Triumph Speed Twin 900

Built:2016-24201620172018201920202021202220232024

Photos: Motorradtest.de

The small Triumph Street Twin was only taken seriously by a narrower fan base when it was released in 2016: the engine power of 55 hp seemed too low. That changed in 2019, but an increase in performance of almost 20 percent is not much in absolute terms at 65 hp now. Too little? Enough reason for a test to clarify this question.

A beautiful retro bike

The closer you get, the smaller the machine gets. Strangely, we're actually used to it the other way around. Recently we had the Triumph Speed Twin in the test, which seemed compact to us, but not as small.

And now the Street Twin. Absolutely at 215 kilos not really easy, in the wheelbase of 1410 millimeters not really long, surprisingly compact in appearance. Taking a seat is to be taken literally here on the stately and large bench, I conquer the Twin. Despite my short legs, this is surprisingly easy for me this time – no wonder, the seat height is only 760 millimeters.

This suits me well with the short legs from the knee angle, but the long-legged and 1.84 meter high Dietmar is there at the border.

Otherwise, it just looks great. Triumph calls this model series Modern Classic, which is nothing more than marketing German for a retro bike. If you want to look old, it's not. Some may see this as a betrayal of pure doctrine, because classic motorcycles should be really old after that. The Triumph, however, is a modern motorcycle, so on the credit side it has everything electronic helpers on board, which is what you carry today. With one exception: The ABS is a normal, not curve ABS.

Displacement, displacement and displacement

Exactly, we almost forgot him, the engine. But immediately after the start, the triumph dulls so much that the Twin is in the blink of an eye. He has made the long journey from the pit of the stomach to the brain at the speed of light and provides a pleasant shower there as there. The engine is the surprise at all on the Triumph Street Twin after driving off. Forget the narrow 65 hp, they are completely meaningless. Winning PS at the regular table, the torque on the road is an old wisdom. And another saying, which is otherwise only passed on from druid to druid, we have at the start: displacement can be replaced by nothing, except by even more displacement.

To test these wisdoms for their truthfulness, we turn at the Quirl. And behold, the a whopping 900 cubic meters produce even richer 80 Newton meters of torque, which are already present when the engine is switched off. Unfazed by the respective speed, the Street Twin is bouncing forward. Of course, it is not the fastest of all the motorcycles, but it is always fast enough. And in doing so, a serene sovereignty that is transferred to the driver.

Even those who want to exaggerate it and drive extremely low-speed, will not get an offended chain-punch ing or unwilling jerking from the triumph. This is practical in that the digital rev counter is really impossible to do. Dark grey on grey in the TFT display, it shows speed changes jaggedly in increments of 50. In other words, it always flickers. And of course, a digital display for fast-changing values is always difficult: If you immediately associate a value with every display of an analog instrument, you first have to read, understand and classify that of a digital display. What luck that triumph does not need any by its characteristics.

The gearbox always precisely re-enacts the right gear, but here, too, it is retro to the end. I found it hard to find the sixth gear on the first test drive and I complained to the test colleague Dietmar. He, as always well prepared, informed me that the Street Twin could only show five of them in terms of aisles and did not need more – he is right.

And the single disc? It comes from Brembo (back Nissin) and beats itself boldly. If there is hardly anything to lose from the effect, the dosing ability is limited and the hand power is also rather high. Top class is kind of different.

For this, the driving safety is excellent. The chassis, which is set with a healthy hardening (only adjustable in hardness at the rear of the stereo dampers) does a good job. A little sensitively, the lady reacts to longitudinal grooves that can be felt in the front wheel. Although the slant freedom on the low triumph is not very high, but hey: Whoever stands on cornering now, tomorrow and forever, has landed here anyway in the wrong department.