Retro is cool. It always has been, and it always will be. Your dad's old watch will shine through an outfit, shell tops rock, and a 1992 Olympics jersey hits harder today than it did three decades ago. And in the world of motorcycles, nothing is as full of retro nostalgia as Triumph's Bonneville engine, which the Speed Twin 1200 is built around.
But the Speed Twin line isn't just retro, it's a modern retro, which brings with it, well, it's in the name—Speed.
There are other modern retro motorcycles today that will turn heads, but I'd argue that none would fool the uninformed as much as the Speed Twin 1200. And that's where this model's deception starts, as Triumph's engineers have played a blinder in terms of the trickery that's gone into keeping this motorcycle's retro style and how it makes the rider feel. Old-school cool is built into every millimeter of the Speed Twin 1200; it's in every essence of its design, but at the very same time, it's not old-school at all, and that's what makes it a fantastic modern retro.
In this fiercely competitive niche, it's all about which model can pull the wool over your eyes the most while still giving riders as much performance as they'll realistically ever need.
Well, damn, if the Speed Twin 1200 didn't make a case for itself on the mixture of fast-flowing and tight twisty roads that sprawl Mallorca, Spain. The journey begins as you walk out to the bike and catch your first glimpse.
Deceitful Designs
In the best possible way, Triumph's engineers have put their all into deceiving us with the Speed Twin 1200. One dead giveaway that a motorcycle is from this era is the trash-can-sized exhausts that desecrate the side of most bikes—emissions regulations, blah blah—but the uninterrupted brushed stainless steel pipes on the Street Twin are even more compact than the previous iteration, and set the tone quite literally.
All the technology needed to meet emissions regulations is hidden under the bike, leaving us with an exhaust system that looks like it could've been lifted from a Bonneville decades ago. On the bike, the pipes deliver a nice audible punch, but the sound seems almost directed toward the rider's triangle because this model won't make your ears ring if it passes you by.
The idea of a solid punch, like the note produced by the exhausts, continues throughout this bike's redesign.
The stonking fat 1200cc, liquid-cooled, eight-valve, 270-degree crank, parallel twin at the heart is even more visually striking because everything around it has become more compact and angular. Again giving the impression of a solid machine. A punch.
The bench seat, which was just adequate for the 120-odd miles I spent on it, is narrower and more sculpted, and both the fuel tank and engine casings are more angular. Everything looks a bit tighter except for the rider's triangle, which has been made roomier. The handlebars are 17.8mm higher and 13.4mm more forward when compared to the previous generation, and the 805mm seat height, combined with an accommodating footpeg position, let me decide when I wanted to get into a sportier position or relax.
Although most people, including myself, agree that the analog clocks on the previous model better represent what this unit should embody, adding a digital element to the cluster was deemed necessary to accommodate the new tech features.
The Modern Part
The IMU-based electronic system means that cornering ABS and TC feature on the latest iteration of the Speed Twin, as to two rider modes: Road and Rain. These are expected features on any motorcycle in this class, although I found the cornering TC to be too intrusive and frustrating.
It felt as though it was kicking in based on an algorithm between lean angle and throttle rather than an actual loss of traction. Whatever the case is, I felt like the TC light was illuminated way too many times throughout the day. But if this is a turn-off for you, know you can disable the TC with a few clicks on the switchgear.
If you decide to turn off TC and unleash the beast, your right hand will be in total control of 103 hp at 7,750 RPM and 82.6 lb-ft of torque at 4,250 RPM. And I'd argue that there's more deceit from Triumph here because, although the Speed Twin 1200 produces an extra five hp and has an even higher redline of 8,000 RPM—which would fool you into thinking you'll want rev it out—you'll actually want to play in the middle.
That's where the fun is.
At the start of the day, I revved out second gear before selecting third and then dropping back down again, but before long, I just left it in third and loved every minute. With its mountains of torque, I let the bike pull me out of every corner and sent it to the redline if the road was long enough. Of course, there were more than a few delicious short shifts thrown in, which are obligatory with an engine like this.
Even more deceitful is how smooth this 1200cc lump is. I thought it was going to be agricultural or brutish, but thanks to a low-inertia crankshaft and well-mapped ECU, it's so easy to get on with and will happily take you home from work after a long day without white-knuckling it.
But if you want to up the ante, the Speed Twin 1200 has a crafty way of making you feel like you're really pinning it, even when you have more to give.
Almost Pinning It
Once you flick that switch on the right road and decide to lay into the Speed Twin's sporting prowess, you'll find a package that perfectly matches a rider who wants to give a good 70%. You're encouraged to give this level of performance because that's when all the parts gel nicely.
The non-adjustable 43mm Marzocchi USD forks and twin Marzocchi RSUs with piggy-back reservoirs handled my 185 lb body and spirited riding with relative ease, although they didn't encourage me to push beyond 70% of my riding capability, which is perfect for the road and suits the semi-lazy way you can ride the 1200cc powerplant.
Similarly, the Triumph own-brand 4-piston radial brakes were more than adequate for this type of riding; I'd even say they bit on the twin 320mm discs with more eagerness than I was expecting. So props to Triumph for that. But again, you'd want more stopping power if you were coming into a corner too ambitiously. Speaking of corners.
The Speed Twin didn't surprise me by how well it held its line because I was expecting it to do a great job, and I wasn't disappointed. What did surprise me, however, was how eager it was to tip in. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not dying to create lean angles like a supersport, but it doesn't protest when you push on the handlebars—It stays stable but inviting.
The chassis, combined with the powerplant, and quick-to-heat Metzeler Sportec M9RRs, all lend to an experience where you feel like you're really riding the bike, which is a rare experience at this model's $13,595 price point.
But, of course, like most modern motorcycles, the Speed Twin is more capable than most motorcyclists and certainly more capable than anyone should test on public roads. Knowing this led me to the question: Who's riding who?
Master of Deception
The Speed Twin laid a trap, and I was entangled in it, whether I knew it or not. From the moment I saw those uninterrupted pipes, I had already started to think differently, more nostalgically, and at a slightly slower pace.
I was no more than a pawn—putty in the hands of the Speed Twin 1200—and a fool to think I was going to ride my ride. Every time I "decided" to change my riding style, be it when I "let" third gear lug me out of corners or flow with the roads and let the engine braking do more of the heavy lifting, I was riding a predetermined ride.
I didn't notice at the time because I liked it.
Some bikes will let you decide whether you just need to survive a trip through the city or obliterate a canyon—Yamaha's MT-09 SP is a good example—but once you throw a leg over the Speed Twin, you're riding its ride, and it oh-so-cleverly deceives you into thinking you've decided to ride this way. Ultimately that's what made it such a rewarding day in the saddle, for me.
For once, I didn't feel pressured to push harder because I could feel how much more capable a bike is. The Speed Twin 1200 almost gives you an excuse to tone things down and take more of the ride in. And the bike's trick, the thing that makes you happy to ride this way, is that you feel like you are pushing.
This model is a welcome deception in the era of two-wheeled insanity we live in, and undoubtedly the reason I took in more of the beauty around me while I was riding, but still feeling like I was doing just that—riding.
