When deciding what kind of bike I wanted, I did a search to see what kinds of bikes people recommended for a woman and a first bike. Several sites mentioned that a first bike should be no more than 800cc. But one site had a ranking of about 10 good starter bikes for women, and the second one listed (behind the Honda Shadow) was the Triumph Speed Twin 900 due to its lower center of gravity. Now, the 900 was over the 800cc recommended, but I got it in my head that this was the bike for me.
I’ve always loved Triumph as a brand. They have a classic look and are reliable. Triumphs have been seen on the silver screens from Steve McQueen in “The Great Escape” to James Bond’s “No Time to Die” and many movies and television shows in between. Triumphs are absolutely British, iconic, and have a great history.
Buy the bike you want to ride.
So, I went looking for a Triumph Speed Twin. Being 2025, the 2024 versions were slightly discounted and the 2024 had a beautiful “stealth” paint job. I found a local-ish dealer who had one in the green stealth and got to emailing about coming to see her (yes, I call my bike a “she” and talk to her when I ride). I was still a little nervous about the size of the bike, since during the class I started to doubt and thought to buy something smaller to get a feel for the motorcycle. But my instructor had offered the best advice: “Buy the bike that you are going to want to ride.” The more I want to ride, the quicker I will gain the skills I need to move up from the novice level.
The Green Goddess.
The green fades from a black front. So, from the front, she looks like a black bike, but from the side, she’s a shimmering emerald. I had named her before I even saw her at the dealership. The Green Goddess (Gigi for short). I think at that point, Jason knew we weren’t “kicking tires” anymore. I was going to buy a bike I had never seen in person and never ridden. I couldn’t be happier. We still had to hire a trailer to get her from the dealership to the house (too far away and major highways in between. There was no way I had the skills to ride her out of there). And then the fun begins.
Leave a Reply