Today… oh today…
Today my friends I test drove a 2014 Triumph Street Triple R.
I am now going to try to articulate how absolutely exhilarating and magickal that was. Okay, so, a little history recap. The first first time I drove a motorcycle I was twenty four years old, it was 2008, and I hopped onto a Kawasaki Eliminator 125cc in the Complex parking lot (you LC folk might recall that place, I learned how to drive a car here as well). This bike is a very small engine cruiser type machine.
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Wait! You need to know something first, I come from a family of race car drivers on both sides. My father has always owned fast machines, has always driven them like he stole them, and often raced amaturely. My mother’s father actually was a mechanic on race cars, and drove a few back in his day; and to this day, at 88, he is still constantly getting speeding tickets. My little one even rides in a car seat made by race car seat belt manufacturers (Recaro).
Okay, I learned how to drive a motorcycle on a 125cc engine. To help those who don’t know cubic centimeter engines, I’ll just tell you its top speed was probably 55mph, but you had to be going down hill, and I weighed about 150lbs at the time. So - a super small bike, and I drove it too fast and wrecked it - go figure. I then moved to a Kawasaki Ninja 250cc machine, and I drove this piss fire outta that motorcycle. To put 250cc’s into perspective - that bike could do about 95mph going downhill at the same weight as before, but that was pegged out (max RPMs). I put approximately 20,000 miles on that green monster, and that is a lot for a 250cc starter bike. I had a couple minimal mishaps with that little guy, but nothing serious. After that I went to the Honda CB500F. To put 500cc’s into perspective, well, let’s just say it was twice what the 250cc was, but it still didn’t have enough umph. After that I wandered to the Yamaha FZ07 - 700cc - and that bike was a powerful two cylinder, that would do well over 100mph, and still have some to give. I would still have that bike today if it hadn’t of been stolen.
Now, today... today I drove a 675cc three cylinder beautiful masterpiece. So, if you’re not engine savvy you think, “Oh, it’s smaller than 700cc. It must be not as quick.” On the contrary, this is a triple - which means three cylinders - and it was much, much quicker than my Yamaha 700cc. I have wanted a Street Triple since I started riding motorcycles. It has been my dream bike for a long time. They are what you call a street fighter, a bike that can fight the streets like no other; it can dodge in and out of traffic, it has great torque, and it can fly down highways . It’s also called a naked bike due to the fact that it has no fairings (plastic pieces on the sides). Most street fighter bikes are naked. This bike is quick. It’s light. The throttle is precisely responsive. It has ABS, and that is a wonderful thing
As I test drove that Triple today, I swear I haven’t smiled that big in many a month. It literally made me feel as if I were flying. A few times I was just yelling to the top of my lung inside my helmet. I’m sure the folks in traffic thought I was crazy. Do you think I cared? Ha. I was falling in love, and I didn’t care who heard or saw. When you look forward to something for so long, and then you actually get to experience it - well, there’s just something about that. I’ve wanted to have enough motorcycle sense, I’ve wanted to have enough courage, and I’ve wanted the time to be perfect to drive a Street Triple - and today was the day all of that lined up. It. Was. Magick. Riding that motorcycle up and down Clinton Highway made me feel like I was three years old again, and I was going to the freakin’ Chuck E. Cheese.
Am I going to get this bad mamajama?
Well… we’ll see…
Twisting the wrist,
Haley
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