After summer on the CBF1000, I have been thinking lately about whether it's quite right for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great bike in my opinion, and carries enough luggage to keep us going for a week away from home. But it's not really worked out for me in one key respect. As I've got older, I've begun to get quite a lot of discomfort in my coccyx. In case you don't know, that's the bone at the very base of the spine, that used to be our tail (well not literally OUR tail, but our ancestors had one, millennia ago!).

Anyway, enough of the biology class - suffice to say that my choices of bike have been increasingly limited as the problem gets worse. Over the last 5 years or so I've tried big, soft bikes (read big, soft seats!), race replicas, and all points between. The CBF held out some hope initially, but I found that after riding for around 90 mins-2 hours, the problem made its unpleasant presence felt. Which isn't bad, except that the bike is probably the most touring orientated bike I've owned, and in my heart of hearts I'd hoped for more.

So, after a few eye watering trips, I have finally come to the conclusion that I'll be best to accept the inevitable, and confine my riding to shorter trips - say up to 100ish miles. And the CBF, though very competent, was bought for something different really.

So I had a look around. Janet bought a Yamaha FZ1 recently, and after trying that, and really enjoying it, I decided to look for something similar - a naked bike, with enough power,  good handling and instant fun factor. After reading a few tests, I arranged a ride on a Triumph Street Triple. It's not quite as powerful as the Yamaha, but I quite like the Triumph 3-cylinder engine (I owned a 955i Daytona a few years ago), and I thought it would work well in this sort of bike.

So yesterday I spent two hours in the saddle of Fowlers' demo bike. It was a really enjoyable ride, and the bike felt rewarding at real world speeds. Comfort-wise, it felt promising, though in reality there is a limit to just how long and how far you can ride somebody else's bike, to check out yer bum bone! But it didn't feel worse than the CBF, which is probably as much as one can reasonably ask, given that it isn't being bought with trans-European trips in mind. The exhaust note of the Triumph triples is quite different from anything else I know, and provided a nice soundtrack to the ride. Fowlers offered me an attractive deal, so I bought one! Well, to be precise I'll be buying one in two weeks time, when it's been built out of the crate! 

So now I've got a couple of weeks wait for the new bike, then we'll try to get it run in before the worst of the winter weather arrives!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers

Andy