Custom Triumph speed Triple - The story behind the bike

25 Jun 2021

by Bas

Hi,

My name is Tim, I’m a 29, french motorcycle enthusiast and I’m contacting you to present to you my project I recently finished and test ride.

Working in the suburbs, motorcycles became automatically part of my life to save time during my daily commute. Driving motorcycle since I’m 19, I started with usual bikes such as Yamaha FZ6 and Suzuki Bandit 1200. After founding my first job, I was able to purchase a bike with a higher standard, a street triple R. I completely fall in love with the three cylinder engine. As I was mostly riding in traffic I changed it for the Speed version which has more torque at lower RPM.

At this point I really get interested in customisation process despite I couldn’t had the chance to make some modifications on the previous bikes.

I always found vintage race bikes attractive, having round shapes and fairing. Maybe because of the tough atmosphere around it. At this time, riders were really fighters trying to beat their timelap, extracting every inch of power their motor was able to deliver.

Having this idea as a start, I naturally decided to go for a cafe racer style.

This is why I started gently by changing most of the accessories on the bike. I always wanted to work on my own and have something different from others. This is why during lockdown 2020, after a long process of 3D rendering and late photoshop sessions, I finally selected the overall shape of the future Speed Triple Project.

First modification to arrive was to switch the original handle bar to ABM clip ons to give both rider and the bike a sports position. I have to find a solution also to connect the dashboard to the fork so I could have a reasonable turning circle.

After setting everything up, I selected a single headlight from Koso to have a single focus point at the front on which I would install a Ducati 1000S Paul Smart beautiful fairing. Italians are really good in design but had one cylinder missing on my point of view.

I selected this fairing for two reasons. One, the round shape was fitting the Speed triple design and atmosphere. I didn’t wanted to have a fairing that looked obviously added afterward bike production.

The second reason is because the Ducati as the Triumph was quite large. Most of the 1960 bike fairings are great looking but cannot be fitted to a recent bike because of proportion.

Even if the fairing was more or less matching the bike I still had to modify it, twist it, cut it and shape it to match my expectations. Fiberglass has been part of my journey for several months to bring the fairing closer to the headlight, filling Ducati original mounting holes, mirror holes…

As I was working in the front with fiberglass, I foam shaped the back seat cover in order to repeat the front shape and look of the front.

Having the fairing parts completed, I decided to work on the details and aspects to make it road legal.

I installed some Kellerman LED turn signals into the clip ons as they were originally on the side fairings. By the way, I’m currently thinking about adding some wing tip on the radiator side as a reference to modern moto GP Race bikes.

Chassis also received its own modification touch with a beautiful Öhlins TTX rear suspension from a 2020 RS Speed triple version. I have also added some Bonamici rear sets to fit my sport position. Modifications were necessary here because these rear sets are designed to fit speed triple with the original high double can exhaust which I didn’t have. The Arrow Low boy version are better looking and roar like tigers !

After completing the shooting of the bike, I was happy but a bit disappointed to have modified a roadster into a vintage sports bike. So the day after I booked a track day session and it was awesome. I don't have information about the weight loss of the engine's real performance but at this moment I felt completely satisfied with my project.