New 2025 Triumph Speed Twin 900 Review: The Best Selling Bonnie!

Now look, it might not be the most powerful, the most exotic, the most performance-orientated bike in the Bonneville family, but since its introduction as the Street Twin, the Speed Twin 900 has actually been the bestseller of the whole bunch. If you spend a bit of time riding one and a bit of time thinking about it, it is kind of obvious why. It's an approachable bike, it's pretty affordable, and yet it still has plenty of the personality and charm of the bigger siblings of the Bonneys. Thing is, though, all manufacturers have got to make sure that they're keeping pace with the competition and that their bikes stay competitive with the rest of the market. This 2025 version has a whole bunch of changes all across the bike, and that kind of had me wondering, is this more modern, more sporty interpretation of the Speed Twin 900 actually a better bike, or should they just have stuck with that proven winning formula? Well, I've been lucky enough to ride this one today here on the press launch in southern Spain, and so in this video, I'll tell you everything that I've learned to find out. But before we get started, a massive thanks to Cardo for supporting the channel and sponsoring this video. If you want to make use of some of the new connectivity features that are available on this bike, such as controlling your calls or music or media through the switchgear and dash, then you'll need a decent Bluetooth headset, and we'd recommend what we believe are the best in the business, and that's Cardo. Specifically, we use their flagship Packtork Edge and Packtork Pro units, both of which have brilliant sound quality, courtesy of their JBL design speakers, and also the excellent DMC dynamic mesh communication system, which can pair up to 15 riders in a group with a mile between each, and the more riders that join, the stronger the connection gets. On top of that though, this Pro unit specifically has their latest crash detection feature built in, and that means you can set an emergency contact in the Cardo app, and it will automatically alert them as soon as it detects what it thinks is a crash, which I think is a brilliant bit of peace of mind every time you're out on the bike. So look, do check out the links down in the description below to find out more, and once again, a massive thanks to Cardo for their support and for making videos like this one possible. Now one of the things that Triumph have decided not to mess with on this bike is the engine, and I'd say that's definitely a good thing. It's the 900cc high-torque variant of their Bonneville Parallel twin, and while you'd probably be better off buying a 1200 if you want a retro that goes seriously quick, for everything else, this is just such a pleasant engine to use that perfectly suits the intended use of this bike. There's bags of torque on tap with 80Nm peak, and it's made super low in the revs, so it pulls very hard right from a standstill, but then also it's nice and smooth. It's got a real pleasant feel to it and a beautiful sound at the exhaust, which is partly a product of the 270-degree crank, and also partly because Triumph really seem to know what they're doing with getting the best possible sound. It's pretty efficient on fuel as well, so it doesn't really matter that it's got a 12-litre tank. I was getting about 4.5 litres per 100 kilometres travelled today, and there were definitely some segments of hard riding, and the only thing I was left wishing it had was a sixth gear. It's a five-speed box, and that would mean it accrues a little bit more comfortably at motorway speeds, but otherwise, for city riding, commuting, for country road blasts, well, the engine was always a big strength of the previous generation, and it continues to be so in this 2025 model. Where they have made quite a lot of changes on this bike, though, is with the chassis. They've definitely tried to make it feel a little bit more sporty and engaging, but at the same time, tried not to sacrifice some of the comfort and stability and ease of use that I think have helped to make this bike so popular. So, yeah, it's still the tubular steel frame. It's still got the 18-inch wheel up front, which gives it a bit of that retro look. So naturally, it's never really going to handle like a sports bike, but certainly, if you rode this back-to-back with previous generations, you'd find it much more fun to ride on a twisty road, for example. The brakes are one of the biggest improvements for me. They've moved to a bigger disc, so a 320-mil disc as opposed to a 310, and also, it gets a Triumph-branded four-piston radially-mounted caliper that gives it a much better, more reassuring feel at the lever. Then, another potentially slightly weak point of the previous generation was the suspension with the right-way-up fork and some fairly budget shocks, but for 2025, they've gone for a Marzocchi upside-down fork up front, twin piggyback shocks at the rear, and so it has this slightly more sporty ride, a little bit firmer, but like I say, without sacrificing too much on comfort. Then, because they've fitted it with an aluminum swingarm that's 15-mil shorter, you've got a shorter wheelbase as well, which also helps with agility, and this new wheel design is also said to be a bit lighter, so that gives it less rotating mass, less unsprung mass as well, and again, plays into this more sporty feel. It definitely feels happier with quicker changes of direction. The only thing I will say is I wasn't particularly mad about these Michelin Road Classic tires today in the sort of damp patches between brighter, sunnier parts of the road. They didn't feel particularly reassuring and grippy, but that's something you can swap out quite easily, and as a consumable, it probably wouldn't be enough to stop me buying a bike like this. Now, I think one of the biggest selling points of the previous generations was the fact that it