Designers triumphant

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The new-look Triumph Sprint RS motorbike with all the fruit, goes on sale this month at $21,190.

Triumph New Zealand managing director Ian Beckhaus is happy with his line-up, especially the lightweight Sprint RS.

The RS joins the Sprint ST released in January last year and Beckhaus says he expects the RS to be just as popular. Both bikes are powered by a 955cc three-cylinder engine with six-speed gearbox.

The Yamaha MT-01 doesn't have a price - it's a teaser, a tribute to the new millennium and the shape of things to come.

Yamaha says the MT-01 and its four-valve V-twin engine is purely a "design exercise," but the motorbike world believes it is the base for the new V-Max.

Perry Francis, Yamaha's marketing manager in New Zealand, says a custom machine like the MT-01 would "bridge the gap which exists between cruisers and sports bikes."

"Traditionally, you've got to have one of the other, but in a bike like MT-01 you've got the best of both worlds. I'd love to have something like it in our line-up."