Speed Read A Custom Triumph Speed Twin 1200 From Brazil And More

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Triumph’s international bike build-off produces a worthy winner, Championship Cycles delivers a jaw-dropping Ducati 748, and KTM updates the 690 Enduro R and 690 Supermoto R. Here’s what you missed this week.

Triumph Speed Twin 1200 by Shibuya Garage This stunning Triumph Speed Twin 1200 recently took top honors in the Triumph Originals contest—a global initiative run by Triumph to highlight the customization potential of their Bonneville lineup. Built by Brazil’s Shibuya Garage, the bike combines founder Teydi Deguchi’s two passions—engines and art.

With a new Speed Twin 1200 in their São Paulo workshop, Shibuya Garage began by lowering the suspension and bolting on a set of solid wheel covers with Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tires. Custom fork guards were combined with a custom front fender, while a tiny windscreen was installed over the blacked-out factory headlight.
Clip-on bars were attached over the top fork yoke, and the factory speedometer was squeezed into the space behind the windscreen. The sides of the tank were modified with sharp indents, with the lines flowing nicely into a custom seat, sitting on a modified rear subframe. A custom belly pan was fabricated, too, sharing a stunning paint detail with the front fender and windscreen.

Teydi also made a set of slick side covers before ingeniously dressing the swingarm to match. The swingarm design is a standout detail—as is the exhaust system. Twin pipes snake their way around the engine before exiting on the right-hand side, below the seat.
There’s also a smattering of Brazil-themed easter eggs throughout the build. The injector covers sport the colors of the Brazilian flag, the outline of the country is engraved on the primary cover, and the Brazilian timber used to create the details on the forks, side covers, and swingarm is just fantastic.

“The details are beautifully crafted and the overall design is well-organized,” says judge Kengo Kimura, founder of Heiwa Motorcycle in Japan. “It’s a motorcycle packed with design and ideas.”
If you can impress Kimura-san, you can impress the world. [Shibuya Garage | Images supplied by Triumph]

Ducati 748 by Championship Cycles Most bike builders are hesitant to accept abandoned projects, but when Mike Vienne from Championship Cycles was approached by a friend to get his Ducati 748 over the finish line, he couldn’t help but accept the challenge.
Mike’s friend initially started the project six years ago, but it was soon mothballed due to other life commitments (and a global pandemic). Fast forward to this year, and the 748 rolling chassis and engine were delivered to Mike’s Los Angeles workshop.

The brief was simple: transform the bike into a competent track machine without throwing fistfuls of money at it. Since Mike has built and raced many 748, 916, and 996 Desmoquattro Ducatis, most of the parts needed for the build were already on his shelves. His collection of spares is so vast that it took less than 48 hours to get the bike running again.
That sounds like a nice problem to have—but with the bike covered in stock parts and a basic racing fairing finished in primer grey, it looked a bit dull. (As dull as a Tamburini-era, track-prepped Ducati can be.) It needed a bit of character to spice things up a bit, so Mike set out to fix that.

The engine was dropped off at a local shop to be rebuilt, with the only modifications being some light headwork and a Ducabike semi-open slipper clutch. The majority of the budget was to be spent on improving the handling, so the first things to go were the heavy OEM wheels. In their place is a pair of lightweight Dymags, forged from aluminum.
The rear shock was replaced with a Nitron unit, giving Mike control over preload, rebound, and compression. The front brakes were then upgraded with 6-piston PFM calipers and narrow-band rotors.

The biggest visual change to the 748 is the relative lack of bodywork. An offhand comment about it being a naked bike was all it took for Mike to decide to go this route. However, the 748 was designed with a full fairing in mind, so removing it exposes all sorts of Italian plumbing that is better left hidden.
The bike was rewired with a custom race harness (shaving four pounds off the weight), and all the electronics were relocated to inside the tail. The ECU was moved to the front of the bike, behind the large tachometer and the temperature gauge.

The lower part of the frame was relieved of the fairing fixing points and painted bright white. The carbon bodywork is from Corsa Garage, with the front section modified to run as a sleek half fairing. It looks exceptionally good, especially in its red, black, and white livery.
As you’d expect, Mike reports that the finished bike is a hoot on track, with just enough wind protection on the straights to keep it stable. It looks good, goes fast, and there’s nothing we don’t like about it. [Championship Cycles | Images by Aaron McKenzie]

2026 KTM 690 Enduro R and 690 SMC R KTM has just unveiled the 2026 690 Enduro R and 690 SMC R, and, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, they’re nearly identical to their 2025 counterparts. KTM promises that the styling is sharper, which they appear to mean literally, because some of the body panels are pointier.
The main updates lie beneath the surface, focused on the 690’s LC4 single-cylinder engine. It’s now Euro5+ compliant and has a revised crankcase, clutch, and stator cover. The oil system has also been redesigned for reliability and performance.

For the 2026 690 Enduro R, KTM has also added a few mod cons in the way of a new 4.2” color TFT display and a USB-C charging port. The switchgear has been redesigned, and there is also a new LED headlight. In terms of new rider aids, the Enduro R gets cornering ABS, cornering traction control, and something KTM is calling ‘Dynamic Slip Adjust.’

The bonkers 690 SMC R supermoto gets the same Euro 5+-compliant LC4 engine, as well as some slightly different bodywork more suited to street riding. KTM mentions that the suspension tuning has been enhanced for better road feedback and agility. The SMC R gets the same updated dashboard and the cornering ABS and cornering traction control rider aids.

It’s certainly more of an evolution than a revolution, which might be a reflection of the Austrian marque’s recent financial position. That said, the 690 is still the most powerful single on the market, with little else in its class. And it’s easy to be a class leader in a segment of one. [KTM]



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