Triumph Speed Triple
 

The local Triumph dealer had it's demo truck in town on Friday. The government was nice enough to give me the day off so I cruised down with my buddy to take a look at the fleet. He currently rides a 675 and wanted to demo the Thruxton. Which was a cool looking bike.


I've always wanted to ride a Speed Triple. They are interesting looking bikes, I even considered buying one before I got the Buell.

The Triple I rode had Arrow pipes on it. Sounded sweet. That nice triple tone, but not really that loud. Once underway we did a 15 minute ride. A few miles of hiway and a few miles of back roads.

The Speed Triple felt good. Very comfortable, which further cements the fact that my next bike will be more upright. Easy clutch pull and smooth shifting. Much shorter throw in the gear box than my Buell. The bike pulled cleanly from about 3000 rpm on up. Neutral handling too. Very easy to put the bike where you wanted it to go. The dash was also nice. Easy to read the analog tach and digital speedo at a glance. No gear indicator. Which brings the bikes I've rode with a gear indicator to a grand total of ZERO. The mirrors suck. Way too small and the wind blast at hiway speeds wasn't bad.

Overall I liked it. It was a very smooth bike with plenty of power, good handling, and rock solid radial mount Brembo's. However, I much prefer the sound of my twin to the triple.

Pic of the actual demo bike I rode attached.

how did your friend like the thruxton? Id love to scoop one of those for my daily

He liked it alot. Probly gonna buy one this winter.

nice,

gotta check to see if the local dealers here are doing the same.

Niiiiice. I will SO own one of those (or a Street Triple) one day. Serious object of lust.

I had zero interesting in riding the Street. But they had the regular version and the R there.

The R is what I want. I'm torn as to which way I'll go when the time comes... I've wanted a Speed for ages, then the Street R came along... *swoon*

Boo Street. You want the Speed. After riding your R1 you'll laugh at the Street.

Truth.

I know Triumph was kind of forced into the Street Triple after the success of the 675 but I see no need for it.

If you are going to get a hooligan bike for the street, go with the torque monster.

i believe a speed trip R is coming. Was just reading reports the other day that they may be roadtesting the replacement for the aging 1050, heres hoping theres a new daytona litre and a serious wsbk effort coming with it

Street triple is an awesome machine, the only thing I could say to improve it was that I did notice that I was getting a blast of air right in the helmet at highway speed, and it tired me out. A slightly larger windscreen would have been awesome, but overall a very well composed bike.

:lol: you might have a point there.

Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Well considering my switch will be a couple years out, I'll just have to wait and see what those wacky Brits come up with!! :drool:

How does it compare to the new 1125R?

id say it doesnt. completely different purposes there. then again, fast bikes put the speed and the 1125CR in the same comparison. wasnt pretty, they really dont like buell's "innovations". they didnt have a whole lot of good to say about the speed either actually :lol:, they placed seventh and fifth. respectfully. other bikes tested were the corsaro avio, tuono, brutale, super duke, and monster 1100, which all did better, the exception being the corsaro which slotted in above the buell, under the speed.

The Speed Triple is an "R" really. It's already got better suspension and engine over the Street. And I've also heard rumor of an 1100 version coming down the pipe.

To be honest, I dont know. It's been nearly 3 years since I rode the 1125R. It's got to be more comfortable with the upright bars though. The power was very linear on the Triple. Pulled nice and clean from down low, much like a twin. It was certainly a HELL of a lot smoother than my XB. Very smooth and very easy to ride. The XB is quirky...which I like. But it takes some getting used to.

so the base 1198 is an ''r'' because it comes with a bigger engine and better suspension than an 848? :Lmao:

No...but the Stree Triple first came out with a dumbed down engine and shitty brakes and suspension compared to the 675 Daytona is was based on. They put out an R version with the unmodified 675 engine, the same 675 suspension and radial brakes because people complained.

The Speed already had a full power engine and good suspension and brakes.

Those are two different bikes, sparky.

The 1198 has the same Showa suspension as the 848.

The point was that there isn't a need for an S3 "R" as is already has the upgraded suspension and brakes.

It would be like selling an 1198 with ohlins, TC and Marchesini's and then selling the 1198S.

Pretty much redundant redundancy, no?

Exactly my point. I'm glad someone else understands. Dave is a bit slow.

#1 you're the one that said a litrebike was like a racing version of a 600. not me.

#2 full power? :lol: the speed may be the highest output version of the 1050 available but that doesnt mean shit. its still down twenty horses from the last 955i daytona.:wtfru:




























p.s. the kid is not my son :lol

Dude, are you mental. I made no mention of a race bike. I'm talking about a Speed Triple and it's baby brother, the Street Triple. WTF.