Serious Speedfighting

Triumph Motorcycles owner John Bloor and son Nick, who heads the company these days, are known for being discreet, let-the-product-speak-for-itself industrialists, who largely disdain the kind of marketing hype that some of their marketplace rivals so eagerly embrace. But still, you’d have thought that, in the midst of 2020’s pandemic-posed problems, they’d have wanted to celebrate the fact that the motorcycle, which back in the mists of time—well, 1994, actually—all but dead-heated with Ducati’s M900 Monster in inventing the stripped-out sportbike streetfighter sector, had smashed through the 100,000 sales barrier. Yes, folks: that’s how many Triumph Speed Triples have been built in the past quarter century-plus of sweeping streets and terrorizing traffic lights, while making such a key contribution to Triumph’s bottom line in doing so.

But despite a substantial makeover in 2016, the Speed Triple has since been seemingly sidelined by the ongoing power struggle (literally!) between its various rivals, with 200 hp-plus outputs—first from Kawasaki via its supercharged H2, then MV Agusta and now Ducati—seeming to be the bar to clear for being counted as a contender capable of serious streetfighting.

Upping the Ante

“We knew we had to lift our game, but we weren’t prepared to do so at the expense of real-world rideability on the public highway,”