Honda ST1300 PanEuropean VS Triumph Sprint 1050 GT
so today i'm going to run my honda st 1300 pan european against my triumph 1050 gt wait so why are we doing this what would be the point in comparing these two bikes well both bikes are really popular in europe for sport touring and both bikes have a really loyal following at least in the uk in great britain and the united kingdom now there is a distinction between these two so go figure it out educate yourself and then get back to the video oh [Laughter] i should have known this was coming ireland there were 2528 triumph sprint gt sold in the uk while the sprint 1050 st benefiting from a longer production run and way more support from triumph during that production run sold 5566 bikes what i mean by more support is that tribe didn't release another touring bike within its own stables against the st like they did for the sprint gt the bike i'm referring to of course is the ill-fated triumph trophy se which is an excellent touring bike all on its own and has features that more align actually with the honda st 1300 european and the bmw r of the 1200 rt unfortunately we'll never know how successful the sprint gt could have been with a comparable production run to the honda st 1300 since it was a victim of the mass culling triumph did of their production line in 2016. between 2004 and 2018 a total of 8094 triumph 1050 sprints were sold in the uk so by comparison the honda sg 1300 pan european sold 5 849 bikes in the united kingdom in all of its variations and years and if you're curious according to the uk department of transportation there was only 1529 honda st 1100 bikes sold in all of its variations including police spec yeah i thought it would be more too the pan-european and the sprint are often piling up miles on the same sorts of motorways with similar styles of riders riders who don't want to ride bmws but want to accomplish the same types of distances and not have to pay that dreaded bmw tax so let's start with the older of the two bikes the honda st 1300 and european now this bike was manufactured between 2002 and 2013 but it pretty much remained untouched for those years as the successor to the very popular honda st 1100 pan-european if you're following along in the video series on this honda st you'll know that the bike required a little bit of work to get it back into riding style i've also tastefully modified the intake as well as adding some very nice sounding del calvic exhaust now the sprint gt was offered between 2011 and 2016 to the public and of course it was the successor to the sprint 1050 st the grand tour or gt is six inches longer than the st and featured some adjustments to engine control that changed torque and horsepower just a little bit but basically the engine in the gt is a complete carryover from the previous bike while honda on the other hand upped the displacement of their improved bike and moved to a closed loop fuel injection system when they changed the pan-european now this particular bike was in a bit of a sad state when i found it despite it only having 30 000 kilometers on it it received a lot of tlc and having questionable previous care it also received updated intake with a k n air filter and of course that del kelvik exhaust now both motorcycles are in top mechanical condition with new metzler roadtech tires performance exhaust maintenance up to date and consumables all recently replaced so i would suggest they are as equal in performance as i could possibly get them at this stage so i will break the comparison into categories styling and features performance cost of ownership and since they're sport touring motorcycles riding them both in sporting and a touring fashion including with a passenger in the styling category it's hard to fault either of the bikes obviously the sprint has a sportier look and certainly has a sportier feel now the honda st has this angular fairing and certainly has a more upright riding position something more like a touring bike it's also physically wider a lot wider because of the engine design on the honda st 1300 with this v4 the fairings extend outward which means that this flare offers the rider some additional protection against the elements but the one thing it can do is channel some of the heat from that big v4 engine onto the rider now this is great on cooler weather days like we have today in the fall but it can be uncomfortable when you're sitting in traffic now honda also integrates the panniers into the bike's design the st 1300 panniers are part of the bike's overall fairing and the general flow of the bike now they don't look like they were just slapped on as an afterthought which you get on some bikes when it comes to saddlebags now deceivingly the honda panniers are rated at 35 liters each and do hold on xl helmet in perspective the yamaha fjr panniers are only 30 liters while the bmw r1200 rt uses 32 liter panniers the honda pannier lock system is also quite nice since it's impossible to unlock the bag from the bike when you're just accessing what's inside the pannier lock systems are separate with two unique key placements for opening the bag and then removing the bag this pretty much eliminates the chance that you'll lose one after a stop for lunch or to change your gear the downside of the st 1300 panniers is the bike looks ghastly without them removing the pan european bags for a quick trip around town isn't really an option oh sure you can do it but everybody around you will think that there's something wrong with your bike now the triumph panniers are a bit more obvious these panniers are shared with the trophy se and at 31 liters each are a significant improvement over the triumph 1050 st's since i could not even store my helmet in those now i wouldn't say that the gt's panniers are ugly but they don't flow into the bike the way that they do on the honda what they do do and bring to the table is the ability to be removed without adversely affecting the look of the bike now i like the look of the sprint without bags on it and that means you can just go out for a ride without carrying any extra weight if you want to one unique engineering approach that triumph uses with its panniers is this floating link bar setup this bar supports the panniers by shifting and balancing weight allowing five degrees of movement in cornering now this shift is designed to aid in cornering when the panniers are loaded up although it's never bothered me and this is the fourth triumph that i've had with them based on rider inputs into forums sites the system gets mixed reviews now the link bar is a system that needs maintenance and periodic