I first rode the Speed Triple out on California’s Highway 1, squiggling the coast on a picture-perfect, blue-bird sky kind of day.

I’m sure on that kind of day, I might have fallen in love with any kind of motorcycle aside from the soulless FJR and the K1300s that made my back hurt at the ripe age of 30. I did however fall in love with this one. However, on that day, I didn’t capture the full essence of this bike. There’s a component to it that the picturesque coast would have never drawn out of it: streetfighter.

streetfighter (n) – a large-displacement sport bike with the fairings and windscreen removed.

My local motobuddy and I took the Saturday morning run over to get some balls for lunch. Not any balls, but the best balls that bay had to offer in the meatball sandwich named The Baller.

I’m still learning how to ride this monster. It’s astronomically different than anything I’ve tossed a leg over. We headed out towards the bay and my buddy was moving at a pretty good clip through the traffic and well, my newbieness came through.

We traveled down Grizzly Peak a few miles and pulled over to one of the most famous spots in Bay Area moto culture: The Wall. The Wall has a view across most of the bay: from Mount Tam to most of the east bay, the city, and both the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges.

The Tripe was standing out in ways it never would on the coast. This bike has unapologetic sass. It wants to go to the city for coffee during the moto socials. It’s the bike you look and feel cool on riding into the city with a Timbuk2 bag slung across your back. Riders and non riders ogle at *that bike!*

It’s not the bike the young kid at the gas station in Tahoe who remarks, “nice bike, my dad has one of those” like I heard on the GS. This bike is a looker.

As we crested the hill and headed down for lunch all of my weight pushed against the bars. The bike went from fun to unrideable as the road went from level to a sharp decline. I was humbled again. I’m still the newbie with a bike helping me grow up.

My buddy and I laughed when we got to lunch. He laughed and asked “What happened on Claremont?” I recounted the story of all my weight moving forward and not having any agility in the bars. He remarked, “got to keep light on the bars.. grab the tank with your legs and keep that core tight!”

Needless to say it was fun headed up the hill taking full advantage of the bike’s sass!

Route: