TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE 1050 RS
The new-for-2018 Speed Trip’ got a bunch of updates, including 105 new engine components resulting in 7% more power and 4% more torque… and it’s still a cracking looking bike. Its single-sided swingarm shows off a glossy five-spoke wheel nicely and various bits of carbon fibre are always appreciated as far as aesthetics are concerned. Its bum might look a bit big with two Arrow cans hanging out the back but its stocky stance gives it a real ‘muscle-bike’ kind of look. And when you jump on this muscular form permits a real spacious feel on-board – it’s lovely and comfortable. One thing I wasn’t sure about was the handlebar-end mounted mirrors; it wasn’t uncomfortable but I felt like my hands were a little restricted at first. I soon got used to it though and forgot all about.
What I did love was the sound the thing makes. It was surprisingly quiet considering its trick twin Arrow pipes, but it was distinctively ‘Triumph’. In fact it couldn’t have been more ‘Triumph’ if it had tried.
I’m not going to bang on about the keyless ignition system on the Speed Triple. As I’ve said before, I’m all for high tech gizmos, but on this occasion it’s more of a pain than it’s worth. Over the two days we spent with the Trip’ I lost count how many times the key disappeared down the leg of my leathers. Keyless ignition aside, the new Trumper comes with a decent electronics package, and an even more decent-looking dashboard – it’s really trick. Granted, there is a lot going on, with symbols here there and everywhere to tell you what mode you’re in but everything is pretty clear on there really and you can change the screen layout if you so wish to make it easier on the eye.
I struggled with navigating around the menus using the buttons on the left switchgear though. There is a little joystick for choosing the modes and stuff, which is a great idea but it’s too close to the indicator switch for me, and I kept toggling one rather than the other without realising it, and then wondering why my efforts didn’t have the desired effect. It works fantastically when you do it properly, I just found it hard to get the hang of doing it properly.
The four pre-set riding modes are Rain, Road, Sport and Track. In Track mode the traction control and ABS were dumbed down enough for us to really enjoy riding the bike but for proper wheelies and skids we completely disabled both systems, which you can quite easily do by putting the Triple into User mode and then
FROM A PURE POWER POINT OF VIEW THE TRUMPET WAS THE CONSUMMATE UNDERDOG
manually turning off the aids that you don’t want/need.
With ABS turned off the Brembo brakes were allowed to perform to their full potential. And perform they did – on the road they were more than capable of anything we ever needed them to do.
But the Speed didn’t really feel like a bike that egged me on to grab the anchors last minute and throw it into each bend as fast as I could. It felt a little bit more sensible than its three European opponents. It’s got a bit less power than the others, yes, but a whole lot of decorum. The triple cylinder engine delivered smooth and consistent power that never once coughed or spluttered or missed a beat, and on the road, the Triumph’s 148bhp was always enough to keep up with any of the other bikes on test, you just had to make it work a bit more. And the more I made the engine work, the more I enjoyed the three-cylinder howl; it sounds fantastic, especially when you’re firing gears at it with the quickshifter, which works brilliantly, by the way. You can have a blipper if you want, but you have to pay extra.
The Speed Triple handled amazingly, it was always stable and dropped into all of the bends on our road test with aplomb – it always did what we needed it to, and it really was a nice bike to ride. But it was almost too nice, almost too perfect. It didn’t do anything badly at all, but it seemed to lack the feistiness which the Aprilia, for example, had in abundance. It was excellent, but not exciting. Fast but not furious. With sub 150bhp, it was almost unfair to pitch it against the likes of the BMW, KTM and Aprilia but although it doesn’t have the same fire in its belly it’s far from a bad bike. In fact it might be just the thing for you if you’d like your arms to remain in their sockets. It might not be ballistic, but it’s still brilliant. We loved the Triumph. Rule Britannia.