SCREAMING BEAUTY!

We headed out to a not-so-sunny Barcelona in order to thrash the king of kings; the top of the range Triumph Street Triple RS, to see if the benchmark for a Supersport naked bike really has risen. Again.

WORDS: CARL STEVENS

PICS: TRIUMPH

Let’s not fool ourselves, we all know how good the Triumph Street Triple is and the reasons why they’ve sold 50,000 units to date. Yet here we are, ready to take on the new Street Triple RS, wondering whether the British marque have improved the thing. Yet, lo and behold, after a day of riding, thrashing and in lashing rain no less, it’s clear that this is a real triumph of engineering… (sorry, couldn’t help myself).

The first time you jump on the Street Triple RS, it’s incredibly refined in comparison to its predecessor. The cockpit is neat and the flash dash fires into life like a transformer, giving a whole host of information and options of the different riding modes: Wet, Road, Fast Road, Personal (which is all your own chosen settings) and, of course, Track mode. As soon as you hit the ignition that beautiful new triple lump roars into life with throaty intent, thanks to the brand new 765cc power-plant that sits in between your legs.

This isn’t just Triumph moving the numbers around for a gimmick from 675cc, there are 80 brand new components that make this new Triple a whole different animal – and they aren’t just minute changes. The crank, pistons, con-rods, and balancer shaft, to name a few, have all been developed purely for the Street Triple, adding up with an increased bore/stroke to make a massive 16 per cent power gain and 13 per cent torque gain, which is fairly bloody evident as soon you open that beautiful new fly-by-wire throttle system.