Current rides

I have had a number of bikes in the past few years but thought I would give you a run down of what I am riding now and why.

At the moment I have two bikes, a 1999 Honda VFR800 FI-X (the wonderful pre V-Tech model) and a 2007 Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (she is a beaut!)

I know what some of you are thinking, “what’s the point of having two sports tourers?” Well there isn’t really, I had the VFR for a few years and crashed it (twice), nothing serious just small offs not really causing any damage at all to the bike. Although the second one did cost me a broken clavicle and £100 for a police ride course just because they wanted to make some money that day, but that’s another story. It was an amazing bike that never skipped a beat and never even a hint of a breakdown. There does however come a few issues with a 17 year old bike that is ridden all year round no matter what the weather, even one as well cared for as this one, and that’s corrosion. After snapping the odd bolt here and there, I had a header bolt snap while changing the exhaust seals and finally had enough. While the VFR is in bits being restored as much as possible I went looking for something a little shinier.

I new I wanted to stick to a sports tourer due to wanting something with some style and speed but also didn’t fancy doing 2000+ mile rides perched on top of a super sport. I took a very nice 2017 VFR800 for a test ride from Wigan Honda, it was a smooth ride, had plenty of poke and would not have struggled with any tour you could throw at it. All this being said there was just nothing that made me NEED to have it! So it was back to the search.

After some research online I found a few very nice looking Triumph Sprints at The Superbike Factory in Macclesfield. Superbike factory is a great place to spend some time searching through the huge choice of second hand bikes they have in their warehouse. After spending some time sitting on various bikes I settled with a bargain of a Sprint ST, it was a 2007 model (which I chose over the 2010 model due to the underseat exhaust) that had hardly been ridden in its 10 years.

It was a very clean bike, not a spot of rust any where on it. It had obviously been cared for and garaged its entire life, in fact between 2014 and 2016 it had done one mile and hadn’t even been mot’d. After starting it up just the noise from the standard underseat exhaust and the riding position was enough to ignite that feeling of, YES! ill have this one! something the VFR800 was lacking. I very quickly signed all paperwork that was sent my way and waited for delivery of my new pride and joy. After it arrived and all the legalities had been sorted out I took it out for a spin and WOW, the jump from 800cc to 1050 was a lot of fun and very noticeable and it stuck to the road like glue! it is definitely a lot more fun and has that little extra something over the VFR which I know will piss off a lot VFR fan boys but after owning both the sprint wins every time! Even 4000 miles or so later in the 4 months I’ve had it, it still gives me the same feeling!

Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you’re riding.

Henry
The Furthest Point