Since its launch midway through 2007, the Triumph 675 Street Triple has been the lynchpin of the British manufacturer’s recession-busting performance, with the company’s annual sales buoyant around the 50,000-bike mark while the volume of many of its rivals have slumped. More than 40,000 examples of the Street Triple have now been sold worldwide, including the standard model, the uprated R model, and a special low power version for the Spanish market. At the stage that Triumph is now celebrating making its 500,000th motorcycle since production recommenced in 1991 under John Bloor’s ownership, the significance of the Street Triple’s contribution to that resurgence can’t be overestimated. Almost 10 percent of Triumph’s total bike sales over the past 20 years were Street Triples, and that in just one-fifth of the company’s entire time in business.
But now-somewhat unexpectedly-Triumph has waved the same updating wand over its middleweight roadster as it did at the end of last year to the Speed Triple. Gone are the distinctive round goggle-eye headlamps with chrome bezels, replaced as part of a visual makeover by less retro but still separate twin pentagonal wolf-eye lights. This was part of a restyling package courtesy of Californian Tim Prentice, the man Triumph originally enlisted to create the Thunderbird cruiser.
The low entry price achieved on the base-model Street Triple ($8899) is partly via non-adjustable Kayaba suspension and two-piston Nissin front brakes, which help hold the price down to compete with the Japanese 600 fours like the Honda Hornet and Yamaha Fazer in the 600-750cc naked bike sector that’s been Europe’s biggest market segment for several years. But the slightly more costly Street Triple R ($9599) is upgraded in handling terms via the same radial four-piston Nissin front brake calipers as the earlier Daytona 675, gripping the Street Triple’s identical twin 308mm Sunstar discs via sintered pads and a radial master cylinder. Yet the extra bite these new brakes deliver doesn’t cause suspension issues, as the Kayaba fork has been given a stiffer spring rate midway between the Daytona and stock Street Triple’s, and is fully adjustable for compression and rebound damping. Same thing at the rear, where the likewise fully adjustable Kayaba shock is also a little longer, resulting in a slightly taller 31.7-inch seat height that also gives a crucial bit of extra ground clearance when charging through turns.
New “wolf-eye” twin headlights...
New “wolf-eye” twin headlights are just part of the restyling package on the new 2011 Street Triple.
The piggyback-reservoir-equipped...
The piggyback-reservoir-equipped Kayaba rear shock has been upgraded to a fully adjustable unit for rebound and compression damping.
The Street Triple’s 675cc...
The Street Triple’s 675cc three-cylinder engine has been unchanged from previous years, with milder cams and revised engine mapping providing better low-end and midrange power than the Daytona 675 it’s derived from.
The makeover also sees both 2011 models with brushed steel exhaust headers, heel guards and silencers replacing the previous polished chrome items, plus new handlebar clamps and end weights in the tapered aluminum Magura handlebar (now standard on the base model as well). Both variants now also feature Triumph’s latest-spec instrumentation, with easier-to-read graphics and a more intuitive two-button design with all digital info incorporated into one LCD (instead of the previous unit with three buttons controlling two LCDs). There’s also the new, more modern-looking Triumph logo on the fuel tank that recently debuted on the Daytona 675R, plus a choice of three metallic colors (white, black or a distinctive purple tint) available at no extra cost on the standard model, with the higher-spec R available in red, white or black, each with gold wheels.
The 41mm Kayaba inverted fork...
The 41mm Kayaba inverted fork is now fully adjustable, allowing you to dial in the proper amount of damping characteristics to prevent excessive chassis pitch from the upgraded brakes.
The Nissin four-pot calipers...
The Nissin four-pot calipers from the previous generation Daytona 675 find their way to the new Street Triple R, biting on 308mm discs and providing superb stopping power.
Slightly restyled and redesigned...
Slightly restyled and redesigned dash features an easier-to-distinguish LCD readout with more intuitive two-button adjustment setup and revamped analog tachometer face.
Triumph insists the new Street Triple duo are mechanically unchanged from before, including the punchy 675cc three-cylinder engine. The evenly spaced 120-degree crankshaft timing combines with the gear-driven counterbalancer to reduce vibration, delivering a claimed 106 horsepower at 11,700 rpm, with a fatter low-end and midrange compared to the 675 Daytona thanks to milder camshafts and revised engine mapping. This results in improbable punch for such a relatively small engine, with an ultra-flat torque curve boasting more than 44 foot-pounds of torque from just 3500 rpm to 12,300 rpm, peaking at 9200 rpm with 50 foot-pounds on tap.
Triumph’s middleweight motor has almost the same sparkling acceleration in Street Triple form as it does in the Daytonajust that the spread of performance is that much wider. After pulling off idle, the torquey, tractable triple starts to gather engine speed around 4000 rpm, all the way to the 12,650 rpm limiter, although you soon realize its happy zone is from 5000 to 8000 rpm. Short-shift just before 9000 rpm, and the ultra-close ratios of the six-speed gearbox, with just 750 rpm between each of the top three gears, will send you surfing right back to the fat part of that ultra-flat torque curve.