The single garager
Dom Mattock Age: 44 Job: Procurement manager Triumph T595 KTM 990 Super Duke Honda Fireblade SP1
I’ve got two friends who own multiple bikes and their minds are constantly whirring about new bikes. The habit has rubbed off on me. One of them is all about horsepower, so he’s got an H2 SX and RSV4. The other is obsessed by good deals.
I’ve always had this idea that I’ll have four bikes – a single, a twin, a triple and a four. So at the moment I’m missing the single. It’s not so much an engineering thing, more about the individual riding experiences, because each is so different. I’ve owned the Triumph for 14 years and bought it to commute on, pretty much on the strength of the sound – I had this misty eyed memory of when the T595 was launched, and I loved the mechanical triple noise it made. I used it all year round for three years then moved jobs and rode it for pleasure. Then four years ago I did a Bike trackday on the Triumph and it felt hopelessly floppy. I was never going to sell it because it had become part of my life, but I saw a good deal on a used 2006 990 Super Duke and took one for a test ride. It was night and day compared with the T595 in terms of the handling, like a turbocharged BMX. So I bought it.
Then a few years later I went on another Bike trackday and the road testers were riding all the litre sportsbikes and I fell in love with the Blade SP1. Everyone was raving about the Panigale, but I loved the look and sound of the Honda. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Eventually, as rumours of the new model started appearing, I noticed dealers were putting on some mega PCP offers on the SP1 so in 2019 I got one.
It’s something everyone should try – being cosseted by proper Öhlins suspension, proper brakes, and a brilliantly smooth quickshifter is very special. The quickshifter makes it so addictive – that popping noise it makes as you go through the gears…
But the KTM still feels really interesting because of the riding position. Since buying the Blade
I’ve never thought that I don’t need the KTM, because every time I get on it, it reminds me why it’s nice to have two bikes.
Why two not three? The
T595 doesn’t really count at the moment as it’s not a runner – it has been parked up for three years. It started sucking air through either the throttle body gasket or the vacuum system which left it ticking over at 7000rpm, so I’d been gradually getting the parts I needed to fix it. They’re on a shelf in the garage, ready. But then I got the KTM, which removed my impetus to get it sorted. I will though. I’ve decided I won’t keep the Blade when the PCP ends. I had a test on a KTM 890R recently and thought ‘this is the future’. It’s the closest I’ve ever experienced to having something that goes where you want purely by thought. So I’d like to fund the 890 as my modern bike, and swap the 990 for something more in the sports or sports tourer category. I’m taken by the idea of a ZZR1400 that I could use to cover some continental miles, or perhaps a K1600 [BMW’S six-cylinder uber-tourer]. Then if I bought an old RCV Motogp bike I could have two, three, four, five and six-cylinders in my collection.’
‘Like a turbocharged BMX. So I bought it’