Page 28 - RidingOn Winter2022

Triumph Speed

Twin 1200

I’ve previously submitted
a story referring to my I thought I’d be keeping my Tiger 800 for a while!
ownership of 3 Triumph Tiger Then, I received a call offering the price I wanted
800s. The last one was a and 1 hour later my bike was gone.
2018 Tiger 800 XRx, which,
in my opinion, was the best I’d decided on a red Speed Twin 1200, I put a
800 by far. deposit on it and waited the 4 weeks for arrival.

In 2021 I decided it was time to test the new Tiger 900 GT Just a word of advice for those using OSKO to transfer money.
Pro. Looking at a few comments about the ‘T plane crank’ and I believe the Commonwealth Bank using OSKO is the only bank
the reasoning why they’d do it. The main complaint (900) was who won’t transfer the money instantly, which turned out to
vibration at 5000rpm which I did notice, but, it wouldn’t be be quite a problem. I transferred the money to the dealer the
reason not to purchase one. In my opinion, the 800 is just as night before and was just about to depart for bike collection,
good, so I couldn’t find a reason to change. Another reason when the dealer informed me that he hadn’t received the
was availability, or lack thereof, the GT Pro being nearly $3000 money! Apparently, the Commonwealth Bank won’t transfer
dearer than my own choice, the GT. It appears that GTs are the money for 24hrs unless you have dealt with the recipient
very ‘thin on the ground’ or dealers aren’t that keen on getting before! How ridiculous!
them.
I picked the bike up the next day, and rode the 70 ks home in
I decided to sell my Tiger, a month went by and no luck. During pretty busy traffic. It was interesting on a new bike which I’d
that time, and after much research, I had decided on a choice just jumped on without taking too much notice of the displays.
of 3 bikes: BMW R9t, BMW R1250r and Triumph Speed Twin I thought that the bike was a bit of an under performer and
1200. was hoping that it was due to a new tight engine, however, I
discovered I’d ridden all the way in ‘Rain Mode’.
I tested the R9t plus a Triumph Thruxton 1200 and liked both. Changing to ‘Road Mode’ fixed that. I found ‘Sport Mode’ too
I think the R1250r was just too expensive, as it’s virtually jerky at low speed.
impossible to buy one without options and you’d be looking at
around $32,000 on road. It is very different from the Tiger I have ridden for the last 9
years. Once you get used to the Twin, it certainly has some
The 2021 Triumph Speed Twin had just been released with grunt and this bike handles ‘like it is on rails’. The gearbox and
quite a few improvements including upside down forks and a brakes are wonderful.
little more power. This was probably irrelevant because there
weren’t any available for the foreseeable future! You could ride this bike as delivered and be perfectly happy

RIDING ON 28