The arrival of Triumph’s new MX machine hasn’t come as a surprise, but there’s no doubt it’s a pretty big deal.
The British factory does solid business right across the motorcycling spectrum, and has its fingers on the pulse of many riding disciplines – and yet when it announced its ambitious plans to get into motocross and enduro a couple of years back, plenty of people were taken aback.
The company immediately showed that it wasn’t messing around though, roping in 12-time AMA Motocross and Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael and five-time world enduro champion Ivan Cervantes to get the bike set up just right.
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Since then, we’ve seen teaser and titbits and heard news that it’s opening a load of off-road centres across the world to show the bike at its best – but now, the factory’s finally released the full technical specification.
Speaking about the bike, Chief Product Manager, Steve Sargent, said. “This bike is 100% Triumph, conceived, designed, developed and manufactured by our world-leading chassis and engine teams. We started with a blank sheet of paper and began an all-new, ground-up design, including a new engine, new chassis and new electronics.”
That’s quite a statement, don’t you think? Getting into specifics, the TF is powered by a 249.5cc four-stroke single motor. Sadly, Triumph’s chosen not to reveal the power and torque figures; but we do know it’ll feature a 78 x 52.3mm bore and stroke (and 13 and 48 teeth sprockets).
Elsewhere, there’s a slimline aluminium spine frame with twin cradles, long travel 48mm KYB forks, and a piggyback coil rear shock. So far so good. The 960mm seat and 836mm wide handlebars are also bang on the money.
There’s little doubt in our mind that this is going to be a seriously capable motorcycle; though Triumph certainly has a bit of a battle on its hands to tempt riders away from the more established competition. We won’t have to wait too long to see how it stacks up though, with the TF expected to arrive in dealers in the spring.
