Triumph

Triumph has officially revealed the brand new Speed Triple RR, the semi-faired version of the Speed Triple RS. New look, new semi-active Ohlins suspension, new riding position to turn it into the ultimate sports road bike.

By the early 1970’s the writing was on the wall for the British Motorcycle Industry. Just three names remained: Triumph, BSA and Norton and they were all owned by the same umbrella company. It was a large and unwieldy conglomerate, with too many factories. When Meriden, the traditional home of Triumph, was threatened with closure and all production moved to the BSA factory at Small Heath, the Triumph workers held a two-year sit-in, before forming a cooperative to continue production of the Bonneville.

It’s one of the most intriguing stories in motorcycling: how did the British Motorcycle industry go from ruling the world to fizzling out with a whimper in one short decade? Many blame the Japanese but, in reality, the British managed the decline all on their own: the only thing the Japanese did was step into the void.

Motorcycle companies tend to take themselves very seriously and don’t let frivolity get in the way of the important business of making and selling bikes. This particular video is a few years old so you’ve probably already seen it, but it’s too good not to watch again.

Triumph recently teased a new variation of the Speed Triple 1200RS. While the short video tried its best not to show us anything, it was apparent that it will have a fairing. Now, a Triumph Fans’ FB page has published these pictures, allegedly showing the new model in full.

The style of ’60s and ’70s American flat track racers continues to influence custom builders and none more successfully than this beautiful build by Richard Pollock, aka Mule, of California.

Ever since the Triumph Tiger 900 arrived, speculation has been rife that the Tiger 1200 was about to receive a significant makeover. Triumph has now released a short teaser video and press release confirming that the new Tiger 1200 will have sharper claws.

Hot on the heels of the Trident 660, comes news of a new Tiger Sport 660 model. Rather than waiting for grainy spy shots to emerge on the internet, however, Triumph itself has chosen to reveal the prototype in all its camouflaged glory, obviously trying to ramp up anticipation.

Despite not having played in the faired litre-superbike class for well over a decade, it looks like Triumph is preparing to re-enter that class with a faired version of the Speed Triple 1200 RS. The teaser video shows virtually nothing but we can expect the Speed Triple 1200 RR - as it will be called - to be launched in time for the 2022 model year.

A Triumph Bonneville T120R once owned by famed stuntman Bud Ekins and subsequently by Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions is up for auction this month. Ekins was one of the highest profile stuntmen of his time as well as an accomplished and very successful competitor on two wheels. You might have heard of Steve McQueen as well.

It’s only someone’s mock-up, but is this what the Triumph Enduro and MX bikes could look like?

Motorcycle rear suspension took a long time to catch up with front suspension. For many years, it did not exist at all before plunger-type suspension made an appearance in the late 1930s. Triumph’s Edward Turner thought he could do better while still ignoring the relatively new development of the swing arm rear suspension. The result was the Sprung Hub, with springs being housed within the hub itself, which allowed it to be fitted to existing frames and thus requiring no expensive re-designs.

Triumph’s recently launched Trident 660 has set the cat amongst the pigeons in the middleweight naked sports category. Its main rival could be said to be the Yamaha MT-07 and, while they are similar in what they do, they go about it in completely different ways. But which is better? Is it even possible to choose?

Triumph has a long history of off-road competition success but that was a very long time ago. Since the company was resurrected by John Bloor 30 years ago, it has succeeded in every category of road and adventure bike it has entered. The only avenue left open to Triumph was true off-road Motocross and Enduro bikes and, while rumours have been swirling for a while, today it became official; Triumph will build proper off-road bikes. There are few details but Triumph has said that the bikes will be new from the ground up, which could be taken to mean there will be no outsourced engineering other than suspension, brakes and electronics.

With the release of the Trident 660, Triumph has hit the jackpot right out of the box and matched, if not beaten, all the competition in in one fell swoop. With a brilliant engine and chassis, stunning build quality and great looks, it may be small and compact and carry a competitive price tag, but has so much character and ability that you have to wonder how Triumph has done it.

Triumph announces a new essential component of motorcycle safety equipment. The Triumph SOS app, specifically tailored for motorcyclists, and monitors sensors in your smartphone to detect and validate an accident and then request emergency services, even if you can’t.