Is it me? Triumph = GS500f copy or vice versa?

[TarzanBoy]

I was browsing cycletrader yesterday when I did a double take and though I saw a GS500... but slightly different.

It turns out that it was a Triumph Sprint ST.   The Triumph is a liter bike and the exhaust is built  up into the tail section (which i think I will look for if I ever get another bike)...  but there's no denying the many similarities in the profile and frame.

I've put together a comparison in the following web page.
http://riftwave.net/misc/compare.html

I tried my best (within 5 min) to make a solid blue paint scheme for the GS500 to compare it to the Triumph (yes, i know the tone of th tail section is off).

So, whom do you think copied whom in this case?

ALSO..... do you think the fairing off a triumph would fit a GS500 (um, SWEET?)

[Phaedrus]

Wow, they do look very similar    

[RedShift]

I see the similarity Tarz, but I don't know if it's as much a clone as it might be a common style that is being copied.

Do me a favor and add the Yamaha YZF600R to your diagram.  Here's a link to the "official Yamaha YZF600R Image".

I'm not yet as adept as you are, and I'd fumble for over an hour before resizing it to do an overlay comparison.  Looking over both in Paint, the Yamaha looks remarkably close in looks as the GS500F.

The Trimuph ST looks sweet -- will have to try one on some day.  It's getting great reviews as a sports tourer.  A little out of my price range right now, but so are many other good things in life.  

[Roadstergal]

The Yamaha looks a bit like the '01+ 500 rear and a GSX-R fairing - but man, you're right on the new Sprint.  The tail section could be a carbon copy, and the front fairing is very similar.  Not saying there was intentional copying, but it's very similar.

[TarzanBoy]

I added the '06 YZF that Redshift linked to.  I see what you mean by the generic style being copied but if you look at the Triumph Sprint and the GS500 then you'll see that not only is the tail section pretty much the same (The Triumph's is noticeably angled more for a 'sportier' riding position), but even the aluminum frame  of the bike looks the same.

The same can't be said for the Yamaha... i've always found the shape of their aluminum frame to be distinct.

Anyways, I wonder how much work a tail-exhaust mod would be.

[Phaedrus]

*cough* make the front fender on the Photoshopped GS500F the same body color just like the Triumph and the Yamaha *cough*  :mrgreen:

[97gs500e]

they're both blue..

seriously though, the Sprint ST is not a copy or vice versa - the frame is  different, its got clipons, a single sided swingarm (sweet), etc

[Phaedrus]

they're both blue..

Uh, no they aren't. If you look at the Photoshopped GS500F, you will see the front fender is black. If you look at the Yamaha or the Triumph, the front fender is blue. I suggested making the front fender on the photoshopped GS500F blue, like the body color, like the other two bikes.......

[TarzanBoy]

they're both blue..

seriously though, the Sprint ST is not a copy or vice versa - the frame is  different, its got clipons, a single sided swingarm (sweet), etc

My '89 GS500 has clip-ons and its faired.

I think they look pretty close.    I'll photoshop the front fender to blue later.

[RedShift]

Hey, thanks for throwing the YZF600R on your web page.  Glancing quickly from pic to pic is a great way to compare the subtleties.  

The main difference to me is that the GS500 has the highest handlebar position.  Looks like 2-3" lower on the Sprint, about the same as the YZF600R.  

Pretty bikes.    Makes me want to go find a dealer and drool in public.  

[rritterson]

Not to stir up trouble, but I disagree.

All of the holes in the Sprint look like exhaust ports. On the GS, they look like ram airducts. The sprint's wind screen is swept back, on the GS it's almost a straight line. From an angle, the tails don't look much alike either.

Also, the headlamps look nothing alike. You can't tell that from the side, but they are radically different.

[oppy00]

The profiles are definately similar, but the head on views are much less similar.  I don't think it is fair to get overly specific in the comparisons, being that the Truimph is twice as expensive as the GS (primium bits, like single sided swing arm shouldn't count).  Hopefully I'll be able to get one of those Sprints in the next 2 years.  I love it.  Sure ducs are prettier maybe, but who wants to deal with a finiky Italian?

Ultimately I'm +1 to common theme in motorcycle styling.

[rclz]

whats the Triumph got that the GS doesn't? A fuel injected 1000cc liquid cooled 3cyl.

[vfrocket]

looks like Triumph has a single sided swing arm... very cool

[JamesG]

There is about and $8K difference between them.

[Alphamazing]

Maybe it's the engineer in me, but I started picking up on the differences faster than I did the similarities. While I agree there is a common styling among the group, the same could be said of the Suzuki SV650S and Yamaha FZ1. Similar designing also exists among essentially ALL the sport bikes and ALL the cruisers.

I really like the single sided swingarm. I ESPECIALLY love the one on the Ducati Monster S4R and S2R, as a little side note.

[Blazinjr]

whats the Triumph got that the GS doesn't? A fuel injected 1000cc liquid cooled 3cyl.

More power, higher insurance, higher cost, higher maintanance.  Did I mention more HP?

[bbanjo]

There has been so much formula that our beloved GS has shared with other bikes that we could put 10 bikes up there and see the incestuos nature of the bike designer over the past 20 years.

From the tank design of the superbikes of the early 80's, to the cleaner fairings of the double odds, our bike borrows and originates in a crapload of ways.

Its' style is just one thing that keeps this 20+ year rider on it.

(I have an '02) I love my '02. I would love to have the '05, sitting in my local dealer's showroom, if I could convince my wife that our house would fall apart if I didn't have it.

Discuss.

b

[oppy00]

Yup you definately need a new GS to hold the garage floor in place.  

Those darn garage floors! Always trying to run away unless cool new toys get parked on 'em to hold 'em in place :mrgreen: