Sometimes when I wander down to Farleys I pick up a copy of <i>Bike</i> - a UK motorcycle magazine that simply blows away any and all of the US mags. It’s expensive, but they write in complete sentences and actually review bikes thoroughly and objectively. Well, as objectively as one might expect for a UK publication - their review of the new Triumph Sprint ST was nothing short of glowing with nationalistic pride.

Any bias aside, it sounded good, and a British (or German, or Austrian, or Italian) bike holds more appeal for me than, for example, a Honda, so it sort of stuck in my head.

…and stuck, and stuck. I read that review a few months ago… and then I started planning a trip to LA earlier this month — and I realized that since of course I _needed_ a new motorcycle (how else to get to LA?), it was time to get myself to the Triumph dealer.

It probably took me ten days to complete the process of justifying the purchase. Unassailable logic, I assure you. As I already mentioned, I did need a way to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles. What, fly? And, I already had two orange bikes… so I needed another color to balance them out. And I needed a road bike - a longer-distance road bike. A bike with hard bags. A blue one. One with three cylinders. Oh, and I needed a new helmet, and some leathers, and since I was going to the bike shop, why not buy a motorcycle while I’m there? Save some time, you know.

That’s how I found myself at Hattar Motors in San Rafael, playing let’s make a deal with Valerie. A couple of hours later I had signed the paperwork for a brand new 0-miles 2005 Sprint ST from back stock. $9500 + tax, including a free set of hard bags due to the current factory promo. That’s less than $1/cc — not as cheap as hard drive space (Moore’s law doesn’t seem to apply), but a lot more fun.

I picked the bike up the following day and put 100 miles on it, then turned it in for an oil change. Picked it up again two days later, and then took off the following day for LA.

My flickr photoset from the SF-LA-SF ride doesn’t quite tell the whole story, since it’s hard to bring myself to spot and shoot photos when blasting along the back roads, but it was a great ride. I put 1200 miles on the bike before turning it in again for first service back in SF. In case you’re curious, here’s the route (certainly not the most direct way to LA):

Leave San Francisco on 280 S to 35 (Skyline) to 101 to Hollister, 25 S past Pinnacles to 198 W across 101 to G14 (Jolon Rd & Interlake Rd) to Paso Robles to 46 W and then finally on Old Creek Road to Cayucos. Next day left Cayucos S on 1 to 41 East thru Atascadero to 229 S to 58 E to Taft & Maricopa, then S on 166 to 33 to SE on Cerro Noroeste Rd, then SW on Lockwood Valley Rd to 33 S to Ojai to 101 to 405 to Marina Del Rey.

Return: PCH/1 N to Ventura to Santa Barbara, detour N on 154 thru Santa Ynez Valley to rejoin 101 at Los Olivos. Cut over to Morro Bay via Los Osos Valley Rd, then N on 1 all the way up Big Sur and thru Santa Cruz, up Pescadero Rd (just repaved!) back to 35 to 92 to 280 back home. The return ride was all in one day - probably 500 miles due to a couple of detours. Thx to Pashnit.com as always for the great road descriptions.

Here’s a route map that I made on wayfaring.com.

I also picked up a new helmet (two actually!) - a Schuberth for long distance and an Arai Corsair “Haga Aztek” for the city, some armoured Dainese pants that match my jacket, a pair of boots, etc. I guess it was a bit of a spending spree.

Of course, the bike is useless in town (that’s why I have the Duke), and no good for riding to Baja — so I’m already thinking about an Adventure 950, or something else for #4.