Triumph delves into the electronic goodie bag to release a café racer with more than a few differences.

By Alan Cathcart | Photography by Kingdom Creative/Gareth Harford & Chippy Wood

For the past 30 years, ever since John Bloor relaunched Britain’s legendary Triumph marque in 1991 with a range of three- and four-cylinder motorcycles that dared to target Japan Inc. head on, Triumph has always done things differently.

This included dropping its four-cylinder 1000/1200cc models in 1998 because, despite being the first to feature twin balance shafts in their engines to counter vibration, Bloor determined that these bikes were “too Japanese.” He wanted Triumph’s models to stand alone—hence the focus ever since on various triples of different capacities, and, since the return of the Bonneville in 2000, parallel-twins. The latest manifestation of that is the new-for-’22 Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR—the British brand’s long-awaited first large-cube sportbike for a very long time, only done very differently.

Of course, after Triumph made such a success out of going its own way with bikes that were unique in the marketplace, it was inevitable that these would end up being copied, hence Yamaha’s range of MT-09 triples, ditto MV Agusta’s 675/800 models, and Royal Enfield’s retro-style 650 parallel-twins. But John Bloor, his son Nick, and the man they’ve charged with enacting their game plan, Triumph’s Chief Product Officer, Steve Sargent, have continued to forge the company’s distinctly individual model strategies together with Triumph’s head of engineering Stuart Wood, 57, a 35-year company veteran who joined Bloor’s R&D team in 1987, three years before the debut of the first bikes bearing the revived British brand’s historic badge.

“We wanted to build on the basis of the Speed Triple 1200 RS we launched earlier this year, which has been an immediate success with 3900 examples purchased in just the first six months,” says Wood. “So, we’ve aimed at combining the engagement and agility plus the pinpoint handling of a 765 Street Triple, with the performance and attitude of the latest generation Speed Triple 1200 RS, clothed in the styling of a traditional-type British café racer, expressed in a modern context.”

It has indeed been quite a while since Triumph last featured an outright sportbike in its range, not since the 2006 demise of the much-loved Daytona 955i launched in 1997, in fact. This was a good bike with heaps of personality thanks to its then unique-sounding three-cylinder motor, albeit not quite up to its Japanese rivals in terms of outright performance. The Daytona 675 was a middleweight contender, not a 1000cc-plus beast, and Sargent & Co. have focused on expanding their offerings in the Adventure bike market, while seemingly ignoring the go-faster customer. Not anymore, though.

But rather than tackle the superbike market head-on by trying to compete directly with Fireblades, Panigales, R1s and the like, Triumph has decided once again to go its own way. Whereas when they originally created the Speed Triple back in 1994, Triumph’s R&D team simply deleted the bodywork from the three-cylinder Daytona 900 sportbike and changed the handlebars to produce a stripped-out sportbike, this time around they’ve done the opposite, and added a frame-mounted café-racer-style half-fairing and fitted clip-ons to make a semi-streamlined ultra-bike out of a naked hotrod.

But beneath the RR’s sleek, airy-looking styling with the single LED headlamp lies the identical cast aluminum chassis of the 1200 RS, as well as its engine in an identical state of tune. So the Speed Triple 1200 RR is essentially a 1200 RS with the addition of a half-fairing, an altered riding position with clip-on handlebars, and Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 OBTI electronically-adjustable semi-active front and rear suspension.

But as I discovered in an action-packed day comprising the press launch in southern Spain, during which, in a short but challenging 75-mile morning ride along the legendary A-397 Ronda Road down to the coast and back, I rode the Triumph in almost every single possible road condition ranging from drizzle and damp roads to sunshine and super grip, ending with three sessions on the glorious Ascari Race Resort’s full 3.37-mile circuit, this is a bike that’s much more than simply the sum of its parts.

For the changes that Triumph has made in creating the RR version have delivered a motorcycle with the same hugely impressive level of performance as the RS, but its own distinct personality. The result is not only the most powerful Triumph motorcycle ever built, but also arguably the most fun, and surely the most capable, to ride.

