Speed Triple Mk1

By the sounds of it, you'll have to pay slightly over the odds for a decent one.

They've become 'collectors' bikes now

IMHO later Speedies are better value, less miles too, if funds are tight. (aren't we all feeling the pinch).

 

I have a 95 sprint, now they are not collectible unfortunately. Speedies are getting there and certainly are not cheap the mk 1s can command a good price but you have to be aware they have carbs and not injected. Battery must be top notch or the sprag clutch will go down which is a major strip down job on 95 onwards bikes. The engines are very noisy but solid generally. The T509 and T595 bikes are the twin headlights bikes with the silver frame which is much lighter. The T509 is 885cc, same as the older model, but it was updated to 955 cc around 1999 and these are supposedly better as they have much more power with the same frame etc.
I have a T509 as well as the sprint and love them both but see if you can get a ride on one first and get a mechanic to look at it with you.
Yes R1s are nice too. Lol
But they ain't a triple.

 

You may not see the Mk 1 Speed Triples as 'collectors bikes' but take a long look around and see how many you can actually find and, of those, how many that you might actually want to buy and own! Whether or not an object - any object - is "collectible" will depend on a number of elements but boiled down to its basics it becomes the obvious factors of numbers made, numbers remaining ... and the number of people wanting those that remain.

I don't know factory production numbers (it's stated on the Mk 1 OC site that "Rumor has it that only 1421 MK1 Speed Triples were produced world wide, so the MK1 community will always be small.") but I'm pretty sure that the Mark 1 Speed Triple was made in far fewer numbers than, say, the Trophy or the Trident of the same years (1994 through 1996). Add to that the fact that a fairly good percentage got thrashed (and crashed?) around the racing circuits for the Speed Triple Challenge Series; not to mention the fact that a bike of this weight, size and power was something of a handful on the roads, and you can begin to see the limiting factors coming in to play on the numbers available side of the equation for collectibility.

The Mk 1 has, in my spectacularly flawed memory, always had a cachet that vastly exceeds the "just an old Triumph" moniker that might be applied to old Tridents et al. - in much the same way as the original Hinckley Thunderbird Sport has over its sibling products. That cachet, as undefinable as it is, is what will have as much a driver on the collectibilty status of the machine as its relative rarity. IMHO. Just a quick Google search for a 900 Trident and 900 Speed Triple for sale will reveal which is the more readily available and, though a lack of availability and a smaller production run don't, of themselves, make an item 'collectible', they certainly add to the diifficulty (and cost!) of finding one if you do want to collect and own one! The price of a good condition, reasonable mileage, well maintained genuine Mk 1 Speed is definitely on the rise and is, I reckon, unlikely to reverse the direction of travel in the foreseeable.

As a Mk 1 Speed owner I guess I've made that all sound very defensive - it isn't meant to, I assure you. But I can remember the days when people said things like "E type Jag.? Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, mate - just a rotbox and not worth the money!" In the seventies I can clearly remember seeing E types and Mark 2's in scrapyards - I don't think you'd see that now. I personally believe that much the same might be said about the early Speed.

All that said, the bikes are generally considered bulletproof - bar the well documented starter sprag problem. Electrics are fairly robust though the very youngest (genuine) Speed Triple is now pushing 23 years old and high mileage, hard ridden examples might need careful examination of the wiring loom. The REAL problem area is getting hold of genuine, original spares - but that's true of a number of early Hinckley models, not just the Speed.

Good luck with your search - hope you find the right one!

 

I actually really want one of these-


In this colour.

 

Couldn't agree more. Though I'll admit a slight bias.

"Character" in an inaminate object is almost impossible to define, but the Mk 1 Speed seems to have it - whatever 'it' is - in bucketloads. Much as I love my '92 900 Trident and would probably part with my Speeds before I'd part with it, it will never have that indefinable character and charisma that the Speed Triple has. And I can't recall ever meeting an owner of any early carb'd Speed Triple that hasn't said they should NEVER have sold theirs .... but I guess that could be said of a LOT of older bikes!

 

Don't blame you one bit! That has to be the most striking of all the Trident colour schemes and finishes.

@stevethegoolie - watch out!

 

Oh ..... you mean like this????? .....





Taken yesterday in the heat! Stopped to shelter in the shade under the A1 (now A162) at Ferrybridge whilst downing almost a litre of water. Boy did the heat get to me!!!!

 

The shady bit .....





River Aire, first picture of the (really) old A1 road bridge looking towards Castleford with the second picture looking the other way towards Knottingley and .. err .. Goole using the lock entrance on the right to access the canal, thus avoiding the weir about half a mile downstream.