Triumph Street Triple R The Beauty is a Beast
If bikes were blades, Triumph’s Street Triple would be a scalpel. Small, precise, razor sharp and super quick at carving up curvy roads. Triumph defined and developed the “street fighter” category 20 years ago, with the introduction of the vaunted Speed Triple 1050. With its stripped-down, no fairings, bug-eyed headlights, upright riding position, and under seat exhaust canisters, the bike was a runaway hit for Triumph, filling the gap between the Bonneville line and their sport/sport touring models. When Triumph introduced the smaller Street Triple 675 in 2007, the little brother instantly rivaled the Speed in popularity and sales. The Street’s DNA is derived from the widely acclaimed Daytona 675 Supersport race bike, that has won numerous American, British, and World GP races since its debut in 2006. BTR 12 | BORNTORIDE.COM
Through several model morphs over the decade (low-slung exhaust, oval-shaped headlights, suspension revisions, etc.), in early 2017 Triumph announced a serious bump in displacement for the Street, from 675cc to 765cc. The Street continues to fly off showrooms across America, and indeed, across the globe. The Hinckley, England brain trust is clearly on to something with this bike, and they know it. Named among Cycle World’s “10 Best Bikes For 2017,” the Street Triple quite simply is the “Swiss Army knife” of modern motorcycles: the do-everything, every day, motorcycle for commuting and canyon-carving. I had the pleasure of sampling a Street Triple R for a few days in October, courtesy of Ricky Patterson and his team at Freewheeling Powersports in Douglasville, Georgia. The Street Triple might be the
smallest displacement instrument in the Triumph toolbox, but it’s one of their most high-tech. The model manifests in three distinct iterations- the standard Street Triple S, the up-spec Street Triple R, and the chart-topping Street Triple RS. With each model, the tech, tuning, suspension, brakes and ride modes become more advanced. The R that Freewheeling loaned me had Showa front forks and Ohlins rear suspension, Brembo brakes, switchable ABS and traction control, as well as three ride modes- Rain, Road, and Sport. There are even settings in the digital display for customizing one’s own setup, called Rider mode. Did I also mention a quickshifter? All of which comes stock on the R, by the way. That TFT display is very easy to view and navigate, by simply toggling through screens via buttons and switches on the
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