First ride: Triumph Speed Twin
Triumph’s keenly priced roadster could be its best street retro yet
WITH A KEEN, nimble chassis, well-judged styling and dynamics that are decidedly un-retro, Triumph is onto a winner with its new Speed Twin. Designed as a next step for owners of its 900cc twin-cylinder family, it will also go head-to-head with BMW’S R ninet. With a starting price of £10,500, it offers excellent value and even slightly undercuts the Bonneville T120, despite having a higher power-toweight ratio and better running gear.
Triumph took the Thruxton café racer range as the basis for the bike, but there was more involved than just swapping the Thruxton’s clip-ons for the Speed Twin’s tapered bars. There’s a new tubular frame based on the Thruxton’s chassis but with a re-designed rear subframe and a new aluminium engine cradle to save weight. Bolted to the new yokes are 41mm KYB cartridge forks and KYB twin shocks triangulate between the aluminium Thruxton swingarm and that new subframe. There are new cast wheels, too.
That big 1200cc motor carries the same tune as the Thruxton, meaning 96bhp at peak and over 70ft·lb of torque between 2500 and 6000rpm. But the motor has been on a diet too — magnesium head cover, a new balancer shaft and a new, 23% lighter slip-andassist clutch. All-in-all, the chassis and engine changes relate to a 10kg weight saving over a base Thruxton and what Triumph claims to be an 8kg advantage over an R ninet. It is still a relatively hefty claimed 196kg dry, though.
The proof of the pudding
So far, so good, but what’s it like to ride? In short, a joy: a guttural throwback to simpler days but with the advantages of contemporary tech thrown in. Settle into the new bench-style seat, reach to the close bars and you’re perched over the front in a way that you never would on an R ninet for example. It’s a thoroughly modern riding position: the pegs are quite far forward (38mm further ahead than a Thruxton) and still quite high (just 3mm lower) and it feels easy to dominate the bike.
Let out the new, light-ish clutch and
aside from the fairly obvious low-end stomp of that 1200cc parallel twin, the first thing that hits you is the bike’s nimbleness — the steering feels almost as light, as responsive as a Street Triple. It’s all to do with those new wheels — the front and brake discs alone are 2.9kg lighter than a Thruxton and the rear is 1.7kg lighter. And as this is rotating inertia that is being reduced, it has a profound effect on chassis behaviour.
Having a retro this responsive is a revelation and, as we cut through the rush-hour traffic of a Mallorcan town, it’s easy to guide the Speed Twin, charging into gaps with instant midrange stomp. The burble of those new twin shotgun exhausts bounces off the flanks of the commuting SEATS. With decent low-speed balance, an 807mm seat height and well-mannered fuelling, it’s an excellent urban machine. But the peaks and valleys of the Serra de Tramuntana beckon.
I’m following Triumph TT winner Gary Johnson as we wind and wend our way along the MA-10, a twisting confection of hairpins and sweepers that cuts through jagged limestone. Smooth and grippy, it is the kind of road that brings out the absolute best in the Triumph.
Johnson’s well within his limits but it still takes concentration and commitment to keep up. But the Triumph is a willing friend and able to hold and change any line you want. Part of this is down to the wheel and tyre specification. Triumph gave the new bike a five-inch rim meaning a narrower 160-section rear tyre, which as well as giving a pleasingly retro look from the rear, aids nimbleness.
Direction changes are easy and the Pirelli Rosso III tyres key into the warm tarmac giving huge confidence. Just like in town, the Speed Twin responds to deft touches rather than aggressive levering and in medium-speed corners it feels great. The front end flows with decent feedback and though there sometimes feels a little disconnect between how quickly the bike falls to its side compared to how quickly it actually turns, you do get used to it.
But free-wheeling, quick-but-notmental road riding is where the Triumph excels, aided by the character of its 270° crank motor. There’s an organic feel to it and a wonderful spread of power that means it’s just at home short-shifting as burying itself in its 7000rpm redline. Every exit is a booming celebration of flexibility, predictable fuelling and sensible gear ratios: it’s everything a road bike should be and its lack of weight and commanding riding position make it more fun than a Thruxton or a Bonneville T120.
“A booming celebration of flexibility...”
The reality
We stop for a break in the riding and ponder the bike. It’s a wonderful-looking machine. There are some lovely touches — those brushed ally mudguards are pure art and the whole stance of the bike is just right. Of course, it isn’t perfect — the suspension is competent but if you ride it very hard, the slightly-crude damping at the rear shocks let the bike down a little, as does the absence of damping adjustment – if I owned one, I’d have to upgrade them.
Also, there is a question over tyre choice: in the cold of morning it was hard to get enough heat into the tyres to generate confidence. In my opinion, Rosso III sports tyres are slight overkill: I’d prefer the cold-weather and wet performance of a touring tyre over the little bit of extra grip the Rossos offer at the bike’s performance limits. If I owned one I’d consider a more conservative tyre when it came to change.
Then there’s the clocks: while they work well and you can toggle between enough information for them to be useful, the tiny mode display (you have Rain, Road and Sport to choose from) means you need a pair of varifocals to actually read it on the move. Luckily, Road mode is all you really need for every circumstance.
But these quibbles are all you can really criticise the Speed Twin for. It is a compelling machine, aided by practical touches such as a USB charging socket for your sat nav and reassuring ly long 10,000-mile service intervals.
With prices starting at £10,500 for the single-colour black version, this bike offers the best combination of value and performance in the Triumph range. If you’re in the market for a retro in 2019, it should be on your shortlist.