Speed Triple

[Big Dave]

So I've had a few days on the Speed Triple now.
Whilst to some the bike may be ugly, the new 1050 motor is a thing of real beauty.
Very impressive with the immediacy of its power delivery, rock solid handling, chuckability and just what a bloody hoot it is to ride.
Stoppies, wheelies and general hooligan behaviour that I didn't know was in me. I tell ya ' the bike made me do it' you just have to 'squirt it'.

the 3 cylinders on't beastie have all the likeable characteristics of a twin and a four at the same time. Some of the torque of say, a Buell, with the revs of an super sports. It really is an ideal configuration for the type of bike. It carves up.

With my 'largeness', blasting round town felt like I was on a some rocketpowered roller skate and i loved it - it has the same sort of 'bam' instant go as some of the Ducati's I have ridden.

Sounds pretty good too.

As for styling, well the Speed Triple kind of defined it's own niche, you either love it or you hate it it seems - It's sure growing on me. As I always say to the Mrs, 'naked is good'.

I have too many of the same photo, but it's also been an exercise in 'depth of field' on my newish Konica, and I've sussed some good locations for future shoots. use the thumbnails.

http://www.davidcohen.co.nz

[Sensei]

Hope they are stronger than my T509 was . 4 major bow ups . Big ends /
2 head gaskets / complete clutch rebulid / blow 4th gear in half at 170k . All the owner's here have sold theirs as the 595 do the clutch torque springs as well as 4th gear . The early 95 engines were excellent not so with the later one's . May have got their shit together with this one but will wait & see .I for one wouldn't touch another with a 40ft pole .
SENSEI

[stevedee]

The bike is bad, just the way a naked bike should be. A work of art in my view.

[gav]

So, tell us about te camera, Dave, whats it worth? Great shots and that colour really looks good. Have you seen the latest Performance Bikes? Think its a 20 year anniversary issue, has a photo of a project bike they built with a chap by the name of Steve Burns dubbed the Monster back in 1992 basewd around a GSX1100E ina spondon frame with single sided arm, cut off seat, twin headlights, USD forks, exposed beam frame, very spooky next to the Speed Trip, could be twins!

[Big Dave]

Hope they are stronger than my T509 was . 4 major bow ups . Big ends /
2 head gaskets / complete clutch rebulid / blow 4th gear in half at 170k . All the owner's here have sold theirs as the 595 do the clutch torque springs as well as 4th gear . The early 95 engines were excellent not so with the later one's . May have got their shit together with this one but will wait & see .I for one wouldn't touch another with a 40ft pole .
SENSEI

Yeah, that would do it. My T'bird also did 2 sprag clutches and blew 4th gear - but I still have it.
They fixed the suspect components eventually and I've done almost 100,000 trouble free k's since.

[Sensei]

I would like to get a Old SpeedTriple or Super 3 . A Daytona 1200 with 147hp
would look great in the shed . The Trouble Dave is Triumph knew about these problems yet would not admit to them . Now that is Shit !! .
SENSEI

[Big Dave]

So, tell us about te camera, Dave, whats it worth? Great shots and that colour really looks good. Have you seen the latest Performance Bikes? Think its a 20 year anniversary issue, has a photo of a project bike they built with a chap by the name of Steve Burns dubbed the Monster back in 1992 basewd around a GSX1100E ina spondon frame with single sided arm, cut off seat, twin headlights, USD forks, exposed beam frame, very spooky next to the Speed Trip, could be twins!

Bike:
Yes I believe I have seen the bike in one of Chris (Mr Motomail) Hyland's lovely coffee table type volumes on custom motorcycles.
Chris owns the very tast S3 parked over there. We assumed the guy liked S3's - phaps the other way around

Camera
http://konicaminolta.com/products/co...ge/dimage-a200

My old Kodak 4mp was out of lease - So I had a look around, bought a mag called '107 Digital cameras tested' and went for what they said was best value/featured in my desired specs. Paid $1,500 at Harvey's on special. ($300 Less than I spent on the Kodak 3 years earlier!)

