The Sprinter has turned
into a commuter mule four days a week, something she’s not all that comfortable
doing. A bit of driveline slack means
concentration is needed in gear changes and that can be in short supply after a
challenging day at work. And during the Commonwealth
Games the roads were heavily patrolled and impatience could have been
expensive.
Once I filtered through
a long conga line of traffic to come up fast behind a soberly positioned boy in
blue on his Beemer. Luckily there was
space for me to pull in front of a car.
As the traffic edged forward and stopped for the third time for a level
crossing we pulled level and said “Hello”.
I asked him how the Beemer went.
He grizzled about the weight – 340 kg – and the top speed of 200
kph. Hmm. I was tempted to boast about the Sprint but
decided on discretion.
The D208RRs have
transformed the bike through the twisties; very stable and grippy. The rear has a bit of silica in it and has
returned just under 5000 km. That is 1500 km more than the Pilot Power I
tried. The 208RRs have now been
superseded by the Qualifier which has received a good reception from bike
journo’s but I found some stock of the 208s at Redwing and bargained them down
on one as superseded. And a newsgroup
post from a Sprint rider indicates that the Qualifier is wearing faster for him
than the Powers he’s used to.
She’s now clocked up
32,000 km. The shock needs rebuilding so
it will be another cross-town trip to ProMecha.
I did the 10k service myself, it being a minor one. The oil filter is
tucked away at the rear of the sump and needed a claw type wrench to
remove. The wrench only loosened the
unit so fairing bits had to come off so I could tighten the new one up. Sticking with the factory recommended oil and
filter put a $92 dent in the credit card.
The throttle cable
adjuster had run out of extension so the tank and airbox had to come off for
some tightening up at the throttle body end.
A spaghetti bowl of wires and hoses running off them needed labelling to
avoid embarrassment. During the work, one engine-side wire dropped out of sight
bringing about some reassembly head shaking.
Last time I pulled a tank off a bike there was only a hose and clamp to
negotiate.
It all came together
fine and, on Lyn’s Mt Baw Baw ride, one of the Sprint’s strengths was
demonstrated by returning 300 km for 16 litres of juice.
She still has to go back
to the dealer to find out why one headlight isn’t working. Apart from that, it’s down to tweaks and
maintenance. I’ve fitted a set of
pre-cut film pieces from www.thetankslapper.com to protect the paintwork. Some are 3M adhesive-backed and some just go
on with water. It’s a comprehensive kit
but there are no bits for the fairing where most of the chipping has happened
so Joel’s donation of film will come in handy.
Well, as time goes by,
I’m getting more reconciled to the Sprint’s ways. The gremlins have mostly gone and good rubber
has made a very positive difference.
Then there’s the bottom line that keeping her for longer will reduce the
depreciation ouch and the resale value holds up well on Trumpies. That said, I’m still looking at other bikes
and wondering whether I should I have two bikes, one for Sunday fanging and one
for commuting? That will bring its own
bottom-line ouch of course. Or more
sensibly, continue the hunt for one bike that will do it all with compromises I
can live with. I have to say the new
Daytona 675 looks tasty but then with Triumph build quality … maybe not. Or the 2006 Yammie FZ1? Lots of grunt in a better handling package
than the old Fazer. Early reviews are
mixed though with three saying the detuning of the R1 motor has left
insufficient low-end power and two criticising the snatchy fuel injection.
Ern Reeders
May 10, 2006