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/128380
" T h a t doesn't look like a motorcycle," Postman Pat said when he came to empty the bright red letterbox positioned opposite England's evocative 14th-century ruins of Kenilworth Castle, just half an hour from the Triumph factory and round the corner from my home. "It looks like a monster ant that's very angry - an ant with attitude, in fact. Bet that's got some poke - careful it doesn't bite you!" Well - thanks for your concern, Pat. And now, could you please move your postal van so we can resume snapping smudges, before I set my metal insect mate on you? So kind. Because you got it right - attitude is what the new Triumph Speed Triple has plenty of. A madcap makeover of the bug-eyed, so-cool styling that has helped make the model such a best-selling street-fighter status bike in the design-conscious, performance-aware Italian market has also produced a cubed-up long- stroke version of the trademark DOHC 12-valve three-cylinder motor, which delivers a fatter hit of power and an Amazon-wide spread of torque. So, from being a kind of cuddly if somewhat crude stripped-out sportbike when it was first launched back in 1994, by the simple expedient of deleting the bodywork from the Daytona 900, the Speed Triple has morphed into a serious street rod, starting with the introduction two years later of the TS09. complete with those iconic insect looks and fuel-injected 885cc motor. The Speed Triple's engine was then replaced in 1999 by a newgeneration 79x6Smm bore and stroke, 95Scc engine that produced the same 108 bhp dyno readings - but with much-improved torque. Triumph went the power-up route again in 2002, with the diecast-crankcase 955cc motor delivering 118 bhp. But now, with the new bike, they've gone for heaps more power still, as well as acres more grunt. That's been obtained by stroking the engine 6Amm (Left) The 1050's displacement bump cames via a 6.4mm strake increase, upping the engine's peak horsepower and torque figures ta 128 harsepower at 9100 rpm and 75 foat-paunds 5100 rpm. (Below) 5parse instrumentation includes a whitefaced tach with digital speed readout and clock. to produce 79x71Amm dimensions and a claimed 128 bhp at 9100 rpm from the resultant 1050cc motor. as well as a hefty increase in torque to 75 foot-pounds of torque at 5100 rpm, but with a far wider spread. with 70 foot-pounds already available at just 3300 rpm. Muscle Beach here we come! What this number crunching all means is that when you settle aboard this latest version of the iconic inventor of the street rod sector - with rearset footrests that deliver adequate ground clearance - and grip the quite high but well-pulled-back one-piece handlebar, you're about to earn yourself a ticket to ride aboard the most bad-attitude bobjobber in the street rod segment. This is a bike whose very appearance tells you exactly what it is. for the new Speed Triple is an uncompromisingly minimalist motorcycle which fully lives up to its billing. Its close-coupled, aggressive looks, with the black-painted triple motor packed tightly into the frame. denote a bike that is ready to rock at the turn of a key. Its smooth, meaty power delivery and ultratorquey character mean you can cruise the boulevards at low rpm, looking for prey with no hint of strife. Then, when the hooligan in you decides to cause havoc, the Triumph is a willing partner in wreaking a rumpus. Postman Pat nailed it in one: It's got plenty of attitude and the performance to back it up. Hold on tight! That's what I found myself doing repeatedly aboard the Speed Triple during my week with the bike - for, unable at the last moment to attend the press launch day ride in the south of France, I'd been given one to take home from the factory the day after and found myself completely addicted to its noprisoners punch and so-capable street rod handling, coupled with the option to enjoy real-world rideability, if you want to play goody-two-shoes. Heaven knows how Triumph - or any of the others, such as Cagiva, Aprilia, Ducati, Benelli and now KTM and MZ, who've all followed in Triumph's tire tracks since it invented the street rod sector