Speed Triple 1200 RS (2025) Review

No manufacturer should launch a bike in Portugal, in early March, and get away with it. Especially not a sport naked like the new Speed Triple 1200 RS.

Nobody told that to Triumph, though, meaning I’m sitting at the side of the road in the mountains (in one-piece leathers), enduring what can only be described as the most biblical rain since Noah launched his little rowing boat all those years ago.

But I also shouldn’t be having so much fun riding a sport naked in these conditions. Bikes like this are supposed to be hard, and boisterous. Most importantly - 180bhp is supposed to be scary when riding on Pirelli Super Corsa SPs while it’s less than ten degrees and raining. And that is not the case today.

I’m here for the launch of Triumph’s 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS. We’ve got two riding days, blessing us with a full day on the stunning Portimao circuit, and another on the surrounding roads. If only it would stop bloody raining.

What’s new with the 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS

Not a huge amount has changed, but significant steps have been made. The previous bike didn’t have a lot of flaws, but Triumph’s engineers have addressed its biggest. The suspension. For 2025 the 1200 switches from Ohlins fully adjustable (but manual) kit, to the latest generation Ohlins Smart EC3 system, boasting an NIX30 fork and TTX36 rear shock.

It’s worth noting that this is Ohlins latest and greatest suspension, boasting spool valve technology for quicker adjustments on the fly. It’s also super-premium and only fitted to a handful of bikes including the 2025 Ducati Panigale V4 S and Streetfighter V4 S, and the latest generation Honda CBR1000 RR-R SP Fireblade. It’s also pertinent to remember that the Fireblade costs over £23,000, and the Ducatis cost between £25,000 and £29,000.

The engine has been fettled a bit with a new free-flowing exhaust, hotter cams and a balancer, and in 2025 trim the Speed Triple hits the 180bhp barrier, while still providing a tasty 94lb ft of never-say-die torque. The styling is also tweaked, as are the colours and decals, and overall it looks like a more taut and muscular bike.

On the ergonomics front, there are subtle changes, with 10mm higher and 7mm wider handlebars, while the new bike features wheels that are a few hundred grams lighter than before, helping unsprung mass and inertia. All told the new bike tips the scales at a claimed 199kg wet with 90 per cent fuel.

Price colours and availability

The new 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS comes in at £17,495, Colour options are Jet Black, Granite and Triumph Performance Yellow, and Granite and Diablo Red (as ridden). Bikes will be landing in dealerships from April 2025.

What’s it like to ride on the track - in the wet!

I have a 100 per cent record of riding Portimao in the wet (although that is only twice) and the weather for this press launch did not disappoint. As we line up for session one in the pits it is dry, and so is the track, but as we wait for the marshalls to take up their posts, drizzle begins to fall. Peeling up pitlane the track is okay, fine for pre-heated Super Corsas at least, but when we hit the last sector the weather is coming in hard and I’m tip-toeing around the track.

It is though only session one, and I’d rather just ride around slowly getting my bearings than return to the pits to throw in the towel. Luckily, my gamble pays off and the rain eases, and I’m able to push some heat back in the Pirellis and push on.

I’m still not committing as much as I would/should but with damp patches and the occasional river running across the almost dry track, now is not the time to take the proverbial. It is proving to be eye-opening, though, and the suspension is shining on the roller coaster that is Portimao. The first generation 1200 RS was launched at Donington, an equally delicious and undulating track with a generally good surface. Even there the older bike felt overly stiff and a bit unforgiving, with not much flex and suspension that seemed to be as stiff as a race bike. That’s the biggest difference I’m noticing between this bike and its forebearer.

The suspension is beautifully set up, and a big step forward compared to the now discontinued Speed Triple 1200 RR which had the previous spec Ohlins Smart EC2 technology. The new bike reacts more to your inputs than both the old RS and RR. I’m getting more weight transfer and feel on the brakes thanks to the reassuring yet controlled dive from the front fork. Likewise, the rear is noticeably softer but, as with the front, it’s never anything other than controlled and plush through every inch of the stroke.

I’ve not had a chance to sample either the latest generation Panigale or Street Fighter V4 on track yet, so I can’t comment on how it compares to those bikes. I have though ridden the Fireblade at this very same track and in very similar conditions as we have today, and the Triumph feels more forgiving, usable and comfortable than the ‘Blade. Granted, the Honda is an out-and-out sports bike developed to chase lap times, and the Triumph is a sport naked aimed at road and track riding. So there is more compromise for the road with the Triumph, but that isn’t holding it back on the track.

