Street Twin Steering

Ken. Your'e right of course. But i feel Tony has made his mid up its not the tyres. And God Forbid it he takes a tumble. I know it hurts.
Ride Safe
Joe.

 

Tony.
No problem. I have been there and i know some times we think it just can't be and mabye not. Take it to a dealer or someone to get a better idea. And like someone said try to post some closer pic's of the tyres fromt and back.
You will get it beleive me.
Ride Free
Joe.

 

If it isn't tyres I'll eat my hat

 

Hi Tony. I find the exact opposite. The Street Twin is just about the easiest bike I've ever ridden to get round really tight bends and corners, on all sorts of surfaces. The bike practically steers itself. Relaxed loose riding style, tuck in the elbow on the side I plan to turn, feather touch counter steer and round it whizzes. No muscle power needed at all. A piece of p!5$ really. I leave pretty much every other bike in my wake on those tight ones. The short wheel base helps. I've also raised the rear suspension which does make the turning in quicker, but it was a cracking agile bike even so.

The stock Pireli's are rubbish. They track every line and banding in the road. Ditch them and you'll notice a massive improvement. I've put Avon 3D on mine, which are great and cheaper.

 

Ken
Ever ate a hat. Not that apitizing.
Regards
Joe.

 

Yes! A chocolate one

 

Hi Tony, I've had my Street Twin just over a month, bought brand new, and from your description I think my riding style is similar to yours.

I think I know where you are coming from, I definitely thought the steering was slow and heavy when I first test rode one. But I was comparing to a much lighter BMW G310R, with a 17” front wheel - it does take a little bit of time to get used to the difference.

Early on, I did feel a couple of times that the Triumph went a bit wide on some corners – which made me feel a bit nervous. But when I thought about things more, I realised it was me rather than the bike. Basically on some tighter right handers that were quite tricky really – downhill, dense bush on the inside with steep drops away from the road edge, bumpy and uneven surfaces (read as small mountains if you are from Holland)… going a bit quicker than I thought, so some late braking into the corner etc etc.

I am now really comfortable with the Street Twin’s handling. As long as I have my entry lines and speeds good, I know it is going to do what it needs to, just a case of relaxing and trusting in the bike’s ability – I know my riding style is not likely to test it.

Cheers - Derek

 

I changed my ST tyres for Continental Road Attack 3’s and the ride and cornering has improved significantly

They are a bugger to get because of the unusual sizes

 

Not wise to be braking mid corner, try & get your braking done before you countersteer into the bend, if you need to brake because of a mis judgement then try tapping the rear brake, this will help turn the bike in.
Slow in - fast out No rude comments chaps!

 

I agree. As long as you've done all your hard braking on a straight line, when entering the corner you can ease off the front brake lever but keep a light touch on it, and should be able to safely carry some of that front brake load while turning, and while continuously feathering off the front brake lever as you complete all of your turning input (trail-braking).

It would be safer to practice this technique in a parking lot first.

 

If you think suspension is the issue, put a zip tie around your fork tube (the chrome part) and seat it on the outer tube. The zip tie should get pushed up as the fork compresses and will show you how much you compress the forks when you brake.

Maybe not enough weight is being transferred to the front-end (or maybe you're bottoming out, but less likely). This can help you figure out if you need lighter (or heavier) fork springs.

You can also look for the fork spring specs from Triumph to see if it matches your weight.