Triumph’s Street Triple has been the firm’s best-selling model since its rebirth under John Bloor so the new Street Triple 765 is carrying a lot of weight on its shoulders to continue that record.
More than 50,000 Street Triples have been sold in the decade since the model was launched in 2007. So reinventing this two-wheeled money tree is essential to Triumph’s ongoing prosperity. The project started three years ago when chief engineer Stuart Wood and his team decided to bore and stroke the existing three-cylinder 675cc engine to boost performance. The big change is an uprated 78 x 53.4 mm bore and stroke for a 765cc capacity (versus 74 x 52.3 mm and 675cc before). Wood says these are the biggest internal dimensions possible without increasing the physical size of the engine, which would have necessitated a new chassis and a new crankcase casting.
While the 765 tag may appear to be marketing-driven symmetry relating to its 675 predecessor, Wood insists it’s pure coincidence. The firm took the existing 675 crankcases, then optimised every millimetre of available space within them to deliver a cubed-up powerplant that unlocks the gateway to significant extra power and torque.
This helped redress the loss of performance entailed in achieving 2017-compulsory Euro 4 compliance, even if Triumph insists this wasn’t the main reason for so completely revamping the three-cylinder engine package. This employs more than 80 new components including a new crankshaft, rods and pistons, a revised balancer shaft and a new aluminium cylinder block with Nikasil plated bores. There are also bespoke cams for each different variant of the new model – the S, R and RS.
The capacity hike presents comparable improvements in rideability and performance to those that MV Agusta already wrought on its Italian-made 675cc triple back in 2013, by launching the acclaimed 800cc variant of that motor.
Riding the range-topping 121 bhp Street Triple 765 RS – the most powerful, the lightest, and the most electronically advanced Street Triple yet made – in the hills north of Barcelona started on roads left damp and greasy after overnight rain. Wind howling in from the Pyrenees soon dried the surface, permitting some serious corner-carving. This was followed by a single track outing on the Catalunya GP circuit before rain stopped play – a wet weather ride in the following session saw both wheels sliding and the ABS kicking in everywhere. The day ended with a real-world ride back to the hotel along slimy, diesel-covered roads in a torrential downpour. Riding Triumph’s new multi-purpose middleweight in every single set of circumstances a customer might reasonably expect to face revealed a tight-steering, chuckable, torquey step up from its capable predecessor.
Fabulously well-balanced handling and light-yet-precise steering are delivered by the carried-over 675 frame design, aided by an impressive 166kg dry weight, 2kg lighter than the old 675. But it’s the stellar new engine package that’s the unquestioned star of the show in the new Street Triple. In RS guise this makes its 121 bhp peak power at 11,700rpm, a massive 16% more horses than the 675, and 77Nm at 10,800 rpm. This makes the bigger 765cc motor noticeably more torquey and powerful to ride than the outgoing 675 Street Triple engine. You can use a gear higher in most corners thanks to the new in-line triple’s extra grunt compared to its predecessor. The bottom two gear ratios on the 765 are actually shorter than on the 675, for added zest and extra zip in acceleration.
The seamless gearchanges delivered by the well dialled-in powershifter that’s standard on the RS help you surf the ultra-flat torque curve, though it’s a pity that there’s no autoblipper feature for clutchless downshifts. Here’s hoping that Triumph’s held this back for a 765 Daytona sportbike variant, which would be a potent rival to the reborn four-cylinder Suzuki GSX-R750. Yes, the new Triumph 765cc triple motor is indeed worthy of comparison with this most iconic of Japanese sportbike powerplants. And let’s not forget that this new three-cylinder motor will form the basis of the control engine that it’s been unofficially revealed Triumph will be supplying to power Grand Prix racing’s Moto2 class from 2019 onwards.
On the Street Triple 765 in which this great-sounding motor makes its debut you invariably find yourself making unnecessary blips of the throttle when downshifting. Unnecessary because on the RS (and R) there’s a slip/assist clutch as standard for the first time on a Street Triple which delivers the same benefits as a slipper clutch, as well as a noticeably lighter clutch lever pull.
Triumph has left in a noticeable amount of engine braking to the slip/assist clutch settings, meaning I could hold a lower gear for long stretches of twisty road up in the hills above Barcelona, repeatedly backing off the throttle to get lined up for the next turn without touching the brakes. Surfing the beautifully responsive three-cylinder motor’s torque curve in this way is really satisfying. This is a bike that delights in telling you it’s there to help out in getting you any way you like from A to B – slow or fast, relaxed or intense, chilled out or hard on. This is a true all-rounder of a motorcycle, with switchable two-stage Continental ABS and Keihin’s four-level traction control as standard.
The 765cc motor has perfect fuelling at all revs, making this a bike that’s easy to ride slowly using part-throttle openings in town or traffic, with deliciously crisp, responsive yet controllable pickup from a closed throttle in any gear. This allows you to fully exploit the magnificent torque which pulls smoothly and strongly in any gear from 3,000 rpm upwards. It comes alive at 6,500 revs with an extra kick of grunt, pulling ever harder towards the 12,750 rpm limiter. It has much more performance than the old 675, both under acceleration and at higher revs. What a great motor.