adjustments if you ride with your panniers on a regular basis if this bar is out of adjustment or warrant it can have adverse effects and lead to sudden shifts in weight when cornering the link bar also means that you are forced to balance your pannier load since it is pretty obvious if they are on balance now this is a practice that we should be doing anyways but if you make a mistake loading the triumph panniers it's amplified by that floating link bar setup now for features both bikes offer unique setups both bikes have easily adjustable rear suspension for both preload and rebound dampening on the front forks only the triumph gives you adjustable pre-lift the honda uses 45 millimeter forks while the triumph uses a slightly narrower 43 millimeter fork but both are conventional showa cartridge style forks the honda pan european has a power windscreen which is height adjustable you have a multitude of adjustments with the seat and you also have a power adjustment for the headlight when you've added a passenger or some additional weight so you can fine-tune where your headlight beam goes now none of these features were ever available on the triumph now the triumph is sportier in style and performance opting to save weight and adding horsepower 11 more than the honda at 128 and there is the final question of final drive now the triumph sprint has always run a conventional chain final drive which has the advantage of being lightweight and adjustable for the rider depending on the rider's weight terrain and the performance that they want out of the bike the honda pan european is a shaft drive which means it doesn't wear out every 10 000 kilometers needing replacement a shaft drive is heavy and the rider cannot adjust final drive gearing ratios which means that the gearing that this bike came with is all you're ever going to have to work with now it's a good thing that the honda st 1300 pan european has probably the best compromise of gearing out of any shaft drive bike i have ever ridden and it's especially important because this bike only has five gears now i'm not exaggerating the honda has the best gearing setup of any five-speed sport touring bike and even some six-speed bikes now shaft drive does make a whole lot of sense for touring but it does take some of the sport out of sport tour now ergonomics are good on both bikes while i prefer the aggressive foot peg placement on the triumph being able to stand and stretch out your thighs knees and calves while riding on the honda during long stretches has its benefits while talking about seats foot peg and handlebar placements i want to delve into the sport touring position and explain why i find it is the best for what i like to call aggressive touring so to simplify and better explain my thoughts here i'm going to just talk about two primary riding positions upright and the sport position in the upright your feet are in line with or ahead of your hips as a result your spine is vertical and your posterior sits flat on your seat you use this position when riding a standard a touring or a cruiser bike in the sport position your feet are at rest slightly behind your hips which means you must transfer some of your body weight to the balls of your feet and your wrists and hands this also typically means the rider's arms are outstretched in front of the bike and you lift your chin up to improve your line of sight when riding the sport position is as the name would suggest for sportier bikes while the sport tour motorcycle tries to mine meld these positions and extract the best of both worlds and each model takes a different approach the sportiest sport tour in my experience being the 2015 k 1300 sp i owned while the most relaxed sport tour would have to be the honda st 1300 a lot of riders especially ones in my age group are reluctant to move to a sportier and more aggressive position sighting back issues if you recall the first st 1300 video i did you'll remember that the previous owner of the bike installed a high handlebar with the thought that it would be better for his chronic back issues now everyone has their own ailments that can get in the way of riding and what i want to stress here is that if lower back pain is an issue bulging discs muscular spasms sciatica any condition where the doctor advises you to stretch and strengthen your core legs and lower back the sport position will help relieve your back pain and make riding your motorcycle more enjoyable just think about the riding position of the average touring bike 90 to 95 percent of the rider's weight is transferred to the bike suspension through their buttocks this means that the bike's movement and bumps that cannot be completely absorbed by the suspension system are transferred back to the rider through the coxes and sacrum to the spine and can also apply pressure to sciatic nerves this pressure is amplified when your feet are stretched far forward of your hips in the cruiser riding style where 100 percent of your weight is now supported by these bones now our body was not meant to have all of its weight supported by such a small surface area and if you already suffer from lower back pain the cruiser riding position is one of the worst things that you can do for yourself the sport position and to a lesser degree the naked sport sport adventure and sport tour positions transfers weight off of your coccyx and stretches your lower spine relieving disc pressure and more of the rider's weight is then transferred to the balls of their feet thighs and wrists and hands now this may cause a little fatigue in the neck or wrists but it's nowhere near as debilitating as lower back pain where every little bump becomes a dagger stab the sport position and its variations give riders who pile on miles not coffee cups a better position to handle the bumps and whatever the road throws at them not to mention the ability to move more effectively on your bike it's for this reason after owning a gold wing adventure two brand new harley-davidson touring bikes and a dozen soft tails sportsters and other metric cruisers i now prefer to ride sport touring or adventure touring bikes hey dude have you smashed that subscribe button yet check out all the videos and bridges better yet you can access them all for free on youtube by just clicking that subscribe button and setting your notification to active there are more cool and informative videos just weeks away so don't miss out subscribe now plus don't forget to share this video with your forum or sub group in comparison the honda certainly is more luxurious of the two bikes this luxury doesn't come without any sort of penalty however at 