Prince William defies Kate's wishes and rides a brand new Triumph motorbike at the testing facility

His wife once admitted it 'filled her with horror' when he rode his motorbike - but William threw caution to the wind today as he took a spin on a powerful vehicle during a visit to the Triumph factory.

The Duke of Cambridge, 35, donned a leather riding suit and helmet as he test drove the latest Triumph Tiger 1200 on Tuesday.

The royal, who in the past has owned and ridden powerful bikes, toured the factory and walk the assembly line, meeting technicians and apprentices working on-site at Hinckley near Nuneaton as well as chatting to CEO Nick Bloor.

He previously owned a £20,000 Ducati motorbike, which can go from 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds, and was last seen riding the 190mph machine the night before the Royal Wedding in 2011. 

During a visit to Dundee in 2015, Kate told a local: 'He's still riding it. It always fills me with horror when he goes out on it‎. I'm terrified. Hopefully, I'm going to keep George off it.' 

However William reportedly said he had put his dangerous hobby on the 'back-burner' while speaking to triple World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea last year.

After receiving his MBE from the Duke at Buckingham Palace last year, Rea revealed: 'I know he’s a bit of a motorcycle fan himself.

'We talked about his bikes and the fact that he has put it on the back-burner a little bit because of his children now.' 

Along with his brother Prince Harry, the Duke has been a keen biker since passing his test aged 19 and has been known to own bikes including the 1199cc Ducati. 

In 2008 the brothers took part in an arduous motorcycle rally across Africa to raise money for a variety of charities including Sentebale, which was jointly founded by Prince Harry. 

Their father, Prince Charles, has also expressed concerns about William's motorcycle obsession in the past. 

During his visit to the Triumph factor today, the Duke is also set to visit a technology park to celebrate world-class bikes and innovative vehicles.

Later he will officially open a visitor experience which showcases a collection of Triumph's historic and modern developments in motorcycle design, engineering, and racing. 

First established in 1902, Triumph Motorcycles celebrated 115 years of motorcycle manufacturing in 2017, and builds around 67,000 bikes a year, which are sold in 57 countries across the world. 

William will travel on to the nearby MIRA Technology Park to see how the global company Horiba Mira provides pioneering engineering, research and test services to the transport industry.

The Duke will been shown a selection of vehicles and equipment that have been developed at the technology park, which provides expansive research and development services, including into driverless vehicles.

Daily Mail.