Beginning life as the personal side project of a Triumph designer, the Speed Triple has been the hot-selling cornerstone of the British firm for 14 years now. The S3's success was immediate, selling 1100 units in its 1994 debut - 16% of the fledgling marque's sales that year. Redesigns in 1996 and 1999 saw the introduction of the trademark bug-eye headlamps and increasing popularity, with some fellow named Tom Cruise riding a Speed Triple in Mission Impossible II and another Hollywood cameo for the S3 in The Matrix. Also increasing were the Speed's sales numbers and engine displacement, with the last significant redesign, in 2005, bumping the Triple up to its current 1050cc trim. For 2008, the Speed Triple is billed by Triumph as an all-new design, with top-line Brembo brakes and yet another styling facelift.