The sky looked like a murky lake in the distance, a stark contrast to the gleaming lineup of fresh Triumph Trident 800s outside my hotel in Cyprus. I felt the weight of the clouds as I hadn’t ridden in more than three months due to moving continents and an Irish winter. Now, I didn’t just have to go for a ride; I had to put my testing helmet back on.
As soon as I threw my leg over, met the handlebars, sat the bike up, and brought my right foot to the peg, I thought, “This is a motorcycle.” I don’t mean that in the extraordinarily obvious way, but in the quintessential—the Trident 800 feels exactly how you expect a comfy(ish) and sporty(ish) naked motorcycle to feel. My body fell into place naturally, and the next steps were equally as intuitive.
I got to grips with the controls and menu without a single eye roll, which is a rarity on many modern bikes. Initially, I just wanted to set off in Road Mode and make sure I knew how to get into Rain Mode when the time came, and Sport Mode if I was lucky. But I easily mastered more than I needed to know and more before sparking up the engine.
