Triumph Speed Triple

The Speed Triple continues the Triumph modular theme, taking yet another variation on the 955i motor and placing it in a different style of bike. That makes it sound bad, doesn’t it? Well don’t panic, cos there’s really not a problem. After all, if you’ve got a good engine to start with, why not make the most of it?

And the 955 triple motor certainly lends itself to this style of bike. With high bars and low clocks, the moment you get in the seat you feel like you’re on a ready to show-off stunt bike. You’re in the perfect position for wheelies, stoppies and whatever else takes your fancy, and the whole bike is there to aid and abet such naughty behaviour.

With around 120bhp on tap, and seven kilos less pinning it to the floor, thanks largely to a re-worked engine and a lighter front wheel, the Triple gets going pretty sharply and reminds you of the fact with every gear change.

The downside is, every gear change brings you closer to your personal wind-blast threshold. Whether you find 100 or 120mph your comfortable speed, it’s almost certain that you won’t need to make use of the full top speed potential. The bike could easily be geared down, but then it would become even easier to play with … and that would be terrible, wouldn’t it.

While the Speed Triple is clearly a part of the Triumph family, it doesn’t seem to have caught one particular feature. And that’s a shame. Ridden in the company of so many close relatives, this was noticeably less planted in the turns. OK, the weather was bad and the road surfaces showed it, but bikes as diverse as the Daytona, TT600 and Tiger didn’t suffer unduly. The Speed Triple, by contrast, felt rather twitchy and uncertain of its footing. The new bike has lost half a degree off the head angle and 2mm off the trail, to get down to 23.5degrees and 84mm. It doesn’t sound a lot, but combined with the 11mm off the wheelbase, there’s a noticeable speeding up of the steering. Maybe it’s those wide bars too, that make it easy to overload the front, but it feels like you don’t want to put too much through them.

Another disappointing area is the turning circle. With Apparently nothing to prevent you getting plenty of turn from the bars, you expect to U-turn like you did on the 125 you took your test on. And suddenly you have to reach for the ground with your inside foot as you abruptly realise you simply aren’t turning as quickly as you expected. It seems as though Triumph has added some extra stops in there, as you’re not hitting the tank or anything else. It’s a small point, but one that could catch you out.

The rest of the package is top entertainment. The chassis won’t get badly out of shape as you hustle it through the lanes, the engine will deliver as much as you’ll need (though plenty will probably get tuned) and the brakes are so good you just don’t need to think about up-grading them. And with an extensive range of bolt-on goodies from Triumph, you’ll be able to make it as individual as you want.