WE'VE ALL got vivid memories of bikes from our past. Some good, some not so good. My abiding memory of Triumph's nutter 955 Speed Triple is from 2001, when I had the mother of all tankslappers on one coming off the Orton Roundabout in Peterborough. A handful of gas, the edge of a catseye, and some inattention from me ended up with what felt like three miles of violent death wobbles and a grim realisation that I was about to meet the asphalt in a very unpleasant fashion.
I was okay of course - and I've never had another slapper in all the miles I've spent on Speed Triples down the years. In fact, my other main memory of Speeds is being able to perform stand-up wheelies on my long term test bike in 2005, nice. The later 1050 was a very sorted machine indeed, and the current model is one of the firm's best bikes, for sure.
Which brings us to this chappie. A near-original 2001 955i Speed Triple, in an unusual blue colourway, and what looks like excellent condition. It's done 26,000 miles, backed up by MOTs, has some recent rubber fitted, and what looks like a slightly unconventional Akrapovic can fitted. There are two keys, the pillion seat hump is in place, and we reckon there's a load of life left in this bad boy. And with a price tag of just under £2k, it looks like a big old sack of cheap fun too.
Just take care of those catseyes when you'd hard on the gas and not paying attention...
