VOLUME 59 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 11, 2022 P83
F
or the past 30 years, ever since John Bloor
relaunched Britain's legendary Triumph marque
in 1991 with a range of three- and four-cylinder
motorcycles that dared to target Japan Inc. head on,
Triumph has always done things differently.
This included dropping its four-cylinder 1000/1200cc
models in 1998 because, despite being the first to feature
twin balance shafts in their engines to counter vibration,
Bloor determined that these bikes were "too Japanese."
He wanted Triumph's models to stand alone—hence the
focus ever since on various triples of different capacities,
and, since the return of the Bonneville in 2000, parallel-
twins. The latest manifestation of that is the new-for-'22
Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR—the British brand's long
awaited first large-cube sport bike for a very long time,
only done very differently.
Of course, after Triumph made such a success out
of going its own way with bikes that were unique in the
marketplace, it was inevitable that these would end up
being copied, hence Yamaha's range of MT-09 triples,
ditto MV Agusta's 675/800 models, and Royal Enfield's
retro-style 650 parallel-twins. But John Bloor, his son
Nick, and the man they've charged with enacting their
Skinny and svelte,
the new RR runs the
gauntlet of retro class
with thoroughly modern
performance, as well.
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KINGDOM CREATIVE/
GARETH HARFORD & CHIPPY WOOD
