Triumph Press Information

 

The name Sprint has always been an important one in the history of the Hinckley Triumph company. The first Sprint evolved from the highly popular Trident model in 1993 (it was even called the Trident 900 Sprint initially) and at one stage became the third best selling machine worldwide in Triumph’s fast growing range. The Sprint established itself as an accomplished sports touring machine, with the comfort, torque and extended fuel range essential to touring riders matched to enough performance to make the bike an exhilarating ride. The model also had built-in character to tempt customers away from other mainstream machines.

Two factors have dictated the need for a successor to the Sprint:

First, the relentless and rapid progress of technology in the motorcycle market has meant that new ideas and new design methods can be used to improve upon existing models.

And second, Triumph’s progression away from its original modular design concept. It was this unique concept which allowed the company to burst onto the scene with a wide range of models using engines with the same basic design, a single frame and many other shared components. The modular concept enabled Triumph to establish its solid reputation for fine motorcycles in an astonishingly short period of time, but Triumph is also well aware of the concept’s limitations, and began moving away from it first with the supersports Daytona T595 of 1997, using an entirely new engine and frame.

Progressing from the modular concept does not mean leaving behind model names and the qualities associated with them. ‘Sprint’ has powerful associations with the sport-touring genre which give the name a strong meaning to many riders, so Triumph has chosen to retain it for its brand new sports tourer, the Sprint ST.

In advancing the abilities of the outgoing Sprint in every respect the Sprint ST not only appeals to an even wider range of riders, but now also challenges the benchmark machines in motorcycling’s most sophisticated market sector.

 

DESIGN BRIEF

The sports touring sector is unusual in that it features a relatively small number of machines which nevertheless sell in large numbers. These are high quality, sophisticated motorcycles which appeal to riders who tend to use their bikes more frequently than pure sports riders, often combining commuting needs with weekend sports riding and long distance touring.

The Sprint ST design team was given an extensive and extremely demanding brief to satisfy this market:

The new Sprint was to be the most sophisticated Triumph to date in terms of driveability and ease of use, yet should match or exceed the sector’s very high benchmark standards in respect of power, performance, handling, braking, comfort, fuel economy and weather protection - and all at a price within a few per cent of the market leading machines. At the same time, the Sprint ST should show a marked improvement in engine character over some of the competition, which were seen by some as being too bland.

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