Nothing wrong with it - the XSR700 XTribute has been fun and hasn’t put a foot wrong, so to speak. I realised though that I just wasn’t using it as much as the Tiger or the Guzzi.
Started thinking around February what I might change it for - possibly a Kawasaki Z900rs or a Ducati Scrambler, but didn’t want to splash too much extra cash now I’m a poor northern pensioner (as Tiglet would say )
Several other bike ideas cropped up but most were rejected on price grounds, the Kawasaki for one, but I always had one bike at the forefront of ideas.
This is a bit of a catch up as the Yamaha went on Thursday, but bear with!
Called in at Teasdales in Thirsk my local Guzzi. KTM dealer for a look around and ended up test riding their demo 790 Duke.
This is the new, reintroduced version with the most compact parallel twin engine yet made, apparently, 105bhp and 9kg lighter than a Street Triple.
Well it’s bloody quick and it handles extremely well but it’s not really me. Great fun though but couldn’t imagine riding around all day on it.
This had the quickshifter fitted, which was great on the downshift but wouldn’t go from 3rd to 4th! Comes with lean sensitive ABS and other electronic goodies (not all as standard) for £7999.
Well don’t get too excited mate, I actually did the deal last Thursday.
I did see this at the KTM dealers - an Aprilia Shiver 900. No, I’ve never seen one either. Apparently a pretty decent bike but completely overshadowed by KTM’s 790 and 890 Duke models.
Oh in case you were wondering, those are side-exiting exhausts. Apparently the previous 750 model had an issue with exhaust fumes being sucked back onto the pillion passenger causing clothing to smell. Hence the unusual design.
I assume this was to appease the fashion conscious Italian market rather than us.
Ok, so here we are at A1 Moto in York ready to test ride the Street Triple. Just sorting out the paperwork in the main showroom when one of the girls from the cafe shouts out " oh my god his bikes on fire!"
Three Dutch guys were passing through York on their way to the TT when one of the bikes decided to cook itself.
Two guys from Triumph sorted it with extinguishers just before the fire brigade arrived. The rider was fine but no doubt a bit shocked. I assume he shared his luggage with his mates and carried on to the IOM.
So the test ride went well - what can I say? Enough of you on here already own one so extolling the virtues of it’s handling and speed would be a bit superfluous.
My main concern was comfort and riding position given my normally upright riding stance on the Tiger, Guzzi and the Yamaha. I was out for almost two hours and found it to be different, obviously but not really an issue.
Absolutely loved the bike, so easy to ride - had a lot of traffic to contend with as York is always busy and the dealer is close to the centre. A good test as to whether the bike is suitable or not as you won’t be spending all the time on an open road.
Had a slight issue when we came to tax it - the previous owner had changed his address but given the dealers the old V5 so the system wouldn’t recognise the bike.
Just so i could ride it home that day they put a trade plate on it but it was all sorted by the next day
Yes mate, I’ve been out three times since I picked the bike up and I couldn’t be more pleased with it.
Last night was our local bike group meet and I think I surprised a few people with it but my mate Des reckoned it really suited me
)
