Talk:Triumph Triple
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The Hinkley Triple is perhaps the best compromise for a "sport/street" piston motorcycle engine in existence. It lacks the Rocking coupling (long crankshaft) of the more popular inline fours and as such, with only one counter rotating balancer instead of two on the I4's is a smoother running engine, particularly at high RPM. Add to this extremely flat torque curve that bouncing off the rev limiter, even with the 10,800RPM Daytona engine is commonplace when not constantly observing the tachometer. Down at low RPM the triple can be lugged to below 1500RPM in sixth gear without a hint of complaint and develops serious torque at or above 1500PRM; particularly to new third generation 1050cc engine used in the Sprint ST and speed triple.
The Transmission in all Hinkley triples is slightly notchier than the Japanese fare but is generally not a problem except during racing. Clutches are all mechanical and have a light touch & lineal engagement. The Daytona and S3 suspension is softer than most the Japanese race replica's and the Sprints are more on the plush side but far from sloppy. Just a tad softer than a Honda VFR.
Sprint vs. Honda VFR: Handling on the Sprints is very near Honda VFR quality and the feel is generally very similar, except that the Sprint has more power everywhere, which makes the VFR feel more like a 600cc bike in comparison. The VFR has nearly the same peak rear wheel Horse Power but must be ridden like a 600cc bike to eke out that 100HP. Overall the handling goes to the Honda as it just feels more neutral steering and polished overall. Out on the road though, the Sprint has the edge in terms of rider comfort with a smoother engine, softer suspension and better seat. The Honda V4 is smooth running but has spots here and there that the vibration seems to sneak in and shakes more under hard acceleration. Both bikes handle well for what they are (Sport tourers) but the turn-in on the Sprint is quicker at slow speeds, which gives the bike a lighter than 500+ pound wet feel. The Honda VFR, OTOH can be thrown in a turn and just let all further weight on the bars be ancillary or just let go. The Sprint OTOH has a slight tendency to fall-in on tight turns or "overseer". Reliability on either bike is a wash. Both have had small problems over the years; Honda electrical "regulators" problems and with Sprints it’s the plastic fuel fittings breaking but both are what can be considered 100,000+ mile bikes if maintenance is performed on a regular basis.
Triple vs. V4 design: Honda always seems to do things the hard way. They do build lots of inline fours as do the other Japanese manufacturers but most could have removed one cylinder and done better overall. Why? The triple is cheaper to build and is a better overall design with the lone exception that it’s easier to get more peak HP from a four cylinder engine (greater effective valve area). Then today, this point becomes mote anyway, Why? If the British can routinely get 140 rear wheel HP from their Daytona triples then just think what the Japanese could do with a triple. Now lets attack the “all but dead production V4 engine design”. It's just too complicated and expensive to manufacture. Instead of just 2 cams there are four and the V4 is a virtual nightmare to service.
Why haven't the Japanese designed any three cylinder motorcycles? Oh but they have.... Many two-stroke engines out of the early seventies were triples (Suzuki & Kawasaki). Then there were the Yamaha and BMW four stroke triples of the late seventies and early eighties. The Yamaha 750 & 850 had a mediocre reputation for many reasons, Two Valves / cylinder No counter rotating balance shaft Air-cooled No slanted intake carburetion Crappy CV carburetion.
The BMW triples had a better following with many saying the K750 was a better engine than the four cylinder K1200.
What of the Daytonas and Speed triples? They can't compete on the racetrack with the Japanese inline four powered bikes but frankly nothing can in this day and age. The Japanese have spent hard time and money to ensure that small companies like Triumph, Aprilia or Ducati can never compete, head on, with either the 600cc or liter bikes. And folks, Ducati has always stacked the cards against the Japanese with a 250cc displacement advantage. It's only recently that we've seen a level playing field and in that venue the Japanese I-4's easily kill the Ducati’s overkill desmodromics;)
The recently released Daytona 675 triple has bucked the trend by offering performance that's more than a match for the 600 fours, and has been accepted in the supersports category for racing against 600 fours and 750 twins in some countries (although not by the FIM). Triumph are not racing the bike, so large amounts of money will not be spent developing a full race version of this engine, but it will be interesting to see how the bike goes against the competition at club level.
Finally, why haven't the inline three cylinder engine made more of a dent in the either racing or production sporting motorcycles? There have been efforts to exploit the triple in the Moto GP circuit with the Cube (pneumatic valve actuation) but other than the auto borrowed valve train there was nothing earthshaking about the basic design. Did they take advantage of 5 valves per cylinder? No! They did nothing but lop three cylinders off an FI car engine and expected to get an instant winner. Let's look at automotive F1 Engines for a minute. 900 HP from 3.5 liters. Big F*cking deal. A high performance, naturally aspired 4 cycle motorcycle engine needs more HP / liter or something in the order of >300HPinstead of the FI cars that currently run ~250HP/ liter. So… in this person's mind the triple has not had the engineering money and effort required for it to be a real race winner. In the meantime, The Hinkley triple is about as good a street sporting engine as one can currently find with its smoothness and extreme well-mannered torque characteristics. Is it one of the ten best motorcycle engines of all time? More like one of the top three. And I’ve not even gone into the emotional impact of the superior V-12 like sound the triple -)
