Triumph Motorcycles South Africa has imported one of the last batches of the 955cc Triumph Sprint RS triples to sell at an extremely affordable R69 995 — considerably less than the current cost of any remotely comparable one litre sports tourer. The two dozen odd bikes — 2004 models, with the latest single-sided swing-arm — will be the last to come into South Africa, as the half-faired RS has been discontinued by the factory.
The Sprint RS is an extremely accomplished sports tourer. Weighing in at 199kg, the RS can run with the superbikes through the twisties and yet transport rider and pillion across the country in comfort. Its dual-overhead-camshaft fuel-injected engine delivers a peak of 120 horsepower and 100 Nm of torque from way down in the rev band, allowing it to pull like a steam train to its top speed of around 250km/hr. Fuel consumption, even ridden hard, works out at around 18km/l.
Just over a year ago, 2Wheels Magazine (South Africa) ran a group test of sports tourers, pitting the British Triumph against the very best that Japan and Italy had to offer, and the Triumph came out tops. “Two votes for the win and one for second (from four testers) make it the champ this time out. It’s got comfort, it’s got a tasty motor with a sweet soundtrack and it’s got the most easily accessible handling,” was the magazine’s conclusion in its November / December 2003 issue. “When a bike can appeal so strongly to such a wide range of abilities there really is no argument. The Triumph takes the win.”
I have to confess to an enormous personal fondness for the Sprint RS, having covered 18Â 000 trouble free kilometres on the one that I bought in July 2003 — when the new price was R95Â 000!