for company , ending up in Shannon in time for morning tea . Heading south into town , The Horsemans Cafe looked inviting . Unlike the cafe that exists only to separate travellers from their dollars I found in Franz Josef while taking the Hayabusa for a lap of the South Island ( read about that here ), The Horsemans is lovely , with pleasant staff , offering decent grub at a reasonable price . $ 20 for eggs , toast and coffee . Tasty too . The bumpy backroads let the Tiger ’ s Showa semi-active suspension do its thing . Spring pre-load is automatically adjusted to make sure the ride height and geometry are right for any rider / pillion load and the damping adjusts to suit the load . There are a LOT of different options , so I ’ ll endeavour to figure it out in the coming issues . Suffice to say , for a solo rider and luggage , it literally floats over our crappy tar-seal . In the hours on the road south , I played around with the ride mode settings that can be accessed , and adjusted , while riding . Sport , Road and Rain ( the gravel and dirt modes can only be selected from a standstill ). They all have a different feel and I ’ ll write on that at length in another instalment .
+ Incredibly competent ; sounds gorgeous
– Still big ; no heated seats
SERVICE TIME When I got back home , the speedo had just clicked over 900km , so the first service is looming . After that there ’ s a huge 16,000km between services ( or once a year , whichever comes sooner ). That ’ s a long time between oily drinks for the motor , and will save money on servicing for the rider who does more than 10,000km a year . This is great , a boon for most owners . That said , and I know Triumph ’ s engineers will have done their homework on engine longevity , oil contamination and lubrication , but it does make me nervous . Oil is cheap . Engines are not . I reckon , if I owned this bike , I ’ d swap the oil out at the 8000km half way point , just for my own peace of mind . It ’ s not a Triumph thing , I ’ d do it on any bike with huge service intervals . Anyway , I ’ ll get another 100km on the dash and get it in for a service . I ’ ll make a beeline for some gravel too .
78 KIWI RIDER