Little things mean a lot, and conceivably the single most significant element in the 1200 RR’s personality switch over its forebear is in its riding position, which feels completely different. That’s because Wood & Co. have fitted clip-ons rather than the high, wide, one-piece handlebar of the RS, with the result that your hands sit a massive 5.3 inches lower and 50mm further forward on the RR, and while the seat height is unchanged at 32.6 inches, the RR’s footrests are now positioned 15mm higher, and 26mm further back.

This sportier, more stretched out stance is not only more aerodynamic, as well as delivering even more legroom for taller riders, but inevitably also puts more of your body weight on your wrists and shoulders. This in turn helps load up the front wheel for extra grip in turns, though not so much that it’s excessively tiring—it’s not as extreme as a supersport stance, but you do notice it at lower speeds, where the airflow over the rather low screen isn’t relieving the pressure on your arms. The rest of the time you’re having too much fun to complain, because as I discovered on a two-way run along that superb Ronda Road doing my best to keep up with former British Superstock 1000 champion Taylor Mackenzie, with Aussie BSB Superbike star Billy McConnell riding shotgun, this is indeed a super capable piece of kit.

While still meeting Euro 5 compliance, the 2021 Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR is the most potent and most torquey member of that family yet built, thanks to its completely new clean-screen larger-capacity transverse inline three-cylinder motor shared with the RS, measuring 90 x 60.8mm for an 1160cc displacement.

This delivers 178 horsepower at 10,750 rpm, a massive 49.5 horsepower step up from the previous motor on an engine redlined at 11,150 rpm, and the same horsepower the Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 RR delivered at birth. However, peak torque of 92 lb-ft comes at 9000 rpm, a significant increase from the outgoing model’s 82 lb-ft at 7500 rpm, but delivered higher up the rev range, which means it’s lost some of the old Speed Triple’s lusty low-down grunt.

But while you’re more conscious of that on the naked RS, it’s not something you worry about too much on the RR, for the simple reason that you can’t really help riding Triumph’s new modern-era café racer like the half-faired Superbike it really is.

Those horsepower numbers are all present and correct, but to really max out the brutally strong real-world performance available from the Gen 3.0 Speed Triple, you need to rev it quite a bit higher than before, while still surfing that midrange torque curve which crests at 9000 revs. Doing this delivers monstrous acceleration that’s very well controlled by Triumph’s electronic package linked to a Continental six-axis IMU, which features five riding modes – Rain, Road, Sport, Rider-configurable, plus a Track mode with minimal ABS and TC intervention, which are both anyway switchable.

Settings are finely tunable via the backlit switch cubes and full-color five-inch TFT dash, and the My Triumph connectivity system is also fitted as standard. Both Android and iOS compatible, this enables phone call and music operation, Google Maps-linked turn-by-turn navigation, and GoPro control.

Four-way adjustable lean-sensitive TC with integrated anti-wheelie control, both switchable, are also fitted, plus two-stage Cornering ABS. There’s also cruise control, a lithium battery, keyless ignition and a two-way clutchless powershifter on which, unlike on the RS, I found it was hard to get consistently clean upshifts, maybe because the ignition/fuel cutout is too short in certain circumstances. But revving the Triumph motor out to five-digit engine speeds in the gears to the muted but still thrilling tenor tone produced by the Euro 5 compliant 3-1 exhaust, is two-wheeled utopia. The pickup from a closed throttle is smooth and controlled, even in Sport mode—it’s no less insistent, just without the snatchy pickup of some other sportbikes whose mapping displays excessive eagerness to get going.

Thanks to a 12% reduction in powertrain inertia, the engine is even more responsive and picks up revs notably quicker than the old Speed Triple—it feels sharper, and sounds sharper, too. Because of the all-new freer-breathing intake and 3-1 exhaust system, this is rather improbably (given Euro 5 restrictions) the best sounding Speed Triple yet produced, with a visceral intake roar and trademark deep-throated triple exhaust howl. Just as on the RS, it’s great to listen to this mechanical cantata from the hot seat, and this explains why there’s no aftermarket exhaust can in the 35-strong list of accessories!

