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[ST] My first Sprint ST ride



Well, saturday it was extremely windy (around 9 
beaufort in the morning I think) but I really
wanted to testride the Sprint ST the shop had
ready. The shop has 2 new 2002 models in BRG,
with 0 km on them and a blue Sprint ST with
30.000 km on it to testride. In hindsight the
blue one (I forgot to ask) was probably a pre-
2002 model (black wheels?), but that didn't
really matter.

At first the shop owner didn't want me to make
the testride because of the wind, but later he
changed his mind, perhaps because he remembered
that I had a lot of experience, no problems with
stormy wind and happen to fly airplanes in the
same condition (day before flew into London City
with stormy crosswind conditions, lotafun :-)).
On top of that the sky had turned blue by then
(coldfront had just passed), it was dry and the
wind was getting a bit less already.

The blue Sprint has a Triumph carbon sporty exhaust
on it. I don't know if the sound was legal, but it
did sound very nice and not too loud. As soon as I
rode away from the shop together with a friend of
mine on a borrowed CBR600F, a large and very black
stormcloud appeared from behind the building, coming
in really fast. Just in time we parked below a viaduct
before all hell broke loose, horizontal rain, 30 meters
of visibility, even harder wind etc. Of course because
of the stormy wind it was operating in, this thing blew
by very quickly, so we were able to ride on. Unfortunately
now the roads were all wet and a lot of pretty cold air
had been dragged downwards because of the shower.

Things I noticed when riding:

- - great comfort. I liked the stock seat (although I
din't spend that much time on it, about an hour)
and was not bothered by the fairing (I'm 1.90m / 6'3"
and was wearing my leather pants). The steering bar
is at a nice height for me and the screen felt
perfect as well, except on the freeway stretch I
made when the freezing stormy wind was coming from
straight ahead. My neck was not covered properly and
I found myself tensing up my shoulders. I'm not sure
it was because of the temperature of the wind or the
force of it on my helmet and shoulders (I was riding
140 km/h plus the wind factor, so nett about 170 km/h
windvector I guess).

- - Great engine, smooth shifting. Never missed a click.
Of course I didn't really ride sporty because of the
soaked roads and stormy road debris.

- - Suspension was comfy. I liked it, it was weird to
notice that my Yamaha T-max (scooter) has much sportier
suspension. Haven't been able to test that under sporty
conditions though. But I'm not planning on doing any
racing (although I am generally a sporty rider).

- - My hands were not in the windblast. I was pleasantly
surprised by that, since they do stick out past the
fairing, but apparently still don't catch the wind.
I liked that since I know the efficiency of heated
grips is greatly increased :-).

- - It attracts police officers on ST1300's...  :-(
Or at least one, who probably was more curious about
the green testing license plate. I didn't have any
papers of the bike and the shop had my license, he
didn not like that. But he didn't fine me (I think),
but the shop will get some papers from the tax dept
and police now...

All in all I liked the bike. I rode it on the freeway,
down some suburb streets and thru a small forest with
some bumpy roads. I couldn't test the limits really,
but the bike just felt and sounded really nice. There's
a lot of true character to it (for me at least). And
I don't mean character in terms of vibrations or things
breaking down (Duc, BMW, Moto Guzzi...).

Next friday my girlfriend will be back from vacation,
I hope to make another testride then with her on the back.
If that's satisfactory I'll be making a deposit and will
try to sell my T-max, meanwhile ordering a SW-Motech
lugage rack for 3 Givi/Kappa cases, 2 Kappa 40 liter side
cases (already have a Givi Maxia) Sliders and Daytona
heated grips.

Emile
www.piloot.com


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