#triumph

Our love affair with Triumph’s three-cylinder engines is no secret. The Speed Triple has long been a favorite of ours, as has the smaller-displacing 675cc Street Triple. Last year saw the first major revamp of the Street Triple since 2013, with the biggest change being the dyslexia-inducing increase in engine size to 765cc. It’s always a worry when a manufacturer changes a model we love, but our worries were swept away the moment we rode the new 765 S-T – it takes everything we adore about the outgoing model and amplifies it some more. It’s so good, in fact, that Brent damn near cried man tears when he finally had to part with it.

For a couple months now, Triumph has been teasing a new 1200cc Scrambler model, so it was a bit of a surprise when the British company announced an update to the 900cc Street Scrambler and Street Twin as well.

The Triumph Speed Twin has only been around for a couple of years, but it’s already getting an update, including a substantial 18% increase in power.

Okay, the days are getting shorter, and the temperatures are staying lower. Perhaps even the leaves have started to turn in your neighborhood. That’s great news! Why? Because the Model Year 2019 show season is kicking off today in Cologne, Germany, at the bi-annual Intermot convention. That’s right, in even-numbered years, we don’t have to wait until the EICMA show in November to begin seeing what all the international motorcycle manufacturers have up their collective sleeves. While your actual riding season may be drawing to a close, we hope to keep you daydreaming about motorcycles with a list of new temptations.

We already know Triumph is introducing a new 1200cc Scrambler, and the California Air Resources Board has certified a new Speed Twin, and now it looks like the British manufacturer will also be updating its 900cc Street Scrambler and Street Twin for 2019.

By now, hopefully you’ve already read our street installation of this two-part test. If not, STOP! Please do check it out because it outlines and dissects each and every bike in great detail, and it very well might answer a slew of questions you might have that aren’t addressed here, in the off-road portion of the shootout.

The California Air Resources Board has issued an executive order certifying the 2019 Triumph Bonneville 1200 engine, revealing an as-yet-unannounced brand new Speed Twin model for 2019.

Triumph has released a second video teasing its new Scrambler 1200, once again reminding us it will debut on Oct. 24. Thankfully, this video is a bit longer and shows more detail than the initial teaser video.

On a humid and hazy southern California morning our cast of misfits began to stir to life from all stretches of the LA basin. Showers were had (by some), coffee was made and consumed, gear was donned. We seven fortunate souls set out on what would be our first true challenge of the next 72 hours, the first gauntlet that our machines would be subjected to, weekday traffic in Los Angeles with a destination of none other than Starbucks. The unofficial meeting place of adventure riders the world over, yet, for so many, the journey’s end before it ever even begins.

Triumph announced it will introduce a new Scrambler 1200 model on Oct. 24. We’ve previously published spy photos of the Scrambler 1200 undergoing testing, revealing long-travel suspension, twin front disc rotors and a 21-inch front wheel.

This week you might notice Motorcycle.com being a little quieter than usual. The reason is because most of the MO staff are out riding in our Sorta Annual Big Adventure Bike Shootout. For 2018, we’ve gathered seven of the biggest and baddest adventure machines out there. The plan? To put them through their paces on both the pavement and the dirt. To prove we’re serious about the dirt part, each of the contenders here comes to us with wire wheels, except for one, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Triumph issued a press release recently describing a recent test of its 765cc Triple, to be used as the spec engine for Moto2  starting in 2019. In the release, several Moto2 teams conducted shakedown runs with the new engine and the specific chassis designs each team is building around the Triple. We couldn’t help but notice, however, that the photos included with the release featured a motorcycle with Triumph badging and the number 765 on the tail. This one was clearly different from the rest. Is Triumph foreshadowing a future Daytona 765 and hiding it in plain sight?

Adventure bikes are one of my favorite categories of motorcycles. Ask me what I would take on a long trip given the choice between full-blown touring bikes, sport tourers, or ADVs, and it’ll be the adventure bike every time. I like to explore so the additional ground clearance and better equipped-suspension means that I don’t have to stop when the road does. With the big ADV bikes floating around 1200cc, they generally pack enough oomph to be a lot of fun on a canyon road while still delivering enough torque to chug along at low rpm off-road. When I pitched a two-up ride to the Quail Motorcycle Gathering to Mr. Brasfield, I already knew which bike I would propose to take, the Triumph Tiger 1200 that had been floating around the garages of our staff for a couple of weeks.

Speaking of adventuring, on my way home from flogging this new Tiger all over the mountainside, I was inspired enough to explore a new route: Instead of taking the 210 to the 57 like I usually do, I hopped on 5 South, to the 10 West, to the 710 South! (I had to go to Long Beach to do a bike swap with Ryan.) Was it scary? A little. There are some parts of LA where you really don’t want to have to stop, but the Triumph Tiger 1200 XCa had me feeling all omnipotent. Bring it on!

Triumph was recently spotted testing two new Scrambler prototypes equipped with what looks to be the 1200cc Bonneville engine. Besides having a larger engine, the new 2019 Triumph Scrambler 1200 looks to be more off-road capable than the 900cc Street Scrambler (which also explains why Triumph added “Street” to the bike’s name).