[ST] The saga of the "Skittles" Sprint ST <-=long=->

["Jeremy Witt" <jeremyw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So I joined up with the Sprint mailing list to get some info well before I thought I'd be able to get my hands on a Sprint ST.  I decided on this bike after riding my current mount, the Hawk GT, over 1000 miles each way, New Hampshire to northeast Georgia 3 out of the last 4 late September Hawk Rallies (trailered with the less resilient wife in '03), and a round trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend my cousin's (sister!) college graduation.  The Hawk is a wonderful bike for tight twisty roads, but really falls short as a long distance sport tourer.  And that tiny gas tank really sucks.  110 miles from station to station.  Frustrating.  

Anyway, I met Richard down at the '03 Hawk Rally and I learned that he fills his garage with bikes purchased from insurance auctions, rebuilds and sells them for fun on the side.  With this in mind, I shot him an email back one Tuesday, May 9th, asking if he was still in this business.

He said he was and wondered what I might be looking for.  I told him "an unlikely bike, a Triumph Sprint ST".  He wrote back "LOL! 2 in fact!".  He had what he needed to make one good one from two damaged ones and my interest was piqued.  

Thus began quite the ride.  

Since I am in New Hampshire and he in Kansas, 1500 miles separated us.  I told him I would need to sell my Prelude and Deanne's Hawk GT before I could afford the Sprint.  He replied "you're selling a Hawk?  Send some pics.".  Long story short, the wife's bike became a $1500 credit toward my new favorite bike.  He seemed quite happy to wait for me to sell the Prelude before paying the balance.  

Next was logistics.  (You won't believe it either)

Seems there was a Non-Coastal Hawk Rally happening the weekend after next in Wisconsin and since it was 200 whole miles closer, he could trailer it out there.  I told him there was no earthly way I could make the rally, but was pretty sure another Hawker named Steve (in New Jersey) was heading out there.  So I contacted Steve and learned there was room on the trailer.  However, there was the matter of getting the bike to New Jersey, about 250 miles, by the following Wednesday.  

Oh, wait.  Steve has a friend coming up to the NHIS track in Louden, NH to race this weekend, can you get the Hawk up there Saturday morning?  

Sure I can, with a handful of gas money for the generous soul I had not yet met.  Nor would I, as I managed to arrive just as the rider's meeting was called.  Left the Hawk and the $$ with a garage mate and hoped at least one would make it to NJ!  

The Hawk did, the $$ was confiscated for garage fees.  All worked out, though the bike was in NJ getting ready to leave for Wisconsin.  

Meanwhile, Richard was putting the Sprint together and looking at the silver bodywork being sold on eBay.  For about 2 days, I had a hankering to make the BRG into a Silver ST.  The wife put a stop to that.  In retrospect, I'm glad.  I really like the BRG. 

Received completed pictures of the Sprint that weekend.  Seems the forks, front fender, left upper cowl and right hand hard bag (pannier?) didn't survive and were replaced with Caspian Blue parts (except for the black bag).  It was dubbed the Skittles Sprint. 

So, the following week, the Hawk left NJ Wednesday morning, the Skittles Sprint from Kansas on Thursday.

Silence for many days.  

Read about the rally from participants on the Hawk mailing list and even saw Deanne's old Hawk posing for group photos.    

So eventually, the Hawk was in its new home and Skittles was in Garfield New Jersey.  How to get it home.  

Well, it just so happens that Steve is participating in a track day at Louden Wednesday, June 1st, so here we go again.  The logistics are uncanny.  Cost me a portion of the gas and toll money, and a new battery as neither donor battery was any good.    

Naturally, after not traveling for work in over a month, I have to be away from May 30th through June 1st, leaving my wife to coordinate connecting up with Steve and Skittles.  We ended up with some cancelled work, so about 3:00am Thursday morning I roll in to the driveway.  Just enough energy to pat Skittles in the garage, then crawl upstairs and pass out.  

LATE Thursday morning, I woke up to assess the new prize.  A 2001 BRG Sprint ST that needs some love for just over $3000.  12064 miles on the clock.  Decent tires and chain.  Heated grips and a fancy cool-weather windscreen (thanks STeve).  Rear subframe just a bit tweaked counter-clockwise from the left-side slide and left hand hard bag cover cracked and scratched pretty badly.  Left fairing lower pretty scratched up as well and a bit of scuff on the right lower.  Tail trunk also rashed on the left side, no structural damage.  Black right hand bag is brand new!  Of course, the lock cylinders don't match, leaving me with 3 keys to juggle.  

I'm pretty psyched.  Stuck the wife's old plate on the bike and rode about 94 miles illegally as the title hasn't made it to Richard's place yet.  

On Saturday, I decided, with help, that getting pulled over on an unregistered and uninspected bike I can't even prove I own was too much of a risk and parked it for about 2 weeks.

Now comes the Bad Karma to balance all the Good Karma so far.

When the title does arrive at Richard's, it is a clear Kansas title labeled Salvage Rebuilt.  He overnights it to me and the fun begins!

I call up my town office expecting to walk in and register the bike and be done with it.  Nope.  "Salvage?" they say?  You have to call the Concord state offices and talk to the highway patrol, gather all manner of paperwork, and bring the bike to an inspection that occurs only between 9am and 1pm on Fridays.  

Soooo.  I rent a trailer from U-Haul for $15 and load up the bike.  I'm third in line at the inspection location and the officer doesn't even look at the bike.  He looks at my title and other bits and decides I need a receipt for the parts or the original title of the donor bike, and an insurance adjusters report so they know what parts were damaged and can mark up the donor bike title appropriately.  

Yikes!  

Well, I don't own the donor bike, so that's right out.  I track down the seller of the crashed bike in Missouri and eventually receive a faxed copy of the original title.  Progressive Insurance bought this wreck.  Called up Progressive and learned that the recent privacy acts absolutely make it impossible for me to get my hands on an adjusters report.  I'll have to have the highway patrol folks get that.  

Back on the phone to Concord (the fourth call!) and the stunned officer can't believe what I told him.  He informs me they can't get the insurance report either and I'm eventually put on hold.  I'm convinced I'm going to be sending Skittles back to Kansas to hang with Dorothy...

Five minutes later, he comes back and explains he spoke to Sargent Ruel and he says "Call up the title office and ask to speak to Priscilla, no one else."  

Hang up.  

Dial. 

"Is Priscilla available?"  

She is.  

I explain that I have a clear Kansas title labeled Salvage Rebuilt and she says "ok, just go down to the town office and register it.  That's my fault, I've trained them to say "no" if they hear the word 'salvage'.  If they give you any crap, tell 'em to talk to Priscilla!"  I confessed to her that she's my new best friend and I was getting pretty depressed about not being able to ride the next day (Saturday).  She says "No problem.  And you know what tomorrow is, right?"  

<pause>

"Oh, yeah!"  Bike Week in Laconia.  Turns out she's a rider too!  I like Priscilla.  

So, back to the town office armed with a big stick.  Had a very nice conversation with the woman behind the desk and when she saw the word Salvage, I told here what Priscilla told me.  Sufficiently cowed, she got back to work.  I left with a new plate and a copy of my new title application...and one hell of a big smile!  

Ran home and applied the new plate and was able to ride that weekend, about the hottest and most humid I have ever ridden in.  

Probably passed Rupert and friend somewhere along the way through Portland Maine on the way to Bethel Maine.  

Now I'm a legal member of this list.  :0)

Thanks for listening! 

Jeremy Witt
Field Engineer
Corrugated Networking Services Inc.
Office: 603-703-0365
Cell: 603-440-5982              

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