The Z900 RS is absolutely beautiful and its super costly in India but here I can afford one. Suzuki’s V Storm 650 is a great bike, but I needed something which is less attention grabbing as I really wanted to use it as much as I could and feel relaxed if I had to leave it in a public parking and here the Triumph fits the bill.
BHPian Sangwan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
DISCLAIMER: This is going to be a long post. Feel free to scroll through the pictures if you’re in a hurry. Thank you. Also, sorry for the low quality images, don’t have the original pictures with me currently.
Prologue
Motorcycles, I believe are the best way to reduce stress. Only a child’s laugh can top that. Being from a middle class family and in a government job made sure that owning anything from the BIG THREE or something like Endeavour/Fortuner is going to be a distant dream so I thought the next best thing to experience top of the line product would be buying an expensive motorcycle. It was already decided Harley Davidson Superlow would be my first expensive bike.
Being from a middle class and having the desire to go for an expensive bike doesn’t go well. Everyone asks you questions like “Why?”, “You can buy a fully loaded Swift or something on the same line.” or “Why would you spend so much on something which doesn’t even have AC!?”
No matter how much you try to explain your rationale behind the purchase, after owing one I feel that it is heart over head decision. So, lets dive in now and see how me and my Triumph got together.
How Harley Davidson killed superbike fever and Triumph triumphed
I came with my best friend and wife to Elante Mall, Chandigarh. Harley Davidson had a showroom their (I am not sure if its still their after HD’s departure). It was 2017 and Superlow was not being offered anymore but still went ahead to check out the Iron 883 and then the SA at least for once made sure I would not think about owning one. Already the Iron was expensive but on top of that, just to make the motorcycle rideable for two up, I had to purchase plethora of accessories, I mean it was like you have to spend anywhere between INR 50K-100K on top of the on road price to make it a regular motorcycle. No thank you. The experience made me feel like even owning a Superbike is also not possible at least for me but there is always a but.
Triumph was not on my radar at that moment and I saw their display bikes in the Mall and then my buddy told me that Triumph showroom is also here. Headed there and then saw the most beautiful motorcycles I have ever seen. Ducati also makes some of the most beautiful bike but to me Triumph and Indian Motorcycle are the ones who make the most smashing looking motorcycles. Went to the showroom, talked to the SA and he gave me a quick walkaround different bikes on display. Just like every other Indian I also confirmed the FE of everyone of them . But that was it. I gave them my contact details and told them I need to save a lot and will return soon.
Till 2018 I haven’t had ridden anything other than Bullet or Pulsar. But, if you have ridden the old RE Standard 350 not the UCE ones then no matter what the bike is you can ride it. So on one fine day, my wife had a training session in New Delhi and I accompanied her. While she was get bored to death I went to Triumph Delhi Showroom and asked for a test drive of Street Twin (ST) as the Triumph Tiger is the one which I really wanted to own and still want one but ST was the one which I could have afforded. The people at the showroom told me that the ST is not available at the moment and can offer me the T100 to experience the ride as the engine is same in both of them. I said yes and to this day thinking about the whole experience makes me smile.
There she was Triumph T100 in the blue and white combination. They told me about the route I could take and from where to come back and it was 5-6 KMs in total but that experience made sure that I am going for the Triumph no matter what. I wasn’t able to stop smiling for a while on that day as it was so overwhelming, I had the feeling like it just fits and why wasn’t I doing it until now. But as the Interceptor was already launched I had to test drive that too to make an informed decision, but the experience with Royal Enfield showroom was nothing to write about. They gave me the bike to just make a loop I think it was between 1-2 Kms but after riding the Triumph I felt nothing for RE. No offence to Interceptor owners it is an amazing motorcycle. Beautiful. VFM. But it is not a Triumph and it can never be, so no one should compare RE Interceptor with Triumph ST as it is indeed like comparing Apples and Oranges. But I was still saving as I wanted a loan from a PSB but my wife’s, mine as well as my brother’s bank didn’t offered any loan on superbikes, it would have been expensive not like the deals you get on getting a car financed from a PSB, with a motorcycle the ROI was always high. In Oct, 2018 I got a call from Krishna Triumph Chandigarh about a deal they are offering on Street Twin and wanted to know if I was up for it. I was on a road trip to Rajasthan with my wife and it was really good deal and my happiness was on other level as I thought I will be finally owning a superbike but again that moment was short lived as we discussed and realized we still don’t have the funds for it. If only our employers offered employee loans on motorcycles with same amount as they offered on cars.
