The 2025 Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS is Triumph’s most powerful and advanced naked bike yet, blending 180.5 hp of torque-rich performance with next-gen Öhlins Smart EC3 suspension and cutting-edge rider aids. From rainy backroads to the Portimão racetrack, this updated RS proves it’s as refined as it is ruthless—offering the comfort of a sport-tourer, the control of a superbike, and the raw fun of a streetfighter all in one aggressive package.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Cycleworld, welcome to Porto Meo in southern Portugal, welcome to the launch of
00:05Triumph's new Speed Triple RS for 2025. Now we're going to do this test in three ways.
00:13First, I'm going to tell you what's changed about the bike. Second, I'm going to tell you what it's
00:17like on the road and then through the miracle of YouTube and TV I'm going to get changed slightly,
00:22get covered in rain and muck and ride on the track. Let's go through what's changed for the
00:26bike. For me, the big talking point is a third generation all-in suspension. So the suspension
00:31is now semi-active suspension. This is the very latest suspension that we've seen from all-ins
00:35that is actually very expensive. However, there's only three bikes on the market that use this
00:40suspension. The very expensive Honda Fireblade SP, the very expensive Ducati Street Fighter V4S
00:47and now the Speed Triple RS from Triumph. Hence, there's a bit of a price hike but it's nowhere
00:52near as pricey as the competition with similar suspension. What that suspension does is it
00:57reacts to what the road imperfections are. It acts to what you're doing in your input. So if you select
01:02in rain mode, it becomes nice and compliant and soft. If you select a track mode, it does the opposite.
01:08Pretty simple. In terms of rider aids, Triumph have also turned up the volume. So we've got a really
01:13neat, unique wheelie control that's got four stages. So basically low, medium, high and uber-jesus a
01:19little bit scary. And we've got an engine brake strategy. We've got a new quickshifter. The bars
01:24are slightly higher and slightly wider. The wheels are a little bit lighter and we've got a few more
01:30horsepower and a few more torque. To be honest, the engine improvements is because it's Euro 5 plus.
01:34So we've got the new exhaust, a slight different design to the rear and really unique and very bold
01:40new colours. So now we know what the bike's all about. So trying to split it up into two days. So we've
01:46just finished the road ride, hence the reason I'm a little bit damp. Because we had rain in the
01:50afternoon and dry in the morning. Initially, you kind of think that the bike is going to be a little
01:55bit brutal because there's quite an aggressive image by Triumph. There always has been. We're 30
01:59years of the speed triple and it's 180 horsepower now, which is proper big power. I remember when
02:05super bikes had 180 horsepower, not naked street fighters. But leaving this track and heading into the
02:10hills on quite slippery surfaces, just in the standard road mode, the feeling is really soft.
02:16It's really nice. The quickshifter works really well at low speeds. It's really forgiving. It's
02:21quite easy. It almost lures you into a full sense of security. And then once you flick into the sporty
02:26mode, you can have a little bit more fun and you can have a little bit more power and start to feel it.
02:31There's still a grunt and a roar from that three cylinder engine. You've still got a nice little exhaust
02:36overrun. And once you start to have fun on these roads, it really comes into its own. What's
02:41impressive is how versatile the bike was this morning. In the standard modes, the suspension is
02:47really soft and you go over speed humps almost like you're on a sports touring bike. You go over
02:52these road imperfections with ease. It feels like it's a little bit too soft and too manageable.
02:59And then you think, well, that's not going to work when I dial in 180 horsepower and I start having
03:03some fun on the roads. But then when you do that, the suspension changes because it's constantly
03:08changing. With this Generation 3 all-in suspension, the spectrum of how soft it can be and how track
03:13posted it can be is huge. Because when you're on manual suspension, you just set the bike to work in
03:19this kind of window. The Generation 2 suspension on all-in semi-active worked in kind of that window.
03:24And the Generation 3 window is absolutely huge. So when you're in town, you're like,
03:29oh, this is soft. This is easy. I could put a screen on this. I could put some luggage on this.
03:35I could go touring. And then you get out on the road and you're like, oh, this has got potential.
03:39This feels good. This feels fast. This is holding the chassis. When I brake hard on those big Brembo
03:44style Emmas with cornering ABS, the forks are supported. When I put it into a corner, the chassis is
03:50held. It's not wallowing or sitting on the exit. And there is a lot of power to deal with and the chassis
03:54coping really well. The roads here in Southern Portugal, I've ridden many, many times, and they're
03:59not the gripiest. They are quite sliding. It was nice to feel the traction working. What's interesting
04:04is between the traction, the speed at which it catches the slide feels about the same, but it's
04:09how quick the power comes back in after the slide. So in rain mode, I was deliberately hitting white
04:14lines to make it slide. It catches the slide and then it just releases the power, kind of nice and
04:21gentle. But when you're in the sports mode or in the track mode, it grabs the slide and then it puts
04:26the power back in. And then if it slides again, it grabs the power and then it releases the power
04:29back in. It's all nice and controlled. There's no back firing or misfiring. It gives you a real nice,
04:33secure feeling that you know that it's working. And equally, the suspension is doing the same.
