Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127825
FIRSTRJDE By Alan Cathcart Photos by Gold & Goose 16 itting in the Spanish sunshine in the Cartagena pit lane during the press launch of the new Triumph T595 Daytona was a solitary, jet-black T509 Speed Triple - Triumph's outrageous street-fighting fashion statement, but with go to match the show. The very first production version of the alloy-framed naked bike to roll off the Hinckley assembly lines (which began building the model shortly after the Daytona) was in Spain strictly for static display only - a reminder that Triumph's Great Leap Forward is based on two new models, not just one. Well, you guessed it. Having come out a day early to test the Daytona and to help Triumph set the bike's suspension and tires for the race track portion of the press launch, my reward was to be let loose for a day and a half on the T509 to go fighting on the streets of Spain but with strict instructions to bring it back alive, on pain of the personal wrath of J. Bloor Esq. if I so much as scratched it. The wheelies and stoppies a serious hooligan bike like this encourages were blacklisted - but they didn't say anything about burnouts. If Triumph's first-generation Speed Triple was a born-again '60s cafe racer (Top) More than likely, the appearance of the uniquely styled Triumph TS09 Speed Triple will either be loved or loathed. (Above) The Speed Triple can hold Its own on twisty roads, the softly sprung Showa suspension eMIng up bumps In reaJ-worid riding appllcatlons. with twice the horsepower and double the performance ever delivered by a Dresda Triton or Seeley Condor, yet packaged in a conscious update of Ace Cafe styling - as ridden by Gene Vincent and a host of white-scarved wannabees the T509 which replaces it comes from completely the other end of the Stylemaster studio. This is a cafe racer with attitude, a bad-ass bomber of a bike that looks mean and sexy just standing still, especially with the optional color-coordinated wind screen which Triumph primly presents as "designed to provide wind protection, as well as having striking impact." Wicked! Coupled with the twin-pack halogen H4 headlights, which are exactly the same as the "Ones fitted to the Daytona except for the very '60s chrome bodies, the screen is the crowning glory of the most outrageously styled motorcycle currently produced by any mainstream manufacturer. You'll either love it or hate it. There won't be any feelings in between. And not with the mechanical package, either. The new Speed Triple has all the performance credentials of the old bike, and then some. Triumph hasn't just paid lip service to the notion that the T509 will be replacing the STl as the chosen mount in the Speed Triple race series the company runs in Britain, the USA, Germany and other countries, they've also made sure it's a much more race track-friendly piece of hardware than the older bike. This, in turn, benefits'the majority of customers who'll only cafe race it. This came through loud and clear right away, during my half-hour track session on the bike at Cartagena, before taking to the streets and looking for trouble and the reason is the fact that the T509 uses exactly the same chassis package as the T595 Daytona. That means not only the same stable, sweet-steering tubular-alloy frame, identical chassis geometry, same great brakes with lots of bite, and single-sided swingarm with fat 6-inch rear wheel but also the same Showa suspension. As I know from racing with the British team vs. the USA in Triumph's 1996 TransAtlantic Challenge, with both teams mounted on old-style Speed Triples, these bikes could only be persuaded to handle acceptably on a