WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING
Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR
Hands up who thought we’d ever see the day when a sportsbike was derived from a naked bike, instead of the all-too-common opposite way round. The list of naked bikes that have derived from sportsbikes is long, and for good reason. Only last month I was waxing lyrical about the genius of Ducati taking a Panigale V2 and, with a few simple tweaks to the riding position, ending up with the brilliant Streetfighter V2.
So why can’t it work the other way round? Well, Triumph doesn’t seem to see a reason why it can’t – especially when its bespoke naked bike is so good. Say hello to the Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR.
Triumph has hit the Speed Triple 1200RS with a brilliantly simple formula. The handlebars are 135mm lower and 50mm further away, the footpegs are 15mm higher and 26mm further back, and a tidy little top fairing completes the transition from naked bike to sportsbike. It’s all the blurb and marketing speak that accompanies the RR which is much more difficult to navigate and understand. It’s got a sportsbike riding position, half fairing, and Pirelli Supercorsa tyres, but it’s not a Daytona. It bears the Speed Triple name – the name of a bike that Triumph has sold 102,000 of since 1994, all of them aggressively styled naked bikes. Yet this one has a smooth and curvy half fairing and a single large headlight not dissimilar to that found on the ‘modern classic’ Bonneville.
It’s very odd positioning,
