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The new 2011 Triumph Sprint GT is spotted at the Ace Cafe!
by Jack Broomall

Through sheer good luck rather than planning, I have actually had a chance to have an up close and personal look at Triumph's recently announced Sprint 1050 GT. Most US Triumph enthusiasts won't be able to check out a new Sprint GT until it arrives in US showrooms late this year but, well, timing is everything. Sunday, June 13th was "Triumph Day" at London, England's iconic Ace Cafe and that just happened to coincide with a leisure day at the end of our two week motorcycling tour through the UK. Would we like to spend a sunny Sunday checking out Triumphs of all definitions? Well, duh! The Ace was a well known bike cafe and hangout in the heady days of the Rockers vs. Mods in 1960s England. Today it has been recreated and serves as a definitive destination for bike enthusiasts from England and beyond. The Ace offers typical cafe food, drink and, best of all, fellowship among motorcyclists. Some manner of special event is scheduled every weekend throughout the summer.
On this year's "Triumph Day", amidst the hundreds of classics, modern Hinckley bikes, customs and cafe racers there was a factory display of the new Sprint GT. The Sprint GT is intended to build on today's Sprint ST but to move the needle on the sport-tourer continuum a notch or two in the Touring direction. Walking up to the new Sprint, the first things we noticed were the cleaner front end look with a new headlamp treatment and the disappearance of the silver lamp surround seen on today's ST. The new lamp also is claimed to provide better illumination. Wander around the bike a bit further and the size of the new pannier cases cannot be ignored. On the GT Triumph has relocated the exhaust from under-seat to low on the right side. This does several good things including facilitating the packaging of the huge luggage, allowing a more comfortable accomodation for the pillion passenger, freeing up a bit of underseat space for storage, and, apparently, allowing the tuning flexibility to yield a bit more power. Yahoo! We like power! The wheelbase of the GT has been lengthened some 80mm from today's ST. The wheelbase change is intended to provide a greater degree of stability, especially for the two-up and heavily loaded touring. When seated on the GT we felt that the rider position is essentially unchanged from the ST, though the new one piece seat seems slightly wider and more accomodating. The pillion passenger is definitely accomodated better than before, again due to the wider and lower new seat, lower footpeg position, pannier positioning, and the space freed up by the revised side exhaust.
As mentioned before, GT will get a small power increase apparently attributable to the revised exhaust but otherwise the motor is the same torquey, sweet sounding triple we've come to love over the past few years. Triumph has elected not to proceed down the path of head spinning electronics like traction control, adjustable suspensions and such - probably to maintain their very reasonable price position. We were, however,  told that all GTs will be ABS equipped. It goes without saying that we will see the same great Triumph fit and finish. The bike we saw was a dark blue but no colors have yet been announced for the US market bikes. At MMS we're excited by having seen the new Sprint GT and look forward to having one in our showroom before the year is out. Actually we want to see one out in the driveway ready to ride!  Check out the pictures and see if you don't feel the same!