A year ago, after riding a Triumph Speed Triple for the first time, I said it was "not a quiet ride". That goes double for the latest version with its improved fuel-injection system, modified suspension and some cosmetic changes – it's an altogether different animal.
Triumph quotes the same performance figures for the Speed Triple – 88kW at 9100rpm – but the closed-loop fuel-injection with multi-reading lambda sensors (now standard across the Hinckley range) has markedly changed the power delivery's characteristics.
It still pulls, growling gently in protest, from 2500rpm, but smoothly from four though there's now a step in the power band at 6400 and another, stronger, at 8000rpm.
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The serious stuff on this bike is reserved for the last 1500rpm – and it's enough to get the attention of even a committed adrenalin junkie. Don't use it around town unless you want to give the brakes a real test but out in the twisties it'll rocket the bike out of corners with real authority and deliver impressive wheelies on command.
The new Triumph as a step in the power band at 6400 and an even stronger jolt at 8000rpm. All this gives the bike a split personality. It will poodle around town between four and six and deliver effortless acceleration from light to light. What little vibration there is, chorused by the distinctively musical exhaust, merely reminds that this is a three-cylinder motor.
Just when you think it's a pussycat you hit the hot zone and the bike becomes a hooligan tool, even threatening to overwhelm the ability of the chassis to cope with the sudden changes of weight distribution.
The closed-loop fuel-injection system is not as well damped as the alphanumeric system of the earlier versions of the RS. The "slamming door" door effect engendered by this hair-trigger response makes the bike a little tiresome to ride in slow traffic.
However, it's no worse than the previous Speed Triple and its response is instantaneous, especially at higher revs.
You can dive into a corner as late as you like, as hard as you dare, with the brakes on.
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