the bike is quite light weight for its category.
Minor niggles:
Right side Rear View mirror is not giving me any view of traffic behind me despite my attempts to adjust it. Left mirror is just fine.
When riding double seat, even with lot of caution, the speed breakers in various societies prove dangerous for this bike. For single seat this problem is almost eliminated.
My suggestion is - once you reach your society, either find a way to bypass the speed-breakers by moving to extreme left if there is some space where you can sneak through, please do that. Else reduce your speed to almost 2-3 kmph while crossing the speed breaker and if there is a pillion with you, ask that person to get down before crossing such a speed breaker!! For single seat it didn't scrape the bottom even on rather tall speed breaker in our society as well as my friend's place.
Except this one vulnerability, it is entirely practical motorcycle which I have already started using daily to my office. Comfort level is very high, all minor bumps aren't felt at all.
Perfectly stable while going through the gravel on road side (obviously make sure that you don't cross particularly large stones that could hit the belly!)
So, with some precautions, it is absolutely a normal motorcycle that anyone with basic skills can ride and yet, during weekend ride or on open roads, it has potential to transform into a vicious high-speeder that could prove fatal if not handled with care!
More from me in near future once I go for few medium distance rides - need to finish those first 800 km as quickly as possible....Till then good-bye!!
Regards,
Jeevan
I came back after a long time to edit this as a lot of people have been referring to my updates for several years. So, thanks to all of those people who have appreciated the honesty and simplicity in my writing.
I am deliberately adding my latest update at the top and arranging all my write-ups in the reverse chronological order.
Whoever wishes to get into ownership of a superbike deserves to know this.
==============================
Very long term update (Sep-2024):
My bike will be very soon completing 9 years under my ownership. Not sure how many other people held on to their bikes for this long.
I obviously love my Street Triple 675 - that's why I held it so long. It is still having excellent performance and everything. Reliability is overall quite good except minor niggles.
Yet, by now I have seriously thought that I will end up selling it and downgrade to a KTM Duke 390. It sounds weird and painful (my heart is aching while writing all this!)
Till the 8th year i.e. 2023, my ownership experience was alright.
Last year, Bajaj - Triumph 400 cc products came to the market and Triumph India has kind of wrapped up from India. Their bikes have become CBU from Thailand apparently.
Spare parts, Service, Delivery etc India operations seem to have gone to Bajaj Auto from 2023 onwards.
This has affected the situation of spare parts inventory quite badly.
As a super bike owner, I do understand that we can't expect availability of spares the way we do for Splendor.
But, after having invested anything from 9 lakhs to 20-30 lakhs, why should a super bike owner struggle for very small parts that are hardly having a value of ₹ 200-400 or ₹ 1000-3000 etc?
Especially the ones that are prone to wear/tear OR breakage due to ageing (a few key rubber / plastic components) should be there in the inventory.
From late 2023 onwards, it has been my experience that for every small spare part, one has to wait 1-2 months.
Also, the spare part prices have been hiked by Bajaj Auto (now they are charging their own margin on top of already expensive Triumph parts).
When I bought this bike in 2015, the waiting times were in 1-2 months range for several spare parts but not everything at least.
Around 2018-2019 period, the waiting times had come down to 2-3 weeks and general availability of parts was better.
Come 2024, even small parts are not at all in the inventory - as Bajaj seems to believe in Just In Time (where Time is as per their convenience - not the consumer's convenience!)
By now, I have a very strong feeling that once a superbike is sold to a given customer, it becomes that customer's liability and Bajaj-Triumph combine doesn't care about them at all.
The attitude of Bajaj is that once a customer has spent so much money, that customer anyway has enough money and patience to wait whatever time spares may take while arriving. Customers are stuck with the given bike and will pay through their noses to keep the bikes running - that seems to be the assumption.
So, Bajaj can charge high margins and take their own sweet time to delivery the spares - your 10-20 lakh worth motorcycle can sit idle for any amount of time due to a very small component!
On the other hand, newer 400 cc segment models get cheap service and easy spares availability (naturally because the manufacturing is in Pune itself).
My real life examples:
(Aug-2024)
I gave my bike for regular servicing to BUB Triumph (Pashan, Pune) last Saturday (31-Aug-2024).