716 pounds that's 325 kilograms you're reminded of this monstrous weight in the pan european every time you pick it up off its kickstand or put it on its center stand with its v4 engine power windscreen shaft drive for a sport touring bike it's more comparable to a full-blown touring bike in so many ways one of them is being how heavy the st-1300 is so one of the big advantages of the honda here as opposed to the triumph is its weight in weather conditions like this when you have a heavy bike uh you start to hit puddles of water and things like that i finally move around a whole lot less and the rear tire is also slightly smaller the standard tire in the back of a st 1300 is 170. where it's 180 on the uh on the sprint gt by contrast the triumph is 126 pounds lighter that's a sevelt 590 pounds for those of you keeping track full of gas and fluids ready to ride it feels even lighter still and it's probably due to the sportier approach of minimizing content and holding the mass in a more centered and predictable position now where there's this weird contrast with the honda is it low speeds riding the bikes in a parking lot navigating tight turns speed bumps you would think that the honda would have a disadvantage over the triumph because of its weight but this isn't the case the honda has a very neutral seating position which gives the rider better control over the bike when traveling at slower speeds making tight turns on the st 1300 is not challenging at all provided you don't upset the weight of the bike it rolls smoothly wherever you want it to now this is not to say that the sprint gt is ill-mannered at low speeds it's just not clearly better than the honda and you would think it would be since it's quite a bit lighter the honda pan european actually holds more fuel than the triumph and actually uses two fuel tanks a secondary tank which is in its standard location up here where you put fuel in it and the primary tank which is actually located under the seat with just over 29 liters of petrol the pan european gives you extra long refueling intervals and the st 1300 has exceptional fuel economy for a big bike the sprint is not as fuel conscious as the honda with its 20 liter tank now that means that you have to stop more frequently and plan your fuel stops if you're venturing to new territories a little more thoroughly now the power delivery on the sprint is spot on with the acceleration of the bike being more instantaneous regardless of what gear you're in [Music] so one of the things i'm going to say about the sprint gt is that you certainly can feel that the bike has a lot more to to give you at a moment's notice when it comes to acceleration the bike certainly has that sport like influence not only in the way it looks but in the way it performs and that's as opposed to the to the to the pan european when when you roll on the throttle you know the response is nice but a little more predictable in the sprint gt you certainly have the sensation that you could overpower uh that rear tire and lose traction especially if you were in the upper part of the rpm range the honda has really good torque with the mods i've made to this bike and it's even amplified over stock condition especially when riding two up the power delivery is gradual and predictably smooth the sprint gt has a more aggressive power delivery it's not chaotic but there just seems to be more of everything at every throttle position riding two up the touring lineage in the design of the honda really comes through now it offers more seating and a better position plus bigger foot pegs for the rider and the passenger for those extra long hauls i have to think that the sprint really wasn't designed for extensive two-up riding unless your passenger was fairly petite now it's not to say that an afternoon through some twisty roads on the back of the sprint wouldn't be thrilling it just wouldn't be the one that i would want to take and ride cross country on two up if you want a sportier ride something that you can hang with your buddies on the weekend in their leader crotch rockets but still comfortably commute to work through the week the sprint is probably the bike for you now i've said this all along but the power this bike makes is pretty unbelievable it's both fierce and somehow smooth now i wouldn't recommend the triumph sprint as a good first bite the same probably could be said of the honda pattern european i just think that if you don't have the proper respect for this bike that's warranted by its ability to just get up and go you could wind up in over your head as far as cost of ownership goes these motorcycles typically sell for similar amounts to similar people but the sprint gt is almost always newer and has less miles now honda locks their parts distribution systems up in the countries in which they do business in what this means is that there's seldom a deal to be had if you're looking for spares more importantly if you go outside your border looking for a deal it's typically not there you wind up paying handsomely if you can do it at all on the plus side there were a lot of honda st 1300 pound europeans sold all over the world and they're pretty much the same in any country they ever went to meaning that there are a lot of used parts to be had as long as you know where to look now the sprint on the other hand is not as plentiful outside the uk now sourcing parts from the uk is not as hard as you think even if you live across the pond as it were i found that pricing for factory spares on the triumph is significantly better and everything seems to be in stock in the uk at worst it's three days away from the factory when ordering from a uk triumph dealer now i've also found that the british postal service has really rapid rapid response when compared to ordering from the us or even orders inside of canada if you're shopping for british motorcycle parts shop in the uk and you'll find not only a better selection but better pricing if you want an example i've put a link in the description of this video overall the sprint gt is less expensive to own and to maintain but the honda st 1300 pan european is the bike with better resale value and more global attraction so it is easier to sell if you wanted to do that down the line if you were looking for a definitive answer on which of these two bikes were better you're not going to get it from me i can't decide it's because both these bikes do things significantly better than the other in certain situations if you already own or are looking to buy either of them just know that you're in good company and until next time be sure to ride safe
2021-11-06 08:01
