+ Click to Enlarge HOT PINK SPECIAL : Triumph's Speed Triple is three cylinders of loud motorcycle - even colourwise, in the case of the test bike. Pictures: DAVE ABRAHAMS

January 18, 2003
By Dave Abrahams

A year ago, after riding a Triumph Speed Triple for the first time, I said it was "not a quiet ride". That goes double for the latest version with its improved fuel-injection system, modified suspension and some cosmetic changes – it's an altogether different animal.

Triumph quotes the same performance figures for the Speed Triple – 88kW at 9100rpm – but the closed-loop fuel-injection with multi-reading lambda sensors (now standard across the Hinckley range) has markedly changed the power delivery's characteristics.

It still pulls, growling gently in protest, from 2500rpm, but smoothly from four though there's now a step in the power band at 6400 and another, stronger, at 8000rpm.

The serious stuff on this bike is reserved for the last 1500rpm – and it's enough to get the attention of even a committed adrenalin junkie. Don't use it around town unless you want to give the brakes a real test but out in the twisties it'll rocket the bike out of corners with real authority and deliver impressive wheelies on command.

All this gives the bike a split personality. It will poodle around town between four and six and deliver effortless acceleration from light to light. What little vibration there is, chorused by the distinctively musical exhaust, merely reminds that this is a three-cylinder motor.

Just when you think it's a pussycat you hit the hot zone and the bike becomes a hooligan tool, even threatening to overwhelm the ability of the chassis to cope with the sudden changes of weight distribution.

The closed-loop fuel-injection system is not as well damped as the alphanumeric system of the earlier versions of the RS. The "slamming door" door effect engendered by this hair-trigger response makes the bike a little tiresome to ride in slow traffic.

However, it's no worse than the previous Speed Triple and its response is instantaneous, especially at higher revs.

The bike howled up to a genuine 238km/h, right on the power peak. It was reassuringly stable in a straight line, though anything over 220 on a naked bike is an adventure – my neck aches again just thinking about it.

The cable-operated, multiplate clutch takes up so smoothly that it's difficult to gauge when it's safe to crack open the taps but I'll forgive a lot of quirks in a clutch that handles 88kW so sweetly.

The gearbox on the test bike, by contrast, was a good deal more notchy and its action heavier than I'm used to on Hinckley products. That also makes it very positive; unlike the Sprint RS transmission's occasionally missed upshifts, the Speed Triple went in every time, with or without the clutch.

Some Hinckley gearboxes change cogs faster than others while some are distinctly notchy and vocal. They're all rock-solid but some bikes require a different riding style; getting to know a Triumph gearbox is always time well spent.

The single-sided, cast alloy swing-arm on the Speed Triple needs a long chain so the quiet clonk from the cush drive in the rear hub is never absent. This example was tauter than most, however, the take-up audible from the saddle only in first gear.

The alloy twin-tube perimeter frame is the same as the previous issue but the front suspension has been improved. The action of the fully adjustable, 45mm forks is smoothly progressive with minimal dive, even under hard braking.

Dive into a corner late as you like, hard as you dare, with the brakes on and the suspension loaded. The front wheel will track as if on rails - even on a poor surface - and the wide bars have all the leverage needed to turn the big triple on its ear, way deep into the corner, just before you turn on the power.

The rear monoshock is still rather harsh but the factory's settings seem to have been softened a little. It copes admirably with potholes and uneven road repairs in the urban jungle but the bike has a tendency to nod gently through fast bends though opening the throttle a little to load the rear suspension nearly always settled the chassis.

The Nissin four-piston front brakes, biting on 320mm floating rotors, remain, as does their easily modulated power. Street bike brakes have advanced over the past 20 years … just two fingers will make the front tyre howl and there's enough bite to yank the back wheel of this short-coupled chassis off the ground any time.

The rear brake is better than most on bikes of this genre; it's a twin-pot opposed piston unit, rather than the more primitive (and more common) single-piston set-up and it'll lock the back wheel if you stomp on it. It also has sufficient feel to be used safely to set up the bike for corners in the wet.

The seat is high at 815mm and, with no protective bodywork, you feel you're sitting on, not in, the bike. The wider bars reinforce this impression, making this hefty (189kg) bike feel even bigger than it really is but lend leverage to throw this hooligan machine around.

The seats are wide and flat and the driver's foot pegs are perfectly placed right under the nose of the saddle; the bike is a lot more comfortable than it looks. There was no Numb Bum syndrome after four hours on the road.

Each Speed Triple comes with a colour-coded cover for the pillion pad to round off the streetfighter image.

Fit and finish, as on all Triumphs, is superb, especially the detail work and the painted parts. The little windbreakers on the front forks, first seen on Yamahas, work almost as well as traditional gaiters and they're a lot prettier, while the welds on the alloy frame are works of art.

The major styling change involves the removal of the beautiful all-analogue instrument pod in favour of the digital unit from the Sprint RS. I dislike digital instrumentation (age showing) but it is lighter and cheaper.

The headlights have been moved closer on an elegant bracket that also supports the clocks, which no longer turn with the steering. The switchgear is the same across the entire Hinckley rage (smart), the locks are standard Zani items from Italy and the BMW indicators are on more than 30 bikes from all over the world.

Hinckley's engineering is still modular, with an impressive variety of both mechanical and cosmetic parts in common across models. Nevertheless, the Speed Triple has a distinctive, in-your-face character – even without the ferocious pink paint job on the test bike.

Its motor encourages hooliganising while the chassis, despite somewhat nervous handling, has the competence to get away with it.

And it's still not a quiet ride.

Test bike from Mike Hopkins Motorcycles, Cape Town.

Price: R92 996

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NOT A QUIET RIDE: ... and the colour of the test bike didn't help. Call it pink or purple, the Speed Triple will get you noticed.