Triumph Special Edition Speed Triple
Street-fighting supermodel
Perhaps your street-fighting activities require something...more. But you're not quite sure what. Triumph's latest, small-batch take on the stylishly menacing Speed Triple 1050 ought to make an impression. This Special Edition is equipped with a racy 3-into-1 Arrow exhaust that lets the 1050cc triple breathe as God and its designers intended. And since none of the other sociopaths will take you seriously without some carbon-fiber, the bike comes with a tasteful selection of suggestive graphite-reinforced plastic bits: front fender, fly screen, rear-tire hugger, heel guards and a swoopy little belly pan. To top it all off, the SE rolls in with a set of natty black axle covers.
Triumph says all that stuff could tack nearly $3000 onto the standard Speed Triple's $9999 sticker price, but they're ready and willing to sell you the whole malevolent package for $11,999. The bad news is they're only bolting up 50 of 'em on the other side of the Atlantic. At that rate, if the local Triumph dealer isn't holding your deposit check, it may be too late.
5 Questions with...
Team Green stunter Kane Friesen
After five years of busting his ass and racking up monumental credit card debts to get the nascent sport of street freestyle off the ground, things have finally come together for Canadian-born stunter Kane Friesen. First, Friesen talked his way into an appearance on the Discovery Channel's hit series Stunt Junkies, where he shattered the world record for the fastest stoppie, rolling on his front wheel at a radar-certified 137 mph. Friesen leveraged that high-profile appearance into bills-paying sponsorships from Lockhart-Phillips USA, Joe Rocket and, most recently, Kawasaki's Team Green, making him the first factory-sponsored stunt rider.
1. How does it feel to be the first factory-sponsored street stunt rider, attracting attention and income from the mainstream motorcycle industry?
"It's pretty crazy. Most of the people in those companies would have laughed at me just a few years ago, and now I'm a legitimate spokesperson for them. Lockhart-Phillips even put me on the cover of their new catalog, alongside Nicky Hayden!"
2. You just returned from a competition in Japan. How did Japanese fans respond to American-style stunting?
"It was my first time performing overseas, and I gotta tell ya', it was amazing. I was invited over by Joe Rocket's Japanese distributor, and they treated me very well. But performing at the Multiplex Show was definitely the highlight-the crowd was nearly 25,000 people, and it was the most enthusiastic, and loudest, crowd I've ever performed for."
3. How many hours a week do you practice and how many bikes a year will you go though?
"I'm always practicing-you should see me stunt a shopping cart at the grocery store! I've probably logged over 40,000 miles on one wheel over the last few years, and I think I can honestly say that I've broken every part on a motorcycle. Frames, bodywork, tires, engines...I shred it all!"
4. What did it feel like to clamp the brake lever to the bar at 160 mph, the approach speed for your world-record stoppie?
"I can't lie: Once the radar gun came out, my ego went out the window. Stabbing the front brake lever at 160-plus is no joke. I kept thinking about Seth Enslow and Carey Hart, two heroes of mine that made it big by going big. Fortunately, unlike Seth and Carey, I stuck the landing."
5. Our readers write in all the time complaining that stunters are irresponsible squids. Are they wrong?
"I've never claimed to be responsible. I'm still a squid, only now I'm a Pro squid! I've gone out to the local twisties on the weekend and watched 40-year-old guys ripping triple-digit speeds and passing over the double-yellow, and I think that's more irresponsible than doing first-gear wheelies in an abandoned parking lot. Dragging knee is for the track, and dragging tail is for the lot."