2002 Triumph Speed Four
By
ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOS
By
GOLD
&
GOOSE
t's so obvious, you wonder why it
took them two years to get 'round
to building it - but now, at last, after a
heavy hint from their Italian importer
Carlo Talamo, Triumph has finally
launched the naked streetfighter version of their four-cylinder TT600
Supersport contender that has
seemed inevitable ever since the
TI600 appeared for the 2000 model
year.
John Bloor hasn't made many
errors in masterminding Triumph's
comeback from the trashcan of histo-
54
MAY 1, 2002'
cue
I
...
ry to today's vibrant, successful company which, in its centenary year,
single-handedly represents the sum
total of the British bike industry - but
going head-to-head with the Japanese in the 600 Supersport territory
they call their own, with the fourcylinder TI600 rather than a junior
version of the company's trademark
triples, has not so far proved the most
successful element in Triumph's
ongoing efforts to build a full-range
brand using its own array of engines.
Two things are generally agreed to
have told against the TT600 on its
Y2K debut: a fuel-injected engine
tuned for the racetrack, with corren
e
vv
s
spondingly poor pickup and flaccid
low-rpm response in real-world road
riding, plus Honda-esque styling
which looked as if it had been concocted piecemeal from the same howto design manual as any of Big H's
equally bland-looking products. A
revised tune for the 2001-model
Supersport Triumph, with a remapped
Sagem EFI, altered cam profiles and
valve timing, and a revised exhaust
system with balance collectors
between cylinders one and four, and
two and three, all to enhance low-end
power, resolved these start-up problems for the model's second season
in the showrooms - but by then, Tri-
Bad, bad baby! Based on the TT6oo,
Triumph's new Speed Four features
streetfighter styling similar to that
found on the Speed Triple, and the
engine has been retuned for trouble
as well.
urnph had lost its technical edge of
being the first company to offer a volume-production, fuel-injected 600 at
everyday prices, and were reduced to
playing catch-up in the most ultracompetitive market segment of them
all, with a plain-jane product that
simply failed to excite the Supersport
customer base. Especially as Triumph's ongoing policy of staying
away from the racetrack with any of
