Introducing a new bike in Canada is a daunting task, and to put a bike in every dealership for test rides is almost unheard of. Triumph did it and let the chips fall where they may! My day was sunny and cool. I picked up my ride at 9 AM, figuring that if I was first in line, I would get the bike and some photos before someone else messed it up.

As much as I really enjoyed my ride on the GT, my body size and shape precludes me from rushing right out and placing an order. (Photo: Charles Renny/Moto123.com)

When I arrived at the dealership, I should have known that this wouldn’t be a normal ride. After all, Triumph is British and so is my main contact, Paul. As I rode off into the sunrise, I figured that some photos down by our river would be great.

Instead, I found fog. The kind of wet, clammy, drip down your back fog that normally shows up in England! Cars disappear in five metres and some very careful riding due to the wet and dirty roads was the order of the day.
This just wasn’t “on” as the British tend to say, so I rode away from the river in search of sunshine and dry weather. That took all of five minutes to get out of the river valley and back into the sunshine. Next on the list was to get the bike and me dried out so that I could have a bit of fun even if it was cool out.

Once I got into the sun and could pay more attention to the bike than the road, I found that the narrow profile of the three-cylinder engine made the bike feel very light and tossable in the corners.

Cornering angles, even on the cold tires and pavement were quite impressive. Since I was on the street and on someone else’s bike, I left a sizeable chicken stripe on the tire and still managed to carry a decent amount of speed through the corners.

What impressed me most about the cornering was that the GT felt stable all the way through a corner. The first few times I went into a corner, I tossed the bike over a bit harder than I needed to because it was so easy to lean over.

The GT let me bring the bike back up with ease and only a slight alteration to my line through the corner. Knowing that the bike will forgive mistakes goes a long way to adding to riding pleasure.

Triumph puts a set of touring cases on the sides of the GT as standard equipment. (Photo: Charles Renny/Moto123.com)