Why Triumph and not the others
With HD out of option, the choices I had was Kawasaki, Suzuki, RE Interceptor and the Ducati. Didn’t even consider any other. I am not a fan of Kawasaki, just don’t like how they look. Although, I have already decided my next purchase in the motorcycle department will be Kawasaki Z900 RS and Triumph Tiger. The Z900 RS is absolutely beautiful and its super costly in India but here I can afford one. Suzuki’s V Storm 650 is great bike but I needed something which is less attention grabbing as I really wanted to use it as much as I could and feel relaxed if I had to leave it in a public parking and here the Triumph fits the bill. With low profile image, great FE, easy on pocket service schedule and having high quality components the ST made sense to me. If money wasn’t a reason then I would have gone for Tiger without even thinking. Ducati’s scrambler was the only I could afford but it looks weird to me in public so never even thought about it.
2019. The year me and you cherish the most now
2019 will be special to me always. I was finally a super bike owner and a father.
In March, 2019 I got a call again from Krishna Triumph Chandigarh about a deal they are offering and this time I was ready for it. I was saving for a while now and it was time to realize the dream but I had some other financial commitments so I was still a little bit unsure. I told Mr. Vijay (Triumph’s SA back then) that I need sometime to decide. On 6th March I got call from Vijay’s senior Mr. Vipin with whom I shared my concerns and told him I am not going to finance but that’s the final amount I can spend and I am 100% ready for the purchase If you can match my offer I will send you the booking amount right now. He called me back and said yes. And that was it, all of a sudden I became a Triumph Owner.
The first image Vipin sent me.
Buying Experience and the story of 0303
On 7th March I woke up at 3 AM and was on the first bus to Chandigarh from Rohtak. Reached Sector 17 and walked all the way up to Elante Mall. The showroom wasn’t even open and I sat across the showroom’s gate. Vipin saw me when he came to work and open the showroom. Did a thorough PDI, transferred the rest of the amount and went through all the paperwork. They gave me Triumph’s backpack. There was a cake cutting ceremony, overall a fabulous experience.
That’s Vijay on the left and me on right
A final word on Krishna Triumph Chandigarh. The people working there are excellent in one word. They are professional, courteous and will try to make you feel as comfortable as possible. Till this day I am in touch with them and I would recommend them always if you decide to go for a Triumph.
It costed my INR 8.10 Lakhs on the road (with the Triumph Leg guard included). My ST was a 2018 Sep manufactured, I was getting a good deal and there wasn’t a world of difference between the new and older generation of ST. It could have costed me INR 7.90 lakhs but I went for the number 0303 (it costs INR 20,000 in Haryana if you want a regular number of your choice) as 0303 is the number running on our Thar, and later on Seltos followed the suit.
The Triumph Street Twin
As mentioned earlier its Sep 2018 manufactured ST. There are enough details available on the internet so I won’t bore you with the specifics. After I left the showroom headed straight to Infosys office in Chandigarh to my best friend.
Happy Best friend
Drove almost 240 Kms on that day and my happiness knew no bounds as finally after so many years I made a dream into reality and that too without any EMI hovering over my head. Some pics from that day:
That’s my younger brother welcoming a new family member
That’s where the bike stayed before it got 3M PPF all over it
Got the 3M PPF from New Delhi and felt more at ease in leaving the bike in public places
Work in progress
ST’s Positives
- Beautiful timeless design, from every angle this motorcycle is beautiful.
- A blank canvas for mods, you can add so much stuff to it to make it look unique.
- The torque on this thing is out of this world, like 3rd gear can be used in city and can take it to 100! Without a sweat.
- Zero vibration and I really mean it. Zero. Vibrations.
- If driven properly can give an average of 31 kmpl ( had done this couple of times) otherwise 25/26 KMPL is normal with spirited riding.
- Build quality of Triumph is top notch.
- Service cost is about 7–8 grand if it’s a regular one and that too in a year so it’s not that costly in terms of maintenance.
- It doesn’t scream “ come see me!” , I used to easily park her anywhere without a worry that someone will be messing with it as mostly people believe that’s a modified Royal Enfield
- You don’t need special skills to ride it, with features such as ABS, Traction control, ride by wire, it was a really smooth experience
ST’s Negatives
- The small tank, was the most annoying bit of the street twin. It’s just a 12 L tank with the reserve included so if you’re on a tour then in about 220 kms you need to refill and 200+ kms on this thing happens very quickly so you get the gist. Twice I got emails from Triumph regarding ownership experience and every time I raised this issue , hope they release ST with bigger tanks in the future.
