2005 Triumph Sprint 1050ST

Tourer de Force

I'm stuck behind a line of cars following a dawdling farm tractor along the winding A259 road between Rye and Hastings in East Sussex, England. A gap appears in the oncoming flow: time to test the new 1050 Sprint ST's acceleration. Staying in third gear, I signal, crank the throttle and pull out. In seconds, the speedometer is nudging three figures, the tractor is rapidly disappearing in the mirror, and a tight right-hander looms. I set up for the turn and cover the brakes but the new ST simply glides through like – well, like the previous 955 ST didn't.

Triumph's 955ST was a great bike – the Cycle World sport tourer of the year in 1999 – but now six years old and showing its age, it's time for a replacement.

The Sport Touring category is perhaps the least clearly defined of all motorcycling niches. Included in this class, at least by manufacturers' definitions, are has-been sportbikes, shaft-drive luxo-barges, street standards with luggage, multi-cylinder trailies, and even the odd bag-sporting cruiser.

But central to this class is the sporting tourer (with the emphasis on sport), essentially detuned (or retuned, as the makers prefer) sportbikes with more conservative ergonomics, bigger bodywork and hard luggage. In this class you'll find the Ducati ST3 and ST4, Aprilia Futura, Triumph Sprint ST, and evergreen benchmark VFR800 from Honda.

It's a class I'm familiar with. I rode an Aprilia Futura around southeastern Australia, a Ducati ST4s across the southwestern US, and I've owned a 955 Sprint ST for five years. The Ducati handily tops the others on power, and runs closely with the Futura on handling, whereas the 955 ST is the most comfortable, but with less precise steering. Now I've come to England to see how the new 1050ST shakes out on the list....

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