had a super low seat height at 765 mil, and I think that made it one of the most reassuring bikes to ride in the retro market, so certainly popular with newer riders and those who are a little bit shorter in the leg. Look, while it was undoubtedly beneficial for riding in town and being able to get both your feet down easily, I found that when you're on the move and on the road for a couple of hours at a time, it didn't leave you with particularly much room for your legs, and so I didn't find it super comfortable for those longer days, so for me, a big improvement for this year is the fact that they've raised the seat by 15 mil up to 780, and also these slimmer foot pegs, whilst being mounted in the same position, actually sort of drop the top of the pegs by another 6 mil. So after spending a bit of time on the bike today, I found it a lot more spacious and comfortable than previous iterations, and also a slightly taller saddle height does seem to fit more with this new sporty personality. If you are a bit on the short side though, and that was what was appealing about this bike, then fear not, because there were two measures that I still think make it feel really quite manageable. One is that they've slimmed out the subframe and the seat, so the standover is a little narrower, so even though it's gone up, you might still be able to reach the floor, and even if that isn't the case, there's now a low seat in the accessories catalogue, which drops the seat height down by 20 mil, so that brings it down to 760 mil, which is 5 mil lower than the previous generation. All in, it's a really easy bike to get on with because of the modest stature, but I think for the majority of riders, this slightly more spacious ergonomic now will feel much more natural and comfortable. Now one of the areas in which they've had to keep pace with some of the competition, like the Ducati Scrambler for example, another great option in the retro market, is with the technology package. You see more and more bikes now are coming with a TFT dash fitted as standard, even at the sort of lower price points, so instead of the single analogue dash that you got on the previous generation of this bike, you've now got a digital dash with an inverted LCD at the top, and a small TFT at the bottom, which gives you a load of menus and additional functionality, especially if you fit that accessory connectivity module. Naturally, that means more buttons on the switchgear as well to navigate through all these additional features, but I think because they've made it a bit more sporty and they've given it this more modern aesthetic, this new cockpit actually really suits the nature of this bike, and for me, having owned a Trident 660 for a while with the same dash and switchgear, I find it really easy to read, very easy to use, I like the way the menus and buttons are all laid out, and so I put this one down as a big plus for this new model. On top of that, you now get an inertial measurement unit on this bike that feeds lean angles into the rider aids, and so traction control and ABS are now cornering sensitive, which I definitely felt the benefit of today with some of those damp patches, like I say. My only slight gripe with this bike on the technology front is the fact that cruise control is actually an accessory and isn't fitted as standard like you might find on some more affordable bikes in the Triumph line-up, like the Trident 660, but overall, they've got to build it to a fairly competitive price point, and I think what you're getting for your money is pretty good. Another reason that I think a lot of people probably have bought these bikes in the past has been the looks, and that's another thing that they've sort of continued the original essence of, but just given a slightly more up-to-date feel to. You can see that the headlight's a little bit flatter, it's got these new intricate headlight brackets here. You also get the daytime running light, which gives it a bit more of a premium feel at the front, and that slightly more chiseled theme continues through the rest of the bike, so the tank's new, the side panels, some of the covers and finishing parts around the engine, and I think it all works quite nicely, especially the more slender tail section and more minimal tail light, and makes it look more consistent with the bigger sibling in the 1200. Now perhaps some people will prefer the more traditional look of the previous gen, and also maybe that analogue clock, but I think Triumph would argue that if you want the more heritage-inspired bike, then there is always the T100, which offers a lot of the same spec, but just in a much more old-school-looking form factor. As for the price, well this is another thing that I think has helped make this series of bikes popular, with it being the most affordable bike in the Bonneville lineup. So when you look at the fact that it's got the upgraded brakes, it's got the new suspension, it's got more technology and features, the slightly more modern look as well, you might be concerned that the price is going to be bumped up substantially, but in fact it's just over £9,000 and about £400 up on the previous generation, which I think is really quite good value for money if you consider what you're getting. I think it also compares pretty favourably with some of the closest competition, like the Ducati Scrambler, and so that's another factor that I think will contribute to this bike continuing to be a strong seller moving forward. As always though, I'd love to know what you think of it, so do let me know down in the comments below, and if you do fancy something with a little bit more punch, then I'll put our review of the 1200 version on the screen now, which we shot at the launch a couple of weeks back. Do hit subscribe as well if you want to see more of the latest motorcycle reviews like this right here on Motobob. A massive thanks for watching today, and we'll see you in the next video.