Later in the afternoon, I got a call back from my service advisor and he said that one small rubber or plastic elbow shaped component that allows coolant overflow pipe to connect with the underbelly coolant reservoir has gone kaput.
It's not a large sized part and the value of this part is hardly ₹ 200-400 something like that.
Guess what? The part is not in inventory (as usual).
Earlier this year (Jan-2024).....
I sensed that the chain-pad of my Street Triple 675 was nearing its end-of-life and hence wanted to get it replaced at B U Bhandari Triumph, Pune.
They asked me to pay the full price in advance (about ₹ 3400) which I did on 24-Jan-2024. It took 2 months or so to get this wear-tear part.
That's when I wrote this article and even got a call from Bajaj Auto after this article went viral -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superbikes-imports/276176-issues-faced-triumph-motorcycle-owners-open-letter-triumph-india-triumph-uk-2.html
Bajaj Auto did assure me that things will improve - well, they haven't improved at all.
Unfortunately, I am not even thinking of switching to any other premium brand like Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, BMW etc - their spare parts situation is not very different from this. Chances are that it could even be worse than Triumph.
Finally, KTM (which indirectly is still Bajaj!!) seems to be the only brand and 390 range seems to be the only optimal combination of moderate price and ease of ownership. Anything beyond that is not maintainable for a normal person.
I didn't feel so frustrated through 2015-2023 period but now I am done with this bad experience.
=============================
===============================================
My past update after 5 years of ownership - Nov-2020!
It has been quite a while since I revisited XBHP website and my own thread so I felt it is time to update the original thread itself - there are of course many interim updates elsewhere within the thread but below are some useful observations.
1) Street Triple remained a fairly reliable motorcycle through 5 year ownership so far. Most importantly, the dreaded STALLING ISSUE WENT AWAY ENTIRELY (because I installed a MANUAL IDLER on my bike - no stalling from that point onwards at all!)
2) The dealership friendliness at TRIUMPH BUB has seen some ups and downs but it still remains relatively much better than many other brands in this particular category. Much water has flown under the bridge where some showrooms already folded up - e.g. MV Agusta, Ducati, Kawasaki etc though they either already made a comeback in these 5 years or are now making a comeback...
3) During 2019, Triumph came up with 2 years extended warranty scheme which I did avail. It cost me approx ₹ 26000. Ultimately, in Nov-2020, I ended up making use of this extended warranty - so now I am happy that I ended up buying this kind of a warranty package. You are requested to purchase this kind of warranty after thoroughly checking what are the exclusions (that list is fairly long but there are still quite a few critical parts that are covered by the E.W.)
My bike's radiator recently showed minute leakage and I took the bike to the showroom. After a while, they did agree it was a manufacturing fault and there was no physical damage seen or even the puncture on that radiator was not visible at all to the human eyes but coolant was leaking out.
So, they have ordered the replacement part under the warranty. Very soon my bike shall have a brand new radiator and I will get a thorough flush done during the new radiator installation.
4) In the year 2020, I not only ended up spending plenty of money on my bike (major service, tyres, insurance, fork seals, brake pads and what not!) but unfortunately due to Corona effect, I have not been able to use it too much. Even then I have done approx 42000-43000 km of running on my bike so far over 5 years and I am certainly clinging to this bike for another 2 years if not more.
5) What are the major and frequent expenses on this bike?
- Tyres - almost needed every year (around ₹ 26000 so far but it looks like now the prices will go up a lot to the range of ₹ 35000 if not more)
- Servicing - Mandatory every year (alternately this number can vary between ₹ 8-9000 to anything up to ₹ 23000 especially if you have fork oil replacement and so on during a major service)
- Front Brake Pads - Almost every year replacement needed. ₹ 6500-7000 approx
- Headlight Bulbs - Almost every 15-18 months one or the other headlight bulb conks off for unknown reason (referring to LED as I had the OEM halogens for only a short time - after that first I moved to Cyclops and then to Novsight bulbs and happier with Novsight) - Approx ₹ 2000-4000 depending on what brand you use.
