1050 Speed Triple RS
Posted: 18 Aug 2018, 19:45
i was bored this afternoon and pissed off with work and the never ending saga of the house move, so I decided to get the bike out. I was going to head out towards the Quatt but decided to stop off at StreetBike to see if I could get a demo ride on the big RS.
A quick chat with a salesman and I had the key in my pocket. I've ridden the 765s which have the same screens so he didn't need to go through the screen and modes with me.
I had an hour as it's Saturday and they're busy.
I've had a 1050 before but it was one of the first ones. This one feels sportier. The seat is wide and comfortable but you've tilted forward. The bars aren't that wide for a naked but they're close to you and felt lower than the older 1050. The pegs are mid point between sit up and sporty. No issues with clearance today but I wasn't pushing it. I reckon they're high up enough for track days. The riding position seemed to be fine for roads, whether you're trying to filter through traffic or tucking in to evade the wind.
It's a naked so you expect a wind blast but the front cowling pushes the blast towards your chest so there's no helmet wobble when you're getting a shift on.
For a bike dripping in carbon, Brembos and Ohlins, it's a surprise not to have a quickshifter as standard. Most sports bike do now and this bike seems to need one. As a regular Kwak rider I'm used to a clunking sounding gearbox but this bike seemed to have quite a heavy gearbox. Gear changing was easy but you can clearly feel/hear what's going on.
The suspension feels top end, this bike hasn't just had some Ohlins stickers plastered on it. That's the same with the brakes. The bike stops almost instantly with the suspension playing its part, keeping the bike stable and the nose off the floor. The only time I got the bike to feel like it was struggling was over some very bad tarmac as I was changing gears - things got a little bit bouncy but it soon settled down.
The centre piece of the bike is that engine. All you expect from a triple and more. It's happy bumbling along in 4th at 40 ir being spanked through the gear and revs. It pulls like a sportsbike with no lag from the throttle. It'll hit 100mph in no time and egg you on to keep going. I'm hoping that camera I shot through was out of action. On the plus side the Brombo stoppers made sure I'll be keeping my licence.
Arrow cans come as standard which help to show off the triple burple. I would love to hear this bike with the Euro 4 regs killing the fun.
With only an hour I couldn't get the bike out on country roads, but I do know some twisty residential roads around that way. so apologies to the locals for treating your streets like a test track.
It's a fantastic bike, it really is. It's piss easy to ride slow or fast, the handling, engine, suspension and brakes will let you take in the scenery or punch in the boost and scare the feck out of yourself and anyone who dares to get in your way. There's a lot there for your money, with branded goodies, carbon, extras and a keyless ignition, it's just shame they make you pay extra for a quickshifter.