Triumph has included an updated version of its so-called “slip-assist” clutch on the new Speed Triples, but it’s a ramp-style slipper clutch by any other name, which retains enough engine braking still dialed in to help the excellent Brembo Stylema radial brakes stop you hard and late when you squeeze the adjustable lever, while ensuring good stability in stopping hard from high speed. The cable-operated clutch has a pretty light action, which was a welcome surprise considering how much torque it has to deal with. This new version of Triumph’s streetfighter holds a line very well on the brakes, and it won’t sit up on you if you stroke the front brake lever to lose a bit more speed, so that you miss the apex and head for the hedges, and the pickup when you get back on the throttle again is always measured and controlled. It also holds a line well around fast 75-mph sweepers such as abound on the Ronda Road, too.

The RR’s sportier riding position invites an even more aggressive attitude to riding this bike on both road and track, and the Pirelli Diablo Super Corsa SP tires it’s shod with are the ideal choice to do this with, versus the Metzeler Racetec RR K3s on the RS. Given their semi-slick tread pattern these track day tires also proved surprisingly grippy in conjunction with Rain mode in navigating the damp highways on my morning ride, but like all the Italian manufacturer’s products they heated up quickly.

That’s partly thanks to their lighter weight compared to rival rubber, which also helps acceleration through reduced rotational inertia, as well as lowering unsprung weight and thus optimizing suspension response.

But even without that added bonus, the Triumph RR’s semi-active Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 OBTi electronic suspension provides a higher level of response and compliance from the 43mm upside-down fork and RSU monoshock with progressive rate link compared to the RS model’s mechanically adjustable hardware from the same Swedish company.

The overly stiff ride of the RS is not an issue in the RR thanks to a higher sticker price and a mere 2.2 pounds of extra curb weight, even with the fairing added on. The RR scales 438 pounds with a full 4.09-gallon fuel tank, split 51/49 percent frontwards (vs. 50.5/49.5 percent on the 216-pound RS). That’s pretty clever given that the Öhlins EC system entails carrying a total of four electric stepper motors—two in the shock for both compression and rebound, and one in each of the fork legs (compression on the left, rebound on the right)—which continually adjust both types of damping front and rear within 0.20 seconds of the suspension ECU deciding what’s appropriate according to what feedback it has received from the various sensors. Improbable as it may seem, on pock-marked public roads this delivers a ride quality which can only be described as plush, and you can actually feel the rear suspension working away beneath you in a way I have never experienced before, having only previously ridden a bike with semi-active electronic suspension on a smoothly surfaced racetrack. Indeed, on the Ascari circuit I didn’t get the same feedback—it just worked!

There are three settings for the semi-active suspension—Comfort, Normal and Dynamic—and the suspension control ECU monitors input from the Continental six-axis IMU, the brake-line pressure, the throttle position, and the engine-management system to provide optimum damping for that given moment—so it’s monitoring angle of lean, the pitch of the bike, the brake force, and via the throttle position it’s also monitoring the torque, and speed. You can change any of the settings via a Rider Preference interface, or even switch the electronics off and rely on the mechanical settings only. Or, ahem, as I will admit after getting hopelessly lost in attempting to out-think the computer, there’s a default button which allows you to return to the way Öhlins said it should be. Well, I had to try, didn’t I?

The array of damp patches on the Ascari track surface gradually dried up as the day wore on, so that on my final session I could ask big questions of both the brakes and the suspension in at least a couple of the harder stops on the smooth-surfaced track. Grabbing a big handful of front brake in slowing from speed for a second-gear turn didn’t produce any excessive dive up front—but neither was there the dead feel it took me a while to get used to in three seasons of racing a hub-center Tesi for the Bimota factory many years ago.

That system allowed you to brake deep into a turn on the angle without freezing the front shock, in turn gaining valuable time as well as many meters on your opposition—and I suspect the same benefits pertain with the Öhlins EC system. I got as brave as I dared in successive laps in those two hard stops, and while I couldn’t feel the front suspension operating in the way I had on the rougher-surfaced highway, I honestly do think it gave the extra front-end damping support I was asking for. It felt like I was going faster through the turns, anyway, though how much that was I can’t say until someone gets out a stopwatch!

But there’s a very good chance that the Öhlins EC system is that long-awaited best of both worlds between conventional front-suspension technology, and an alternative front end like a Britten/Saxtrak or Fior or Tesi system. Kudos to Triumph for bringing it to the highway in this three-cylinder ultra-sports café racer that’s very much unlike anything else you can buy—for the time being at least!CN

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