Triumph‘s latest Speed Triple is just around the proverbial corner, at least according to recently obtained spy shots which are currently doing the rounds on the internets.
It should come as no surprise that the Hinckley firm is updating its flagship roadster; the current Speed Triple 1050 is a proper weapon and a SuperBike firm-favourite, but it’s undeniably on its back foot in terms of horsepower. In a numbers-obsessed world, ~150hp just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Pictured: the current Speed Triple 1050 RS.
Or, er, does it? That in itself is a point to ponder over. A well known magazine that talks about Fast Motorbikes recently put the Speed Triple up against its rivals: Aprilia’s V4 Tuono, KTM’s 1290 SuperDuke R and BMW’s S1000R. The Speed Triple did the fastest lap, and by an appreciable margin. Why? Because it turns out that a bike that spends its time actually putting the power down is faster than a bunch of bikes that spend most of their time trying to put power down. Who’da thought?
Alas, fast lap-times don’t sell big naked bikes. Entertainment value generally does. Anyway, that’s a separate topic.
So then, this new Speed Triple… Go have a look at it. Sorta looks like it’s gonna get the same visual treatment as the Street Triple 765 RS did last year. That’s a good thing, because it looks sharp. Other things you’ll notice: the engine looks to have changed its appearance slightly, the subframe looks like it’s been reworked to be lighter, the under-seat exhausts are no longer a thing, and, er, that’s about it, aside from the lack of headlight cowling. The Ohlins forks on the spy photos mean what we’re looking at is the top-flight RS model.
Like everyone else, we’re expecting somewhere in the region of 1160cc and 170hp, which means we’ll head to the launch worrying that Triumph might’ve ruined an awesome bike by adding more power (they probably won’t have) – but we’ll see, eh?
More as we have it…
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