This Pattaya Thailand Triumph 900 Speed Twin Road test shows off its terrific prowess conquering extreme city traffic.
Triumph changed the name of its 900 Street Twin to the 900 Speed Twin, and I think triumph did it because it refined the Street Twin in so many categories that it wanted to give it a premium name comparable to its excellent 1200 Street Twin with a smaller engine.
In a nutshell, the Triumph 900 Speed Twin is a terrific all-around motorcycle that can do it all. It has a comfortable upright riding position, that’s easy on the bottom, has a light feeling slipper clutch that makes shifting nearly effortless, and great low-end power. While it’s reliable machine that requires very little maintenance. that offers terrific fuel economy. But out of all its excellent qualities it is its maneuverability in city traffic that an extremely practical everyday driver in urban environments.
Unfortunately, my Triumph dealer told me I would have to wait a few weeks before I could get my hands on one. But when I saw one for the first time partially covered in clear plastic, I couldn’t get one soon enough.
The green Triumph 900 Speed Twin had already been sold. My dealer had just received several new 900 Speed Twins, one in black. The other in a sensational new red color. I still had to have my new Triumph 900 Speed Twin in green, however. Until I saw the new prices online. And viewed the pictures of the new Speed Twin in all three colors. Black, Red and Green.
To get my new Triumph Speed Twin in green I would have to fork over an additional $750
Which would have been no problem for me. But the more I looked at pictures of the new Speed Twin in black the more I felt there was little to choose between having it in green or black.
It didn’t take long for me to sell my 2018 Triumph Street Twin. Which tuned out to be a 2017 model even though I had purchased it in 2018. And a day or two later, I was driving my new 2023 Triumph Speed Twin home.
I liked the idea of having an additional 10 horsepower over my Triumph Street Twin’s 54 horsepower. Because now it could do 120 instead of 115 miles an hour. And get superior acceleration due to Triumphs engineers tweaking the 900-c.c. engine to get another 500 rpms out of it.
But what I didn’t expect was for the new speed twin feeling much livelier than the 2017 Street Twin at all rpms levels.
The new Triumph sounded better as well. Now don’t get me wrong, the 2017 900 Street Twin sounded great with that renowned Triumph snarl. But my new Speed Twin sounded even better. So obviously Triumph’s engineers had paid such close attention to further refining the 900 Street Twin as to giving it an even better sound.
Which brings us to Triumph’s attention to detail compared to its rivals. A German fellow co-owner used to park his 900 Kawasaki next to my Triumph. While a Russian friend of mine had recently bought a Ducati Multistrada which he parked on the other side of me. My new black 900 Triumph Speed Twin had much better pant on it than either the Kawaski or the Ducati. While I had often seen another Ducati owner oftentimes having to touch up the rust spots on his Multistrata.
This is no fluke. Just go to your favorite search engine and see for yourself. Although Japanese brands such as Honda are praised for their engineering and reliability, Triumph is given the highest marks for “aesthetic craftsmanship and premium materials.”