Who's Had A Sprint And A Vfr?

So I have a '96 VFR that I keep around for my touring bike while I play with naked bikes for around town use. I've just unloaded my naked bike (Ducati GT1000 - garbage bike by the way), and am looking at a Speedtriple to replace it. What I am considering however is updating the VFR to something newer and possibly buying an older Speedy to balance out the $$$. I now notice that Sprint ST 1050s are getting cheaper and they are a great looking bike. Has anyone here had both a VFR and A Sprint 1050? Has anyone had a Sprint 1050 and gone back to a VFR? The old VFR still really meets my needs although it would be nicer to have updated suspension and a little more power. I would be interested to hear in your experience if you have indeed had both!

Cheers,

High_Side

Man this topics feels like it's made for me.

I had an 00 VFR when I decided to change to an 05 Sprint ST 1050 ABS. I read review after review of its better handling, torque and comfort. So I managed to find one with 17k miles. When I went to pick her up I was a little worried about the extensive (but thankfully honest) maintenance history, mainly a particular item regarding the rear axle that failed and cost the owner �900!!!

1st few weeks of ownership felt great! extremely comfortable (beats the VFR hands down), nice engine but for me, both the sound and the way it made power felt un-inspiring, no power band or rush - you can open her up at 3k or at 9k and she would feel the same, some people like that.. but for me it felt too flat.

Then came the day I went for a day's touring with the girlfriend and luggage. The official Triumph luggage is both flimsy, leaky and you can't even fit ONE helmet in the topbox, plus there' no helmet locks under the seat... and all those stories about the bike burning your right leg.. It�s true, so go for a 06+.

But the main reason I got rid of it? Build quality, on a recent survey the Triumph came almost bottom.. Guess which bike came 1st? Over 50,000 rider votes, the VFR800 VTEC came out number 1 for build quality.

I could go on but I have to get back to work now!!....

[image: View Post]vfr_steve, on Nov 28 2008, 09:01 AM, said:

Man this topics feels like it's made for me.

I had an 00 VFR when I decided to change to an 05 Sprint ST 1050 ABS. I read review after review of its better handling, torque and comfort. So I managed to find one with 17k miles. When I went to pick her up I was a little worried about the extensive (but thankfully honest) maintenance history, mainly a particular item regarding the rear axle that failed and cost the owner �900!!!

1st few weeks of ownership felt great! extremely comfortable (beats the VFR hands down), nice engine but for me, both the sound and the way it made power felt un-inspiring, no power band or rush - you can open her up at 3k or at 9k and she would feel the same, some people like that.. but for me it felt too flat.

Then came the day I went for a day's touring with the girlfriend and luggage. The official Triumph luggage is both flimsy, leaky and you can't even fit ONE helmet in the topbox, plus there' no helmet locks under the seat... and all those stories about the bike burning your right leg.. It's true, so go for a 06+.

But the main reason I got rid of it? Build quality, on a recent survey the Triumph came almost bottom.. Guess which bike came 1st? Over 50,000 rider votes, the VFR800 VTEC came out number 1 for build quality.

I could go on but I have to get back to work now!!....
I guess you would never know these little things until you own one for yourself.
Even though I've never owned a Sprint, I've seriously considered it. I ended up going with VFR mainly b/c of the price. Now I'm glad that I did for many other reasons.
Oh yeah, it did manage to scorch my leg during the demo ride in a 60 Deg. weather through leather pants. 06+ get an extra shield or something that fixes this issue.

P.S.
Rear axle failure??? WTF?

Yep, I'm sure it was something to do with the rear axle, I'm no mechanic (see my oil thread lol) and all I could understand was the rather large pound signs at the bottom of the receipt!! :blink: .. For a 3 year old bike? That's completely unacceptable :excl:

... then you could mention the rattly plastic fairing that as soon as you hit a bump you hear everything moving about, kind of takes the edge of any owner satisfaction - coupled with higher maintenience/cost than the vfr it started to dawn on me I made the wrong move, just because I wanted a little extra grunt.
As soon as I test rode my current VFR I fell in love and everything felt tight on the bike, just quality and class.

Do you ever see any of these bikes for sale with 50k+ miles? That's because the way I can sum it up.. the Sprint IS the sports-tourer for the summer rider - The VFR is however, the ultimate ALL ROUND bike for all weather commuters that do everything from touring to twisties.

Brake were awesome on the Truimph though.

oh and by the way the 5th gen came 3rd :cool:

I'll have another look to see where those 750 beauties came too...

Likely NOT the rear axle, but rather the failure of the rear suspension drag link BOLTS that are of inferior quality and simply break, thereby allowing the rear suspension to collapse onto the rear wheel, thereby causing a wreck with possible bodily injury. My latest issue of MCN shows that Triumph just issued ANOTHER recall on that issue, this time for the '08 model, so the problem wasn't cleared up by a supplier change, apparently.

Triumph quality issues generally (there are lots of electrical and finish issues among the models) and this fundamental safety issue on the rear suspension are what keep me from trying a Triumph.

pm googus. Greg's had both and is currently on a Blackbird. He traded the Sprint for the Blackbird.....something about the amount of time the Triumph was visiting the shop. :blink:

[image: View Post]poconovfr, on Nov 28 2008, 04:54 PM, said:

pm googus. Greg's had both and is currently on a Blackbird. He traded the Sprint for the Blackbird.....something about the amount of time the Triumph was visiting the shop. :blink:

He only had that Sprint for 5 minutes!

Well know,that would tell me somthing..........

A guy i ride with had a Sprint and it was a nice bike. Definately had more midrange grunt than my 02 VFR but top end was identical. The sprint came loaded up with more toys and gadgets from the factory but nothing that was a "must have" feature. Not aware of any mechanical issues other than complaints and a warranty issue with the hard bags/top box. Nice enough bike but kind of uninspiring (in my opinion) the VFR is a better all-round bike for much less $$.