6) Upgrade options - While I haven't seriously thought of going beyond this particular bike, many fellow street triple riders did upgrade to higher capacity bikes such as Aprilia Tuono, Ducati Panigale 959 and so on. I don't have a budget for this and I am quite happy with the existing capacity itself but obviously in the company of such bigger and faster bikes, Street Triple suddenly feels a tad slower (which it is not - but the others are way faster!)
7) Even though I ride fast, I don't overly stress the bike and my bike is used in a fairly regular manner - at least 3-4 times a week if not more - due to this I have got a much higher mileage from many of the things that I have on my bike.
E.g. My original Yuasa battery lasted 4.5 years! While majority of the folks have replaced it under 3 years or so.
My Chain-Sprocket are still going alright at about 43000 km while some people have finished 1-2 sets by now within a similar mileage (not talking of those who did track days and all - that causes much faster parts replacement).
My original accelerator, clutch cables etc are still working ok at the end of 5 years - though I may have to replace these in next 2-3 months max - or may be earlier.
8) Over the period, I got used to the lower ground clearance issue of my bike. Also being a heavier rider (about 86 Kg!) I got the rear suspension adjusted for a stiffer setting which did help me though it reduced the comfort slightly. Overall, I have scraped the bottom of the bike very rarely during 5 years of ownership and that is despite frequently travelling over bad roads or places having fairly sharp / high rising speed breakers. It does take some practice and absolutely care to slow down well before approaching a bump but with some care, it is possible to negotiate bad roads and speed breakers to quite an extent - of course, I would not recommend going to bad roads on purpose but if you occasionally do end up in such places, with some care you and your bike will survive alright!
I had only one major front rim-bending experience in the 2nd year of the ownership and after that I have been successful in avoiding that issue.
9) Insurance - From 2nd year onwards, I have stuck with IFFCO Tokio insurance company regularly because of their friendlier policies of ZERO DEPRECIATION till 8-10 years and also it is one rare company providing insurance for a bent rim. Many leading insurance companies like ICICI Lombard are not providing Rim-Bending cover for premium bikes. Claiming insurance after a bent rim is somewhat painful so just because you have an insurance, don't be too cavalier with your riding habits. But at least you will not end up coughing up huge sums on the rim (front rim alone costs something like ₹ 56000 - prices vary due to GBP-INR variations !!)
10) Wear and Tear of Riding Gear - This is one more very expensive affair for a motorcycle rider. My jacket and riding pants have survived for 4 years (I had bought them in June-2016).
My X-Lite X 603 helmet is now wearing out (the cheek pads and head-liner are kind of gone). Unfortunately, the replacement liner and cheek-pads are so expensive that it doesn't make sense - approx 70-80-90 EURO for just these is way too much - as the same whole helmet itself is available at about 160 EURO (earlier it was much costlier at about 215-220 EURO - maybe this new price is a clearance price at Louis Megashop Germany).
I already ran through 2 pairs of gloves (Held in 2016, RST in 2018 and now again Held in 2020 same model as previously) and currently on 3rd pair of gloves within last 5 years.
My Cortech Latigo Air RR boots also went kaput and last year in May-2019, I bought up Sidi Vertigo 2 boots at about ₹21000. These seem to be excellent quality and should last fairly long - but these are not as comfy as the Cortech ones - but these feel far more secure.
I haven't been able to garner enough budget yet to get a full race suit and also do a track day or attend a racing school - but then one can't hope to get everything as and when one wants! So I will hopefully fulfil these dreams through the next 1-2 years of my ownership of this bike!
==========================================
[ORIGINAL WRITE UP - 2015]
Dear All,
I have finally done the unthinkable - I mean what was unthinkable at least for me till only few days ago!
Have gone ahead and bought Triumph Street Triple 675 (in 2016 colours!)
I was confused for a long time between Triumph ST and Kawasaki Z800. Other bikes I considered were DSK Benelli 600i and Honda CBR 650F.
