Sweet Spot

The new Triumph Street Triple RS embodies the motorcycling sweet spot of power and ability

 

- Rishaad Mody

The old Street Triple 675 always held a special place in our hearts for how approachable, yet engaging a machine it was. Now there’s a new one and it promises to offer the same experience while elevating the playing field. We’ve spent a day in Spain getting to grips with what proves to be an absolute gem of a sportsbike.

The biggest news with this update is that it’s gone one size up in the engine department. Starting with a Daytona 675 engine, Triumph bumped up both bore and stroke to result in a rather convenient 765cc. The engine gets 80 new parts, including new pistons, crank, con rods and balancer shaft. This time around, the engine is available in the three states of tune. The base Street Triple S makes 113PS and 73Nm. That marks a 6.8 per cent jump in power and 7.3 per cent rise in torque over the old bike. Then there’s the Street Triple R with 118PS and 77Nm, and finally the top RS with 123PS and an identical 77Nm. A look at the dyno chart shows that the RS makes more torque at 4,000rpm than the old motor made at its peak. As you’d expect, ride ability has gone up by a significant margin.

Thankfully, the friendliness of the old Striple hasn’t been lost. Up to 6,000rpm the engine is ultra smooth, tractable and offers a sweet and linear delivery. Anyone with the basic ability to ride a motorcycle can manage, no sweat. However, once the digital gauge crosses 8,000rpm, the engine pulls tremendously hard and you feel the front wheel go light as you slide back into the bump stop at the end of the long rider seat. Power is seriously strong and highly addictive, a considerable jump up from before. It’s nearly at Speed Triple levels of pace once you rev it out.

We’re riding the range-topping RS here, so we’ll focus on that bike. All Striples now run ride-by-wire throttle which offers ultra smooth throttle responses, making the bike easy to ride, both slow and fast.