- Quality of service even at Triumph’s A.S.S is ok at best, we Indians are really not having the technical knowledge needed for these machines.
Exorbitantly priced accessories. Visit a triumph showroom and start asking the prices, your jaw will drop! - The brakes could have been better, I feel single disk setup at front is not enough for this machine.
- Seats aren’t that comfortable after 300–400 kms of riding.
- Headlights throw is just about ok, would need to spend a little on it too.
- The Ground clearance, so you scrap the bottom whenever you’re on a steep speed breaker. Especially with two up so a protective plate is highly recommended.
- The tires provided originally are not good and would recommend change them as soon as possible.
Experience, new accessories and the decision to sell
In one word my experience with the ST has been great. Before the first lockdown in March 2020 the odometer had already crossed 10,000 KMs and before selling it they odo stood at 11,2xx KMs so from March 2020 to April 2021 I drove it just for 12xx something KMs which isn’t fair at all and also shows how hard the pandemic had been on riding. During the two years of ownership I primarily used it for weekend trips and just one longer trip. I changed the brake pads to EBC brake pads, had changed front and rear tire as well and bought luggage rails, back rest which although was an eyesore but was good for the pillion. If I hadn’t moved overseas then it would have stayed with me and I had already made the list of various things I wanted to change on my ST to make it more unique and more rideable.
The rideability is easy and it works effortlessly both in cities as well as highways but at the end of the day its a 900 CC machine and if you’re stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and the fan kicks in then get ready to feel the heat. I remember how I was stuck in Delhi’s traffic when I was returning from 3M shop to Rohtak and how it was. I had long red lines on both my thighs when I removed my pants after I reached home. The sound of the exhausts is deep and people don’t notice the bike until they start hearing the exhaust note. This bike will make you happy no matter where you ride it and it is truly Jack of all trades.
The decision to sell wasn’t easy as I would be taking a loss because superbikes don’t hold any resale value when I decided to sell I was getting offer as low as INR 3-4 Lakhs. We are a small family but have a large garage for just few people, we already had a Mahindra Thar, a Kia Seltos, a Honda City, a Pulsar, a RE Bullet 350 and a Honda Activa, my father is still in service so he had a Swift Dzire provided by the company and thus after my departure it was my brother and wife who had to keep all these vehicles running and then there is the insurance so we sold the Bullet and Triumph, may sell the Thar too in the near future as its not being used the way it should have been recently. The pulsar will be completing its 15th year this August and also it is bearing Punjab registration plates so it will stay for a bit. I used Team BHP classifieds and Olx for selling the Triumph. Met the current owner from Olx and he and I are still in touch and it gives me great pleasure how he is taking the ST everywhere just I intended. The current owner is from Kerela and if you see a 0303 ST on Kerela’s street then know that it was of a BHPian’s originally.
Final word on owning a Superbike and those on the fence
If you are good on money and have time to travel a lot then making the purchase makes a reasonable decision otherwise its always a “want” rather than “need” when purchasing a superbike. Personally, I would say go for it, why have you waited so long!? You already know that you want it and you get one life so live it and cherish every moment of it. But, be ready with the expensive labor costs, the accessories and what not but as these are high quality machines it won’t be like they’ll be breaking down constantly and overall if used in a normal manner it won’t be hard on your pocket at all.
But if you want to make a very practical decision then I would suggest to go pre-owned route because then someone else (in my case I was the someone else) is taking the depreciation hit, do your homework, find a 1-2 year old model which is still in warranty get the extended warranty and like GTO says the risk will be almost zero in such case and you’ll have a peace of mind. When I purchased the ST I didn’t for once think of pre-owned because I thought it will stay with me till very end but situation changes, so go for the new ones if you’re unable to find a clean example of the ones you want and know that this is it, that this motorcycle will stay with you for a longer period.
Also, I would strongly recommend to get the motorcycle riding gear first not the other way around like I did. On such powerful machines one shouldn’t take any risk and it is better to get those riding gears first as they are meant to protect us.
Sharing some more pictures of my ST. Thank you for your time.
Cheers,
Sangwan
Keyword: Life with my now-sold Triumph Street Twin