Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125871
a ese RicJnnanjTriamph: A confirmed Anglophile tries to love it and achieves qualified success. By rights and by reputati on, the Rickman/Triumph should be nearly the ultimate expression o f the English cafe racer. It is definitely English. Our test bike came fitted with a very new and very tight 750cc five speed Bonneville engine whose idio syncracies often dominated the riding impression. As with the Rickman/Honda we tested, the fitting-o u t of o ne of t h ese kits is critical. O n the Triumph , it's do ubl y critica l because of the high-amplitude shakes that the wiring harness and electricals have to live with . During our ride of abo ut 300 m iles, both front t urn signals went away, the battery went flat (and stayed flat), and the clu tch cable broke. The battery was no gre at loss, as everything o n the bike will work on a straigh t energy-transfer basis. It 's there as a concession to Federal regulations th at say lights sh o uld work when the engine is stopped. The clutch cable is • Ie another matter. and if all production 750 twins are coming in with the clutch pull we obs erved. an appetite for cl utch ca bles will (un fo rtuna tely) be a part of the pac kage. Keep the upper ca ble pin well lube d so it will pivot freely in the clutch lever. carry a spare. and work o ut with , t h e m achine regularly. We gu arantee th at in tw o wee ks of con ti nuo us use, you will either h ave a left hand like a bear trap or a set of pulled tendons. The sha kes and Heavy clutch are designed in. Here are a courle fa ctors th at are subject to change. 1 It needs a quicker th rottle . Nothing with the flywheel effect of the Triumph needs a s lo w . throttle to maintain precise co n trol. Two handfuls from full off to full on is too slow. 2) It needs a lo nger shift lever. We fiddled the adjustment th is way and that, never were totally satisfied. Co upling the short leverage wit h th e heavy resistance of a new, stiff gearbox, you have a situation that demands steel-toed shoes. Or else. The righ t foo t peg folds away so you can kic k, and starting is an easy drill if you're used to Triumphs in general. The gas taps o n this one were just as hard to work as the Honda's, plus the Amals dr oo l when the machine's on the sidestand. (So does the tank, if you over-fill. Why do the English insist on placing the filler neck on the low side?) What with the shakes, tight engine, heavy clutch, heavy shifting, racer's crouch et al, it is a re al bleeding drag to a Exotico rear-set shift linkage needs re -t h in king. Nickel-plated f rames are. at least. shiny. Also oil -tight. A good thi ng. since t he fr a me doubles as oil reservoir. ride in traffic. One other impression : the Rickman/Triumph is fa r more sensitive to freeway rain grooves than the Rickm an/Ho nda. Under any conditions, the Triumph felt lighter and more responsive, but t his was re ally noticeable. Noticeable, but no sweat, as we tried and failed several times to provoke a sustaining wobble on a grooved surface. It wants to "hunt" gently, but is arro w-sta ble within bounds. Fin ally, after all the nit-picky hassles, you find a home for this machine mountains and valleys and clear winding ro ads. In traffic y o u had noticed it had gr eat fistfull s of lo w-end torque and a flat spot abo ve 4,000 RPM. Now you let it stretch its legs and feel it begin to loosen up. The plugs bum clean at last, and it bursts into full basso vibrato song between 5,500 and 1 ,5 0 0 RPM. Now this makes sense: Dunlop TI100 4.10 rubber. Girl ing street shocks. and a trailing d isc brake all on the rear of the T riu mph . What a coffee razor should be: two cy linders. two disc brakes. two p ipes. (two wheels?), mini-fairing and maxi-style. This is the Rickman·Triumph. Does it make your heart throb? How about vibrate? It peaks out at 90 - 95 MPH in fou rth gear; you shift again and want to keep it screw ed on but rat ionality calls you back just in tim e. Concentration is total. as it must be with th e brutish clutch and th e m uscular deliberation inv olved with shifting. As carbo n and co bwebs blow away. it becomes more and mor e eager, more of a friend and less of the burden it was ~back in town. Corners co'me up in righ t. left successio n. You p ick y o ur line and point it ; th e good fe eling keeps growing. Again and ag ain th e machine demonstrates its total willingness to hold th e line you cho ose. the fine precision of its co rneri ng resp onses. Free at last. it becomes a totally integrated package of precise rigid frame. pr ecise w ell-located suspension. _ and superb tires. Ent ering a corner on shut-off. th e rear end want s to pump up and down' ju st a bit, but yo u barely not ice,' sin ce it affe cts iour lin e not at all. You pic" an apex , ro ll o n early, and hunker down. Th e rear end settles, y our toe brushes pavement, the w ho le machine seems to be drifting o utward cver so gently , and it all feels so fine, ti me after time . Th e b ra k es s uffe r f ro m "rnorning-itis " always , being chatt el]" and grabb y whe n cold - especial ly th e s rear one. T h e h otter the y get and the fast e r yo u go, th e more their performance settles down an d the better they wor k. On left -han de rs , th e side stand drags au dibly (eve n tho ugh to lo o k a t it , you 'd thin k it well tucked in - well enough to so met imes be awkward to get down with your foo t l . O n right-banders, nothin~ (excep t maybe a hinged foot p eg) gr ounds before the rider runs out of cojon es. The Ri c kman /Triumph can be eran ky, evil tempered. cantankerous , with all the idiosyncracies of a recl use English baron. As a confirmed gIophile I can say with co nfiden ce . it is as damned hard to live with as many another English motorcycle I' ve known. It is also a tremendously rewardi ng m o torcycle to ride under spec ial circumstances, bu t to partake of the joy it offers, you must love it very m uch. Rid ing them togetherAn overview Taken -head to head, you might say these two machines are "equivalently" fast. Their strong and weak points are such that on a common stretch of road that demands a variety of speeds, each is the others' foil. Off the line, the lighter Triumph with its Supah-Muvva clutch go t the hole shot every time. The Honda, meanwhile, he aves its bulk forward with difficulty, then begins to unwind. About the time the Honda has reached 7,000 in Iirst gear, it is even. Then it begins to paM a way through the gear s with its Fe rrari-like wail overshadowing the Triumph's bulldog . growl. It's purely conjecture, but we suspect the Triumph might begi n to co m e back after passing The Ton, as th e wide-cased Honda began to run into a wall of air. The Honda is the far easier machine to ride, in traffic or in the country . All control forces are softer with the Ho nda , except for throttle p ull (w hich is un d ersta n dable). By contrast, t he T riump h is a demanding old harlot. but once mastered it is the far m o re satisfying motorcycle to ride at speed. The Triumph. with it s lighter 'weigh t, better ground clearance, and heavier engine braki ng , is the more sen sitive an d quicker-reflexed of the two . It will defin itely turn tighter and flick fr o m left to right with less m uscl e. The heavier Honda, though set up with a n e a r l y o ptimum balance of stability/sensitivity, is just no t in th e same leagu e. It may be less wo r k to rid e slowly, but it will demand lots o f bar-muscle and hanging off to ri de in the same realm with the Triumph . The Honda is p robab ly more idi o t·p roof than the Triumph , except in radical downhill comers, where its great weigh t and lack of engine braking will tend to push it ahead of the rider's will. Detail finish of plated and fibreglass parts on both machines is really fine, but we'd like to see a slight re design of the seats to incorporate a crotch pad , j ust beh in d the fuel tank, so tha t the rider is nested . both fron t and rear , Yo u need this extra support fo r heavy br aking. The tendency to slide forward, th rowing unnecessary weight onto y our arms and spoiling your co ncentratio n, is mo re n o tic eable on t he Triu mph. with its delecta bly ski nny frame, eas ier to cope with by knee-grip on the plumper ' Ho nda. We fervently wish th ere were some way to combine the several virtues of both thes e ma chin e s into one mot o rcycle. Havin g had them b oth together for a short ti me. we 've had at least a fain t taste of th e elusive perfec tion we seek. - Or 35