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Back from the Hol's



I'm just getting back into the swing of things after three weeks away on the
Sprint.
This could be a bit long.
Did about 2500 miles.
Bear with me I'm not particularly eloquent but I thought you might be
interested in my observations.(remember these are personal observations
about my particular bike)

Picked up the bike from the factory on the Thursday after having the oil
leak sorted.
The crankcases had been pressure tested and somebody at the factory had test
ridden it. (I began to doubt this)
First thing I noticed as soon as I got down the road was the mushy brakes
were back !
On the way from the factory to home (about 110 miles) I noticed the wobble
was still there, hence doubting the test ride.
When I got home I loosened off the head bearings some more (the dealers had
said they were tight and had already loosened them a bit.)
Then I took the calipers off , removed the pads and cleaned the pistons up a
bit in the hope of restoring the brakes a bit. this seemed to work.
The bike was then loaded up with tank bag panniers and top box and pillion.
Down to Portsmouth and the overnight ferry to Le Havre.
Met a fellow Sprint owner while waiting for the ferry.
Once in France and sitting at motorway speeds the wobble was still apparent.
One of the beauties of riding for a distance is it gives you time to think
about things.
I realised the wobble was caused by an automatic reaction on my part to
overcorrect due to the tight head bearings.
I reasoned that if I steered with my feet and more or less let go of the
handle bars I might not go into another 'death wobble' each time I overtook
or went near a truck.
Would you believe it worked !
Although when I explained it to my girlfriend, she was a bit dubious about
the letting go of the handlebars bit.
Anyway, in that mode I blatted down to the South of France (Perpignan)
fairly rapidly (once I had the measure of the new method, I could sit around
100-105mph most of the time.)
The tank range on the Sprint definitely makes it easier to make good time.
The only dodgy bit being the sidewinds down near the coast (the Triumph
definitely doesn't like these !)
While there I bought a 30mm spanner , large screwdriver and hammer  to
adjust  the head bearings with - although when I asked at the local French
tourist office about a suitable shop they tried to find a Toe Shop rather
than a Tool shop for me.
Having probably made any self respecting mechanic cringe with the way I
adjusted the lower head bearing nut, the bike definitely seemed a bit more
stable.
After the 800 mile journey the brake lag had reappeared.
I popped the calipers off and just pushed the pads and pistons right back
in - (one side at a time with the brake reservoir cap loose and pumping the
lever back to pressure after each one)
This removed the brake lag, however I did find I had to do this regularly
throughout the holiday.
We then transferred to the Dordogne after 9 days and spent the rest of the
holiday there.
The Sprint handled really well around the twisty, bumpy country roads, which
makes the motorway cruising problem even more annoying.
The only problem after that was on a section of exposed road on the way
home, where there were quite strong side winds, the actual wind wasn't too
much of a problem as I could allow for it but the Trucks coming the other
way were sending the Triumph onto a wobble each time they went past.
At one point I actually thought we were going to be spat off the bike !
At this point I would like to say in the Triumphs defence that it wasn't
quite the jellymould it sounds like.
It was heavily loaded and I was able to maintain quite high speeds in most
circumstances, but it wasn't as stable at speed as my Bandit 1200 had been
in the same circumstances.

Some other observations.
The BT57 tyre wear wasn't a problem, after the holiday I had done 4000 miles
on them and although they are a bit squared off due the the motorway miles,
they still have plenty of tread.
Also I didn't find grip a problem - in the dry anyway (hardly any wet
mileage)
The heat from the fairing that has been commented about a lot, well all I
can say is that I didn't notice it at all on holiday despite some real hot
weather.
I used the caterpillar O ring as a throttle damper and this combined with
the method of steering I described above to avoid the wobbles meant I had no
wrist ache at all on the long distance stretches, although I did have a lot
of trouble when two up around the country roads.
The twin headlight set up is not particularly good.
Of the bikes I have owned with twin headlamps, this was probably the
poorest.
I had no problems with buffeting from the standard screen
The sidestand is too tall unless your on a very even surface, and it's
impossible to put the bike on it's centre stand when loaded up using the
little grab handle they install with the panniers.

Despite what it might sound like, overall the Sprint did a pretty good job
for the holiday without letting me down (just annoying problems which were
there before the holiday)

Oh and there is no sign of  a recurrence of the oil leak :)

Martin W.
Triumph Sprint ST (99)
Bandit6
Too Dangerous to live, Too Stupid to Die
http://www.onewheelsenough.freeserve.co.uk/BanzaiBAndit/


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