04:37It's finding grip that really kind of isn't there or shouldn't be there. So what you end up actually
04:43doing is widening a little bit quicker and enjoying the route, even though the conditions are
04:49rainy and horrible and slimy, I was actually using the road and sports mode because it was finding
04:54grip and giving me the confidence just to go a little bit more. And for me, cornering ABS in
04:58these conditions are absolutely paramount. It makes it so much easier and fun to ride because I don't
05:04know the roads that well. So I'm going into unfamiliar corners and if I think I'm just going in a little
05:08bit too hot, I can just pull on those Brembo style lemmas and just pull the bike back into the line
05:13perfectly safely with that cornering ABS. Even though they look like massive braidable radial
05:18stoppers with this unique multi-adjustable lever, they're actually nice and forgiving and easy.
05:23That really sums up the bike on the road. It looks very bold, it looks very dramatic and you look at
05:29the 180 horsepower, the massive amount of torque and the three cylinders and you hear the rasp of
05:35the exhaust and you think that's going to be an animal on the road. And it actually isn't,
05:39it's very forgiving and much easier. In many ways for me, it reminds me a little bit of the Aprilia
05:44Tuono V4 that I absolutely love. I think that is a brilliant road bike. I think it's got
05:49a brilliant balance of torque, suspension, power and rider aids and this feels very much like that
05:56and I think that's a massive compliment to what Triumph have done. But we didn't want to deliberately
06:00push the road limitations of this bike because what Triumph have done is they've given us a day on the road
06:06and a day on track where normally we ride one of these bikes just on track or just on road
06:11and if we ride on the road we ride it like it's a dangerous riding competition to see what it's like
06:16in a sporty way and if we ride on track we push it to its limits and we don't really know what it's
06:20like as a road bike. But now we know what it is like as a road bike which is really forgiving,
06:25very easy, very manageable, not the aggressive animal that I thought it would be despite the 180 horsepower.
06:31The clocks are a little bit slow, they're not that intuitive. That's the only really downside of this
06:36model but that's the same with other Triumph models that I've tested. Everything works and
06:41everything is reasonably functional, intuitive, it's just a little bit slow in its operation
06:46and it'll be interesting to see your comments from other Triumph riders below to see what they
06:50feel about the clocks. But in terms of an overall road bike it's a big tick. But the next question
06:55is going to be what's it going to be like on track?
06:56This is the exciting bit, this is the racetrack where we've been blessed with slick tyres and an
07:08awesome racetrack. I'm slightly lying, it's been a little inclement and we've been riding the majority
07:14of the day on full Pirelli Race West. In many ways that's been a really good test of the bike because
07:20the big talking and big new aspect of this bike is the generation 3 bowling suspension, is the new
07:27rider aids like the wheelie control and the sophistication that Triumph have put into the
07:32new 1200 RS. What this bike allows you to do is have that soft suspension that we tested on the road
07:39yesterday, develops grip, gives you feeling through the tyres, generates some heat and gives the bike
07:44and chassis an easier time. I didn't actually try the rain mode because when you're in rain mode it only
07:50gives you around about 100 horsepower and on a big fast track like this you can still need all 180
07:56horses down the straights. So I went for full 180 horsepower but I did use the rain mode traction
08:04control and the rain mode cornering ABS in those first sessions and that's kind of like the unique
08:09aspect of this bike in that you can trim all those rider aids depending on the conditions, depending on
08:14the rider and even depending on the rider's weight. You could actually put your weight into the bike
08:19and then it will give you preload settings so even though the suspension is electronic preload isn't
08:26but you put your weight into the dash 90 kilograms for example it gives you a recommendation on the
08:31preload you put the recommended preload in and then the suspension reacts for a 90 kilogram rider or a
08:37100 kilogram rider or even a lighter rider depending on where you are. I've left it at 85 kilograms because
08:44I'm lying a little I'm a little bit heavier than that but that's the standard set in 85 kilograms and
08:49I've left it standard but that suspension that was so plush and gave so much feel on the road does
08:55exactly the same on the track. What's unique about it is in sections where it's soft and manageable it's
09:02developing grip but then when you go a little bit firmer when you could ride a little bit faster it moves
09:07in its parameters. In the second and third session I wanted a little bit more support on the rear just when you
09:12come down the waterfall where the bike bottoms out a bit to just to give the back tyre an easier time
09:16so then we move into the sportier rider modes so simply flick into those sportier rider modes that
09:21tells the suspension what I'm expecting what I want it to do we turn down the wheelie control a little
09:26bit we turn down the traction control a bit but still had that working as a safety net and the
09:31difference between those modes and suspension modes is really noticeable but normally when you change modes
09:36on a bike it's all about the fueling and throttle response and power but with this it feels more about
09:40the suspension the parameters of the suspension is huge on this generation 3 suspension we've not
09:46got this tiny little window that the bike can work in it is quite a sizable window the front end is
09:51definitely worth a mention i was really impressed by the cornering abs really impressed by that front
09:55end feel the way you could even in the way it carries some braking into the corner it gives real
10:01nice support it gives a nice feeling it gives plenty of grip in the rain and the road mode you can feel
10:05the cornering abs working in the wet so we had to move it a little bit to give me less cornering abs
10:11again you can feel it when you're pushing it to the limit especially into some of these second
10:14gear hairpins but it's kind of like reassuring you know once you start to feel that traction working
10:20once you start to feel the cornering abs working you kind of feel okay so there's the limit and this
10:25is what i can do and this is what i'm capable of doing what's also worth a mention is the actual feel
10:30from the chassis and the feel from the electronic suspension some electronic suspension and i'm
10:36possibly talking maybe five ten years ago was a little bit vague because it probably wasn't
10:40reacting quick enough or maybe i wasn't used to it but it wasn't like a one-to-one feeling
10:45where with this bike i felt really in control the conditions were changing and you cannot ride a bike
10:51to a decent level or a fast level unless you feel confident with the bike and you feel the chassis
10:57you feel the grip and you feel everything working and that's what the triumph has done for me today
11:02gotta mention the wheelie control that we've all had a little play with basically you've got four
11:06levels of wheelie control and here on the track triumph gave us a unique opportunity to try it
11:10essentially if you've got wheelie control on number four it's relatively high if you've got wheelie
11:15control on number one all you have to do is twist the throttle to a hundred percent and let the rider
11:19aids take control of everything so on wheeling level number four first gear off the throttle back on the
11:26throttle go to 100 be aggressive as the front comes up it'll hold it at a high level leave the throttle
11:33at 100 and click through the gears for those who know how to wheelie you can't use the clutch so
11:37you can't clutch the bike up when the wheelie control is on so you need to turn the wheelie
11:41control off if you want to do nice big balancing wheelies the only slight criticism which is a
11:46difficult criticism is if you want to pull wheelies on track then you have to turn the traction control
11:51off and the wheelie control so on some of the models in this category you can still have some
11:55traction control to save a slide and you can wheelie where this one you can't in terms of price in the
12:00us i think we're just knocking on the door of twenty thousand dollars which means it's more expensive
12:05than the previous model but we've got that generation three all in suspension and if i remember rightly
12:11the panigale the fireblade and the street fighter the s versions obviously are the only models with that
12:17generation three all in suspension and they're considerably more expensive than twenty thousand dollars
12:23so to have that suspension and the brembo stilemmas and the six axis imu and all the goodies that this
12:29bike comes with even cruise control the standard yes twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money but it is less
12:35than the other generation three all-ins suspended bikes it's a shame we didn't get to try the track mode
12:41it's a shame we didn't really get to push the limitations of the chassis
12:45i can't see any reason why this chassis can't be pushed in slicks i can't see any reason why this chassis is not going to work
12:50the brakes are really strong there was no sign of fade there's great feeling there seems to be ample
12:55ground clearance but obviously we were on wets just about knee down it'll be interesting when we get
13:00this bike on slicks and really push the limits and in many ways and i mean this as a compliment that this
13:05180 horsepower triple feels a pretty alike in its friendliness but with way better suspension and way
13:11better electronics it's a really easy bike to ride at a good strong pace yet ex-racers like myself can
13:20flick it into a different mode and really enjoy it on the road it's not this 180 brake horsepower
13:26british animal it's quite accessible and it's quite easy to ride and on track it's also proved very easy
13:32and manageable with really really good electronics working in the background should you get it wrong
13:38but the big thing for me is this generation three suspension how it can change from being an almost
13:44comfortable sports tourer into a track ready let's throw some slicks on the parameters in this window
13:51is huge can't wait to try it on track can't wait to put some slicks on it hopefully the guys will
13:56invite me back for another go but the test will probably be done in the us we've not gone into too
14:00much detail about the the lighter wheels and the reshaped rear end so if you want any technical details
14:07please find them in the questions below me or one of the team will get back to you don't forget to click and
14:12subscribe and subscribe and hopefully the next time you see me is when they give me this bike with some
14:17slicks