The Test Of Time

We have a brace of bikes to put through the test of real-world ownership. Will they stack up? Let’s meet the newest members of the Road Rider crew …

- Greg Leech

So, a reader (that’s you, for the confused among us) rightly wants to know what a bike is like. The pressure is on for us to get it right. After all, you may well be using some of the opinions you read twixt these glossy covers to decide just what mount is worthy of floor space in your shed. That’s a big responsibility, right there, and one that we take pretty seriously. If we give you dud advice, well, you are probably coming after us. Possibly armed, and no one is happy with that.

It’s not an easy task to fully evaluate a bike over a two-week loan period and damned near impossible at a launch test. I like to refer to them as “lunch” tests, but that has got more than one manufacturer sending me angry emails over the years. We are not about to change that. If you are getting full-on evaluations from launch tests, you are being done over, hard style, simple as that.

So, what’s all this waffle leading to? Glad you asked. Kinda forgot myself for a minute. Oh yes … we are taking a couple of bikes on as long-term testers. Please welcome Triumph’s Street Cup in Racing Yellow/Silver Ice and the Suzuki SV650, happily glowing in Pearl Mira Red bodywork.