THE TRIUMPH Sprint GT offers a few more concessions to touring than its older brother, the Sprint ST, making it better for anymore looking at the long haul, while still retaining the ability to provide an adrenalin rush in the twisties. With the torquey nature of the three cylinder engine, and the body friendly riding position, the new GT is a sports tourer par excellence.

What's new, and why?

Five years ago when Triumph introduced the Sprint ST it proved to be a masterstroke for the company. What it produced was a bike which looked pretty slick for the time, was pretty comfy and had an engine which once you'd ridden one would make you fall in love with it. After five years though it was starting to look a little long in the tooth. Triumph had also received feedback about a few things owners were not that keen on, including pillion comfort and underseat exhaust heat.

This led the design team to look at making a few changes to the ST to make it more touring friendly. Obviously the GT has slightly more angular styling than the ST – only the fuel tank and fairing lowers have been used from the ST – but there's a number of changes which aren't so easy to see. At the front a new headlight which Triumph says gives much better penetration. A revised mirror mounting system gives the rider clearer vision of what's behind them. There's a new instrument package – it's still got info on everything you need to know – and higher handlebars.

At the rear there's many more changes which make the bike better suited to mile crunching. The pillion now sits lower than on the ST, due to a lower seat and lower footpegs. Triumph did this by lowering the rear subframe of the bike, helped by the fact it got rid of the underseat exhaust – which also got rid of the nasty exhaust heat for the rider and pillion by the way – and placed it in the 'normal' position down beside the rear wheel. An added bonus is you can now put some gear under the seat. You might not be able to put much there but it will take a bike lock or maybe a one piece rain suit.

Further major changes include a longer swingarm which increases the wheelbase by 80mm, which Triumph says will improve stability especially two up. At the front the forks might look the same as those from the ST but damping has been revised to cope with the heavier loads expected on the GT. A remote pre-load adjuster has been fitted to the rear shock which is a great tool for practicality.
Braking has been improved by 10 per cent according to Triumph, done with more rigidly mounter and lighter discs, and new pad material. Four piston calipers are still used and ABS comes standard.

For the long distance tourer the panniers are now 31 litres instead of 22. These come standard and you can buy the optional 55 litre top box which has a built in 12 volt power socket to take iPods, phones and the like. What's really interesting about the panniers is they actually sway in the breeze. It feels funny to push on one pannier and see the other pannier move in tandem. Triumph has devised a system where the two panniers are linked together and can move to a degree.

This is supposed to help high speed stability because they are not fixed rigidly. It might be a little hard to explain but it must work. The GT is impressively stable at speed.

The top box isn't the only accessory you can get for the GT. There's a taller screen, gel seat, and magnetic tank bag too.

While the engine remains essentially the same it has enjoyed an increase of five horsepower because of the revised 'low' exhaust and ECU. It now has 130hp which isn't shabby and torque has been increased slightly. Apparently these changes have also improved the fuel economy of the GT, and with the 20 litre tank you should see well over 300 kilometres without much trouble.
Top gear has been made taller by seven per cent which no doubt is where some of the better economy comes from.

Highways and byways

We're a big fan of the Sprint ST. It's got a great engine and you can do some serious miles on it. Some of the criticisms of it like the heat from the underseat exhaust and pillion comfort were warranted and for Triumph to take note of such issues shows the company listens and learns.

As soon as we took off on the GT we noticed the more upright riding position. To be honest the riding position for us was nigh on perfect. It might not suit every rider but for sports touring it is hard to beat the seat/’bars/’pegs combination on the GT.

In city traffic the semi-upright riding allows plenty of vision, and the torque-laden engine can be kept in a taller gear than you might think. Flexibility is the name of the game and the GT has plenty of it.

As we ventured onto the back roads we were immediately impressed with the suspension. It soaks up bumps with aplomb, and even when we hit the tight turns we felt no need to stiffen up the shock pre-load to cope better. In fact we never touched the rear shock or fork settings despite the varied terrain we encountered, there was just no need.

You can usually expect some buffeting from bikes like this but there was none to speak of from the GT. As said before. Triumph offers an optional tall screen but we were happy with the standard one.

Both clutch and brake levers are adjustable, and the instruments are easy to read. You can also change settings to give you different read outs.
With the engine being so flexible the bike was a hoot in the tight twisties of the Mount Lindesay Highway in SE Queensland. We liked the brakes. Triumph reckons the front brakes are better than before. They certainly had plenty of bite and feel, as did the rear brake so no complaints there. If you needed to swap cogs furiously the gearbox coped well too. We liked the taller top gear and had no issues with the ’box. It might not be as slick as some but overall it was easy to use.

If you are after blistering top ends you would be better served going to some of the more powerful sports tourers on the market. But do you need it? With 130hp the GT is no slug, in fact it's far from it. Low down and midrange grunt is impressive, and it will sprint to well over 200km/h if you want it to.
For everyday riding it offers far more performance than most riders will ever use.
Our 350 kilometre day in the saddle showed up no issues with rider comfort. Triumph has done a great job in this area.

Verdict

For $15,990 with panniers and ABS, the GT is fantastic value in our eyes. You can still buy the ST for $13,990 (an extra grand gets you ABS) which is good value too. If given the choice we'd go for the GT.
Triumph has put a lot of thought into the GT and it shows. On the road it is an impressive machine. Triumph boffins tell us the bike is aimed more at the 'touring' rider than the ST, but there's still plenty of sport left in it.