Fits nicely in a compact shoulder strap case and for night work I wear the tripod like a quiver - all Robin Hood like.
The more I use the camera the more I dig the results - nice lens.

[Big Dave]

I would like to get a Old SpeedTriple or Super 3 . A Daytona 1200 with 147hp
would look great in the shed . The Trouble Dave is Triumph knew about these problems yet would not admit to them . Now that is Shit !! .
SENSEI

i can't comment about the last bit, but i have basically turned my Trophy into a daytona 1200. cams and hi comp pistons and a few other goodies out of a wreck went in it. Mild port, K&N, Dynojet Kit and Neptune stainless cans and it runs out 142 on AMPS dyno.
that's why i call it the battlestar - it's got ohlins all round and race tech emulators too. Scares the shit out of unsunspecting sports bikers.

[loosebruce]

Nice choice on the Speed Triple Dave, personally i reckon it looks freckin cool, the triples sound the bizzo with the right pipe on to. If i was going to buy a new naked bike the speed triple be it, but i'm stuck with my naked TL i dont know what the fuck it is anymore 1000S.

I be keeping my eyes out for ya trophy too, and hope i can slip away from you un noticed.

[Big Dave]

Nice choice on the Speed Triple Dave, personally i reckon it looks freckin cool, the triples sound the bizzo with the right pipe on to. If i was going to buy a new naked bike the speed triple be it, but i'm stuck with my naked TL i dont know what the fuck it is anymore 1000S.

I be keeping my eyes out for ya trophy too, and hope i can slip away from you un noticed.

cheers, but i didn't choose it - it chose me - it's triumph NZ's press bike/demo. I'm more tempted by the Sprint ST.

Perhaps yours is a T otal L oosebruce1000?

[loosebruce]

cheers, but i didn't choose it - it chose me - it's triumph NZ's press bike/demo. I'm more tempted by the Sprint ST.

Perhaps yours is a T otal L oosebruce1000?

Sounds bout right

The new sprint looks trick too, seen a couple silver ones cruising round. But alas the hooligan in me would be eyeing the Triple.

[MD]

I'm toying with the idea of changing bikes and the S3 has certainly caught my eye. Took a short spin on an older model to see how it felt. I'd be interested to hear how much better you found the new one to the previous model because I wasn't 'overwhelmed' by it. Sure it had great power pick up at 2, 3 or 4 thou revs but after that on full throttle it seemed to run out of steam too soon. Still keen to see a black one in the flesh. Hearing you got stoppies out it is another tick in the right box.
Off for an all day ride now and might sneek a peak in at ANZA's triple again.
MD

[Big Dave]

I'm toying with the idea of changing bikes and the S3 has certainly caught my eye. Took a short spin on an older model to see how it felt. I'd be interested to hear how much better you found the new one to the previous model because I wasn't 'overwhelmed' by it. Sure it had great power pick up at 2, 3 or 4 thou revs but after that on full throttle it seemed to run out of steam too soon. Still keen to see a black one in the flesh. Hearing you got stoppies out it is another tick in the right box.
Off for an all day ride now and might sneek a peak in at ANZA's triple again.
MD

I haven't had enough saddle time on the older models to make an really objective comparison, sorry. Definitely go and see Eddie and take it for a decent burn - great fun even if you don't buy it

It has nissin branded radial brakes - STOP! and I thought the 1050 pulled long and strong. But for me it isn't a bike that is about terminal velocity - it's the surge and the carvin' up that whets my whistle

I also can get into a rant about naked bikes giving the feeling of going much faster and being more satisfying at speeds that are more licence friendly than those sheathed in plastic. But then someone would note that I ride a Trophy and all credibility would be shot.

chz

[Krusti]

Great pics Dave....you could have a career in photography....true...

[MD]

Thanks Dave. There are no demo 'new' S3 down this end of the Nth Island. The mag reviews will all be out any day so that may help the decision process. Another question since you seem to know so much about Triumphs. Have you ridden the new Speedmaster 865cc vs the previous 790cc model? If so was it noticeably more powerful. I ask because I briefly owned an America. Loved it but it just lacked enough power for me to let it go- and now I want it back.