TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE THEN AND NOW

You only have to take one look at these two models to see that a lot has changed over 20 years. But what exactly does two decades of development mean for Triumph’s flagship naked bike? There was only one way to find out…

- BOOTHY

When the 955i came along, superseding the T509 with its 955cc engine, it was considered pretty cutting edge, with its fuel-injected engine and its 120bhp. It was a man's bike. Big, bulky and brutish it may have been, but under-seat cans and a single-sided swinging arm gave the Speed' the 'edge' that made it stylish as well as substantial. The more I looked at the thing, the more it struck me as a kind of halfway house between the modern and the retro; its aggressive stance wouldn't look out of place in a super naked line-up even today, but its twin round headlights are a real throwback to the days of old. The new Speed's twin headlights, whilst they seem to pay a loose tribute to those of the old bike, look sleek and modern. Conversely, whilst I know the under-seat pipes on the old bike would have been all the rage back in the early naughties, it's like nobody has told the latest Trip' that that kind of thing has long fallen out of vogue - its 2020 for Christ sake.