Triumph Sprint 955, any good?

[Shaft]

In a total departure from my usual style of bike, I'm tempted by one of these.

All the reviews seem to be fairly complimentary and I've done a search here and there doesn't seem to be much going wrong, apart from seized chain adjusters and possibly dodgy starter clutches.

Any more to report?
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
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[chris-red]

My dad has one and loves it.

The motor is lovely, grunty and smooth.

It's not sports bike when it comes to handling but it ain't a slouch either.

Brakes are Typical Triumph and while powerful, have loads of lever travel, I suppose this gives more feel, and it makes sense to use more of the span of the lever but I prefer more resistance in the lever. They need bleeding often too.
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[Robby]

I once sold a bike to a guy that had one. His only complaint was that the handling was awful once the tyres squared off. It would still grip, but required a bit of faith to tip it over into the corner.

I think our ebay watch lists may look similar, one that wasn't a million miles away sold for very reasonable money at the weekend.

[Shaft]

I actually found it by accident, looking for something else, I'd not even considered one before.

I've been thinking I ought to try one of these new fangled modern bikes and this one appealed because it's at a dealer, so they might take my Merc as a swapper, which would do me a favour.
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Always found any 955 bike quite physically big and top heavy/slightly ponderous compared to anything else of similar age/style. Motor is deceptively fast.
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[Shaft]

I'm pretty big, top heavy and ponderous myself, so should be a match made in heaven
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Tungtvann]

Mate got one as his first bike, it's pretty nice and he likes it. No complaints from him.

[c-m]

I was looking at these after I got rid of the ZX9R.

My conclusion was that they are nice enough bike with plenty of go and good mpg. However they are very soft, they're heavy, and are somewhat barge like. The ZX9R is a better bike.

Headlights are poor, sprag clutch is prone to failure (keep your battery well charged), and reg/recs are a weak point.

[chris-red]

[Seb]

I've ridden the 955 Sprint RS fairly extensively, had a ZX9R F2 in the past and currently own a 1050 sprint.

The ZX9R is a better bike on paper, I can't really disagree with that, it's got substantially more power up top, it's noticeably lighter and with the suspension dialled in it's actually quite an agile bike too.

I do however feel that the Triumphs are better day to day bikes, yes they are heavy but the suspension is much better balanced out of the box, whilst it's fairly slow to turn in it's very sure footed and stable, it doesn't get upset by mid corner bumps like my ZX9 did for example.

And then the engine. Yes the ZX9 has dramatically more top end, the Triumph is far less flat low down and pulls cleanly pretty much from 1.5k rpm. It's likely a personal preference thing, but the triple sounds and feels a ton nicer too, whilst I didn't mind the noise of the Kwak, I really didn't like the buzzy feel of it.
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[garth]

Can't say I ever thought my ZX9R was buzzy. Yes, the suspension needed tweaking, but it's substantially faster than a 955, if that's your thing.

A 955 from roll on midrange does sound like half a merlin though, is nice.