Triumph Sprint St

The 955 triple pulls hard from about 4,000 rpm with that distinctive Triumph howl building into something genuinely exciting by 8,000 — it's not a screamer, it's a torque engine with a temper, and on A-road blasts it feels almost telepathic. The half-fairing does a decent job up to motorway speeds, though your shoulders start complaining on anything over two hours, and the screen buffets your helmet at exactly the wrong frequency if you're between five-ten and six feet tall. Fuel injection on early examples could hunt at low speeds and cold starts were a ritual — choke on, wait, pray — but once warm the throttle response is crisp enough to forgive it. The underseat twin exhausts look great and sound better, but they punish passengers with heat and limit luggage options in ways that'll frustrate you the moment you try to tour seriously.

That 1050 triple pulls hard from 3,500 rpm and just keeps screaming — it's the engine that makes every other sport-tourer feel like it's apologising for existing. The Gen 2's revised windscreen and fairing actually work; I've done back-to-back 400-mile days without arriving wrecked, which the first-gen couldn't claim. Fueling cleaned up noticeably over the carbed predecessors, though early fly-by-wire throttle still has a slightly wooden initial response at parking-lot speeds. The one honest gripe: passenger comfort is an afterthought, the rear shock runs out of ideas on rough B-roads with a pillion aboard, and heat from that side-exit exhaust will cook your right leg in slow traffic.

The 1050cc triple transformed the Sprint ST from a competent tourer into something genuinely exciting — that engine pulls hard from 3,500 rpm, surges through the midrange, and delivers a mechanical soundtrack no four-cylinder can replicate. I've done 600-mile days on mine and arrived stiff but not destroyed; the ergonomics split the difference between sport and touring without fully committing to either, which some will love and hardcore tourers will eventually curse. The optional ABS was a genuine improvement over rivals at the time, though the suspension feels slightly soft for aggressive two-up riding with luggage unless you dial in the preload immediately. My one persistent gripe: the fuelling below 3,000 rpm has an on-off snatchiness that never fully disappears no matter how many throttle body sync sessions your dealer charges you for.