With the rain only increasing in intensity, it’s time for some new tyres, and with Pirelli race wets slotted onto all the bikes, we begin the afternoon session in what can only be described as heavy rain. It’s cold too, but neither the rain nor the chilly wind that is blowing off the Atlantic can trouble the tyres. The Triumph team chucked a bespoke set-up at the bikes for wet weather, softening up the suspension but oddly (considering the rain) leaving the ABS and traction control in a road setting, not a specific rain mode. The reasoning was that with race wets there was much more grip on offer, and boy, were they right.

I’ve not had loads of experience with race wets, but I’m confident in saying I’m feeling more at home riding the new Speed Triple on the deeply grooved hoops than anything of the other bikes I’ve tested. It’s a naked bike, which makes it roomy and familiar, and thanks to the compliant and supple suspension it feels like it's egging me on to push later on the brakes and harder at the corner exit. It’s normally a scary proposition riding a 180bhp bike on a wet track, but the Triumph feels extremely accommodating, confidence-inspiring and, surprisingly, quite good fun. Somehow I’m still able to play with the bike. It’ll still wheelie over the crests on the power and slip and slide under control out of the corners. That’s not what I was expecting when I woke up this morning.

If Carlsberg did wheelie control…

I can’t write this review without dedicating some page space to the wheelie control that Triumph has developed. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever encountered and I think it might be the first, genuine, wheelie assist system that really works.

I’m not sure how it works, it’s all zeroes and ones to me, but in effect, it helps the front to lift and then once it's there assists with holding it there, while still allowing the rider to modulate the height. The best description I can give is that it’s like there is an invisible piece of elastic hooked on the front mudguard and attached to a cloud above you. The front wheel still rises as falls on the throttle, but it’s always below the limit of flipping, and above the limit of dropping out of the torque.

You have four levels, and yes, you can turn it off. Level one allows around 100mm of lift, level two around 250mm, level three 450mm and level four around 650mm. Select how big you want the wheelie, and in any of the first three gears, get the bike in the fat of the torque and just pin the throttle. That’s it. The bike will lift, faster in levels three and four, but always in the kind of controlled manner that would normally take years of clutch-up practice to master. Once it’s up, you’re right hand can keep the throttle to the stop, and all you now need to do is feed the bike gears until it runs out of torque.

I’m happy to admit that I’m not the world’s best at wheelies. In fact, most of the journos on bike launches would say I’m pretty rubbish at them. I can pop one when needed for a photo or video, but in terms of keeping it aloft and hooking through the gears… It’s not really my forte. Today though I managed to wheelie three-quarters of the main straight at Portimao, ending up in third gear at around 120mph. But it wasn’t really me that did that. It was the bike.

What’s it like to ride on the road - still in the wet!

Yep, March press launches in Portugal are not a friend of mine. But, we need to ride, so it’s off into a deluge of sideways rain and grey drizzle we trudge. I say trudge, but as we leave the Algarve Race Resort complex, the lead rider buggers off into the distance on one wheel. I have to remind myself at this point that we are riding on Pirelli Super Corsa SPs, a tyre that is famous for having a dislike of wet weather and cold temperatures. Regardless of that, I’m finding surprising levels of grip, despite the road surface being pretty bad and having rivers and mud slew off the hillside and across the road.

These are Pirelli’s latest and greatest Super Corsas, though, and it seems like Pirelli has switched things up for this tyre and actually made something that I feel comfortable using in conditions like this. But it’s not just the tyres doing the hard work. A big cap tip must go to the electronics. The suspension, ABS and traction control are all working together beautifully, allowing me to feel what is going on beneath me and only intervening when needed.

But it’s the suspension that is playing a staring role on the road, with its plushness meaning all the bumps, lumps, potholes and subsidence are navigated without any kind of fuss or bother. The Ohlins kit just deals with potholes and bumps with total and reassuring confidence, and while you may say that all the credit for that has to go to Ohlins, a lot of it has to go to Triumph. Yes, Ohlins make the system and develop the software, but it’s Triumph and its team of engineers and test riders that tune it and specify what they want it to do and how they want it to behave. On that note, all the parties involved in the Speed Triple’s Smart EC3 suspension deserve a very large pat on the back.

Verdict

It may not be a quantum leap in power, a complete visual refresh or a sweeping change to a new engine. But with new suspension, a few engine tweaks and some incredible electronics, the new Speed Triple 1200 RS is a quantum lead ahead of the old bike, on the road and the track. It’s easily the best handling and probably fastest Speed Triple to date, but it’s also much easier to ride than before thanks to the slick electronics and beautiful suspension. This feels like an evolution of the bike, fixing and tweaking the first-generation 1200 in a lot of little ways. Importantly, each of those tweaks and fettles only improves the bike. More importantly, none of those changes have altered the bike's character and DNA.