Slippery Sam, Ahoy!

Do you remember Slippery Sam? If you do, you’ve been around motorcycle racing for a while… and you might be excited to hear that Triumph has released a tribute to the legendary racebike.

The new Triumph Trident 660 Triple Tribute Edition is mechanically the same as the standard Trident 660. A bidirectional quickshifter is standard, and there’s a flyscreen and bellypan included as standard equipment, but at its core, it is the same machine that came out in October of 2020. Back then, we told you:

The Trident uses a 660cc three-cylinder motor. It’s similar to the 675 engine, but with more than 60 new parts. It’s tuned for torque, and Triumph probably wanted to cut some costs, too. According to the factory, max output is 80 horsepower at 10,250rpm, and 47 lb-ft of torque at 6,250rpm. Triumph says most of the torque is available through most of the rev range; this isn’t a peaky motor, designed for flashy output numbers at the expense of street performance.

The real news here is the Tribute Edition livery, which recalls the Trident factory race bike that Triumph campaigned at the Isle of Man TT in the early 1970s. In an age where Brit bikes were losing their street supremacy very quickly to the newcomer Japanese brands, Slippery Sam won the 750 title five years in a row, starting in 1971. As for the nickname? Slippery Sam leaked oil all over the place in its first year at the TT (how very fitting, for a vintage British twin). Obviously, that didn’t stop it from historic success!

Will this new machine see the same success? As far as we know, there’s no track series to race the new Triumph Trident 660 Triple Tribute Edition, and besides, it isn’t a sportbike—it’s a naked bike with a groovy paint job.

The MSRP is pretty reasonable, though. It’s only $10,195 (plus taxes and fees) in Canada for 2024, where the standard Trident 660 is $10,165. That alone should make it a winner—see more details here.