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I just read an article about how the Speed Triple started the class.
But wiki shows the speed triple started in 1994, while the Ducati Monster began in 1993.
Is the Triumph stealing the Monsters thunder?
Your park avenue leads to..
I guess those two bikes are kind of similar, but the difference is that the Monster is styled to be a good looking naked bike.
The Speed Triple is supposed to look like a sport bike where the fairings have been removed, and the clip-ons have been replaced with a conventional handlebar for comfort. This is why the headlights sort of hang in mid air. My understanding is that homemade "hooligan bikes" like this were (and possibly still are) common in the UK.
Joe
04 Thruxton (Street)
01 SV650 (Track)
75 CB400F (Future Vintage Racer)
68 BSA Royal Star (Garage Floor Lubricator)
Good looking nekid bikes predate both, UJMs covered that niche for a couple decades.
I'm pretty sure the first naked bike was the Daimler Reitwagen
-Pete LRRS/CCS #81 - ECK Racing, TonysTrackDays
GMD Computrack Boston | Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists | Phoenix Graphics | Woodcraft | MTag-Pirelli | OnTrack Media
The Garage: '03 Tuono | '06 SV650
This isn’t the one I read but this article says they’re “pretty much responsible”
But the other article mentioned stripping expensive plastics after a sport bike was dumped, but those were more rat bikes. The S3 allegedly being the first purposeful naked bike.
And I think the big eyes and single sided swingarm look great.
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Your park avenue leads to..
When I think of naked bikes I think of faired bikes with the fairings removed and some components swapped out light headlights to be more fitting. Ujm bikes were just built stripped so they don't count for me.
My 88 nsr is the oldest bike I can think of that fits the definition for me. It was sold in two versions, one with full fairings and the other with no fairings and a round headlight and mirrors mounted on the controls. Either version could be converted to the other with just a few parts mostly. That design dates back to 1986.
A monster is just an Italian version of the ujm to me.