Piles of power, tons of torque, bags of brakes, gallons of ground clearance...the Triumph T 509 Speed Triple has it all. But that isn't good enough. The word is, these things haven't been selling very well in the States. And not only does the T 509 have what it takes to be a serious contender in the upper level of the sportbike class but most motorcycle magazines have lauded those abilities, too. Its abilities are not a secret. You all know it's a good bike. So, why doesn't anybody care? What's up? It's that annoying Charles guy, isn't it?!

The difference between Triumph's Speed Triple and the Daytona are simply the bars, the fairing/headlight, and the size of the engine. They share the same frame, suspension, brakes, pipes, gauges, and so forth, giving the Speed Triple as much ground clearance as the Daytona and the same awesome braking. The only complaint with these few differences is with the smaller size of the Speedy's engine. Why Triumph ever decided to make it smaller than the Daytona's power plant we may never know. But rather than make excuses, Triumph did it right in '99 and the new Speed Triple will have the bigger engine.

But the fact remains, if it wasn't for us all knowing that the bigger engine existed, no one would have ever complained. The Speed Triple is quite pleasant and capable with the power unit it originally came with and which I tested again here. We'll get a '99 as soon as we can but we thought we should address the original Speed Triple first. And, besides that, the new bike wasn't available in August when I rode this one.

For those of you who didn't bother looking at this bike in the first go-round, the Speed Triple is powered by a 3-cylinder (duh) liquid-cooled, inline, DOHC, 4-valve per cylinder, 885cc engine. With fuel injection. And oh, what a nice injection system it is.

The efi on the T500 Triumphs is the smartest system available on any production bikes built today. It knows almost everything that the bike is doing, which allows the system to compensate for a myriad of changing conditions. The efi has sensors for wheel speed, ambient pressure, camshaft speed, throttle position, air temperature, and coolant temperature. By using this knowledge, the system even looks to predict fuel needs by anticipating whether or not the rider is about to accelerate or decelerate. And even better than that, the system can be reprogrammed for aftermarket pipes or other modifications. The Speed Triple's efi provides for performance unattainable with carburetors while also making for a clean burning and efficient engine.