But following things settled it for me:
1) Triumph people were the only ones to go out of the way to arrange test rides and answer various doubts etc
2) Honda and DSK people also arranged test rides etc - but I eliminated Honda as somehow I didn't overall like the bike. In terms of comfort it is very good but it somehow didn't feel the way I expected - this is entirely subjective and many can feel entirely in opposite manner. CBR 650F just doesn't feel that it has lot of oomph - which actually it does have. It can go fast, it can brake rather quickly and is comfortable. Yet somehow the package didn't feel as appealing as I wanted it. DSK Benelli 600i was quite good - but its braking was not what it should have been. Also it felt a bit on heavy side. I would have still gone for DSK Benelli if its price was about 50-70K more but it had ABS system. Unfortunately there was no indication when they will come with ABS and for me waiting for another 1-2 years was not desirable...So sadly I eliminated Benelli also.
3) Kawasaki Z 800 was the most difficult competitor to eliminate. It had many plus points like imposing looks, superb power and excellent braking. Though on heavier side, once on the move it didn't feel that way. Additionally Z 800 was whopping Rs 80000 less on-road in Pune.
BUT......It didn't feel comfortable on concrete or somewhat broken roads. This was my experience despite all automotive reviews saying Z800 has a more plush ride compared to Triumph ST. Actual on road feeling (at least when both test bikes were compared) was not matching that description. It also didn't feel comfortable for pillion at all - even my 10 year old daughter felt totally uncomfortable within 5 minutes of ride on Z800 - may be only the test bike was set up too stiff - but it spoiled the experience and hence opinion also. Plus Kawasaki folks were not ready to arrange a long test ride to allow a realistic comparison.
Now, nobody in his or her right mind will put Rs 8 Lakh or higher on a bike simply due to trust on its name without giving it a reasonable try first. On Triumph, I had multiple long rides where I took my friend (equally heavy-set as myself
) as well as my wife on different occasions.Triumph turned out more comfortable in every condition. Be it heavy traffic, good or bad roads, Concrete or Asphalt, straight or turns...It was just quite easy to ride, very flickable and not scary despite being very fast.
Actual riding experience:
First thing to note is - compared to test bike actual bike is slightly more sedate sounding because of two things:
a) Currently I am continuing with stock exhaust. Triumph specialist told me to decide about changing the exhaust to ARROW only after running in period was completed and first I should use stock exhaust for few km when full blown power can be utilized.
b) As of now, can't exceed 5000 RPM. In fact I am not exceeding 4000 RPM really. Around 4000 RPM in 6th gear translates to about 68 kmph which is mostly enough for day to day purposes. The real sound would come only at a much higher RPM when one hits 120-130 kmph at least. Can't do that for now.
Bike pulls easily from 25-30 kmph in 4th gear, from 30-40 kmph in 5th gear and from 45 kmph in 6th gear.
Haven't checked fuel consumption yet. But found it quite easy to slice through traffic jams in Hinjewadi (Pune). It was not too different than KTM Duke 200 - only slightly more effort was required especially whenever we are in 1st gear. Finer control of clutch and slight increase in RPM is needed if you have to take off from standstill but don't want to accelerate too fast due to bumper-to-bumper traffic. But it is not too difficult. Height of the bike is quite manageable for me (I am 5 ft 10 in) with both feet easily reaching ground and the bike is quite light weight for its category.
Minor niggles:
Right side Rear View mirror is not giving me any view of traffic behind me despite my attempts to adjust it. Left mirror is just fine.
When riding double seat, even with lot of caution, the speed breakers in various societies prove dangerous for this bike. For single seat this problem is almost eliminated.
My suggestion is - once you reach your society, either find a way to bypass the speed-breakers by moving to extreme left if there is some space where you can sneak through, please do that. Else reduce your speed to almost 2-3 kmph while crossing the speed breaker and if there is a pillion with you, ask that person to get down before crossing such a speed breaker!! For single seat it didn't scrape the bottom even on rather tall speed breaker in our society as well as my friend's place.
Except this one vulnerability, it is entirely practical motorcycle which I have already started using daily to my office. Comfort level is very high, all minor bumps aren't felt at all.
Perfectly stable while going through the gravel on road side (obviously make sure that you don't cross particularly large stones that could hit the belly!)
So, with some precautions, it is absolutely a normal motorcycle that anyone with basic skills can ride and yet, during weekend ride or on open roads, it has potential to transform into a vicious high-speeder that could prove fatal if not handled with care!
More from me in near future once I go for few medium distance rides - need to finish those first 800 km as quickly as possible....Till then good-bye!!
Regards,
Jeevan
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