Triumph Speed Triple 1160 spied

SINCE the launch of the newly restyled Street Triple range last year, the big question on many people’s lips was; ‘when is the Speed Triple getting the same treatment?’. At the time, Triumph top brass was keen to steer the conversation away from the 765’s bigger sibling, although you can always tell when there is subterfuge afoot.

Now thanks to some images from our friends at RideApart we can not only confirm that the new Speed Triple is likely to land in 2021, with a possible winter 2020 press launch, it also gets the new angry-eyed facelift and a heavily revised and likely to be 1160cc engine.

Triumph Speed Triple RS track review

First and foremost, let’s address the new face in the room and yes, I’m a big fan of the restyled Street Triple so this new look Speed’ should appeal to me. But, Hinckley we have a problem! Where, in the super-naked-hell has the cowl gone from the front end of the bike? The current Speed Triple has a neat instrument binnacle, hiding the gawky looking TFT and tucking it out of the way. The new bike has none of this, and unless it is just an omission for the test mule, I’m not sure I like it. The new Streetfighter V4 has a similar affair, with the TFT casually/lazily plonked onto the front end.

Moving south from the cockpit and we can see another significant change, the centrally mounted air intake of the previous generation Speed Triple seems to have gone or more likely has been relocated. Small it may have been but if the rumours around the engine of the new bike swelling to 1160cc are true, it’s likely still a requirement of the machine.

There are also some fairly major frame changes, with the rear subframe being similar in design to the previous bike, but different in its construction. The 2019 Speed’ featured a tubular subframe that had the appearance of being welded when in fact it was cast. The new item seems to be made up of almost triangular-shaped tubing. The reducing the weight of the new bike widely reported to be one of the driving forces behind the revamp, It’s highly likely the subframe design has been drawn up to save some precious grams.

Another major change is, of course, the engine, which for this new model is known to be around 1160cc in capacity. While some of the increase is aimed at helping the engineers create a cleaner burn, it’s also highly likely that the new bike will try and bridge the gap to the other super naked machines that are streaking their way to 200bhp and more. That doesn’t mean the new bike will be joining the 200bhp club, but an increase up to 170bhp would be more likely.

Another nice update is the tiding up of the side of the engine, it’s much neater, less fussy, and no longer features the drive mechanism from the starter motor to the clutch, a feature I always thought was at odds with the rest of the bike’s sleek look.

Triumph Speed Triple R? Or RS?

If Triumph’s launch plan for the 2021 Speed Triple is the same as the Street Triple, it’s highly likely the model seen here is the top-spec RS machine. There is also a couple of gold anodised clues sitting right in front of us. The forks are the exact same spec as the top of the range RS machine we rode at Donington Park last week.