There’s a liquid-smooth transition to maximum drive out of a turn, allowing you to exploit the 765 engine’s huge reserves of mid-range power and torque. That’s irrespective of which riding mode you’ve selected out of the five available on the RS thanks to the full ride-by-wire digital throttle now featured for the first time on all versions of the Street Triple 765. On the RS this includes a five-way choice of Road, Rain, Sport, Rider Programmable and Track, all selected via a joystick controller on the left handlebar’s switch cube that’s slightly fiddly to work on the move. This offers a huge range of adjustability that by virtue of its comprehensive nature isn’t immediately accessible. It’ll take even expert mouse-clickers time to acquire comparable joystick skills on the Street Triple, learning to navigate the pages and settings. Two of the five riding modes (Sport and Track) also can’t be selected unless the bike is at rest. However, persevere and it pays off, though as a package it’s a level below that of top-level sportbikes, without an inertial measurement unit to give the ECU info on lean angle, pitch and yaw. But you have more control than on some higher-end sportbikes which don’t allow turning the ABS off completely.
The new Street Triple’s cast aluminium twin-spar beam frame and 17.4-litre fuel tank are the same as on the outgoing 675 model, but there’s a new stiffer gullwing swingarm that’s aimed at improving grip on the exit of turns, via a 4mm higher swingarm pivot position. There’s also slightly sharper steering geometry with an 0.4-degree steeper head angle (now 23.9° from 24.3° on the 675), balanced by 5mm more trail (100mm). The fully adjustable 41mm Showa BPF/Big Piston Fork that gives a slightly reduced 115mm of wheel travel. The Öhlins STX40 piggyback rear shock with a taller rear ride height more than makes up for that with 131mm of rear wheel travel and brilliantly chosen but relatively softly sprung settings. These settings are never too soft, though, and are just right for real world road riding.
Out on the Catalan country roads I could feel the rear shock gently compressing and releasing as it soaked up the bumps and ripples. There, the quality of the damping was outstanding. Wind the Street Triple up on the billiard table surface of the Catalunya GP circuit, and with only minimally stiffer settings the shock delivers all the grip you could want from the race-quality rear triple-compound Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP fitted as standard to the RS. Leaning on the outstanding Brembo front brakes, with the four-piston M50 radial Monoblock calipers gripping the twin 310 mm floating discs, the Showa fork still kept eating up the ripples trail-braking into the Catalunya GP circuit’s chicanes, in spite of the serious weight transfer. Earlier on the road ride I’d been grateful for the safety net of the ABS in using those uber-effective Brembo front calipers to slow down over any of the damp patches we initially encountered before the wind dried the roads. Slithering back to the hotel along those diesel-strewn highways was an effective test of the system’s efficiency. This is a confidence-inspiring ABS package from Continental.
The Street Triple 765’s more aggressive nose-down styling is new and fresh while undoubtedly retaining the family appearance. This motorcycle could only be a Triumph, especially with those prominent headlights so clearly based on those fitted to the bigger Speed Triple. LED daytime running lights on the R and RS deliver a distinctive appearance on the road, and are up to 28 times brighter than the previous generation 675 model’s bulb sidelights. Self-cancelling indicators are featured on both the R and RS models. Climb aboard the Street Triple and it feels slim and agile, and the 825mm high seat will be accessible for all but really short riders, who now have the option of a version of the bike specifically tailored a to their stature. There’s also a wide range of more than 60 different accessories from the dedicated Street Triple aftermarket catalogue, including a choice of two Arrow exhausts, one of which is Euro 4-legal.
Noteworthy is the ultra-legible high-resolution five-inch full-colour TFT dash, which is adjustable manually for the optimum viewing angle. It has a choice of three different display formats which move the digital speedo around the screen to suit your preference. There’s a range of additional information in a tray beneath the main display. To ensure that the screen is readable in all weather and light conditions, each of the three styles can be selected with either High, Low or Auto contrast, which uses an integrated ambient light sensor to select the most appropriate setting automatically. The High setting comes with a white background, while Low has a deep blue background. On the RS you’ve also got the ability to select a more dynamic theme which gives three more styles, for a total choice of six. Especially clever is the bar graph tacho readout which changes colour over the final 1,000 rpm of the rev range, first turning orange, then red as it approaches the 12,750 rpm limiter, before finally flashing on and off as the cutout becomes imminent.
Triumph has made the new Street Triple a very much better motorcycle than it was before. This new 765 version is not only very much more powerful and torquey, but also seems more substantial and user-friendly than the old 675. In fact you have to ask yourself if it hasn’t made its larger Speed Triple sister just a little bit pointless? The current Speed Triple 1050 makes a claimed 138bhp and weighs 192kg, but the three-quarter size Street Triple 765 is now quite a bit more exciting to ride. You really notice its 26kg less weight on the RS, not only in terms of increased agility and improved handling, but also under acceleration. With the punchy torque of that eager-revving engine to propel you forward the 17bhp less potent motor picks up revs faster and sounds better than the bigger Speed Triple. Triumph management reckon that the two bikes have a different customer base but I’m not so sure, because with the enhanced performance of the 765cc motor, they’re getting mighty close. If the Street Triple 765 can do this to the class icon, which invented the Streetfighter category more than two decades ago and remains the class benchmark, how will its competitors from Ducati, Yamaha, MV Agusta, Kawasaki, BMW, Suzuki and soon KTM in the hotly-contested 750-900cc category stack up? Only a comparison test will tell – but for sure there’s a new kid in town that the others must take very seriously.
Triumph claims this new Street Triple 765 is a “game changer”. Is that a piece of PR hype too far or does the new bike really raise the bar higher than anything else in the middleweight naked roadster class can match? After riding it I think I know the answer, and although £9,900 in the UK is not a cheap price, you get a lot of motorcycle for the money. So, speaking of games, maybe the goal posts just got moved.
Photos: Alessio Barbanti, Matteo Cavadini, Paul Barshon and Friedeman Kirn