Sports specification with half cowl and clip-on handlebar
Last week, a teaser video of the new Speed Triple 1200RR was suddenly released on Triumph's official YouTube channel. However, the website in the UK has announced that everything will be revealed in September, so it is safe to assume that the model has already been completed as a product model.
The information is very limited, but a quick look at the 49-second video gives us a hint of what we're in for. First of all, the naming suggests that this is an advanced version of the current Speed Triple 1200RS with more sporting performance. If the RS (Road Sport) is aimed at the public road, the RR (Road Racing) is aimed at the circuit level.
What is clear from the video is that the RR is equipped with a front cowl. You can't see the lower half of the body, but the silhouette that emerges slightly looks like a half cowl. The lines are sharp and edgy, and seem to incorporate a bubble-type screen with a raised center and round LED headlights.
The neo-retro look of the motorcycle seems to differentiate it from the RS and middle-class street triples. At the end of the video, you can see the rider lying low on the ground, but the handlebars are low and the angle of the rider's arms suggests a clip-on handlebar. It has a sporty style with a removable single seat cover.
In addition, from the image shown on the country's website, we can see what looks like the code for the electronically controlled suspension reflected in the tank, so we can predict that the equipment has been further upgraded.
From the base model to the "SS without a cowl" riding style
To give you an idea of how the RR will perform, let's take a look at the base model, the RS. The Speed Triple is the pinnacle of Triumph's sports naked range, and the eighth generation of the fully redesigned model has just been introduced for 2021. The traditional liquid-cooled three-cylinder engine has been increased in displacement from 1050cc to 1160cc and maximum power has been increased by 30ps to 180ps.
The newly designed frame is 10kg lighter and more mass centralized, while the track-spec suspension and latest electronic controls make it Triumph's most powerful road sports model ever. We recently had the chance to test ride the motorcycle and were blown away by the sheer power and sharp handling that sets it apart from previous models. It's a supersport without the cowl, as we described in our impressions.
Will it be the return of the Daytona 955i?
First-generation Speed Triple
The Speed Triple has already been around for nearly 30 years, since the first generation debuted in 1994, but the Daytona T595 (later renamed the 955i) was a three-cylinder, full-cowl sport in the liter class at the same time. And the T595's engine was based on the original Speed Triple.
Daytona T595
Triumph also had an old Trident three-cylinder racer nicknamed 'Slippy Sam' that won the Isle of Man TT race several times in the 60s and 70s.
Slippy Sam
With that in mind, it's no surprise to see Triumph bring back a litre-class three-cylinder full-cowl sport motorcycle, and it's safe to say that fans around the world are eagerly awaiting it. The RR may be the first step towards that goal. It may be too early to tell, but the dream of entering the Superbike World Championship, the pinnacle of production-based racing, is just around the corner.
With a track record of being the exclusive engine supplier for Moto2 in recent years and the high performance of the new Speed Triple 1200RS, there is a lot of potential here.
