2011 Triumph Street Triple R - Middleweight Maverick Makeover | First Ride

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.

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.

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.

“All our bikes are subject to continuous improvement, so any existing Triumph model you ride this year will be subtly different from last year’s,” says Simon Warburton. “We identified a problem a couple of years ago whereby the gearbox detent springs we got from our supplier were varying too much in their stiffness, resulting in some gearboxes feeling too stiff and notchy. The detent spring is extremely influential on the feel at the lever. We solved this by changing to a different supplier with better control over its manufacturing process, so Triumph gearboxes are now more consistently like the way they were designed to be. We’ve made no other changes to the gearbox selection mechanism.” OK, tick that boxso how about the engine mapping: has that been altered? “During the development of the updated 675 Daytona, we developed a new EFI strategy which monitors the rate of opening of the throttle,” replied Warburton. “A different ignition map is then applied depending on how fast you’re actually opening it, rather than on what the throttle position actually is. It’s like having separate Sport and Leisure riding maps that are applied automatically, depending on how aggressive you’re being with the throttle. The end result is a calibration that’s much smoother when riding slowly in town and in car parks, but still lively and responsive on the open road. We’ve brought this strategy across to all our other bikes, and it’s likely that the last Street Triple R you rode had the old calibration.”

As part of this process of making the best still better, the Street Triple is now fitted with the latest Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa rubber on the test bike, with a noticeable improvement in grip and handling.

Maximum speed is around 140 mph if you care to hold on tight enough, though there’s little protection without the optional deflector, which is a must-have accessory for any serious speedster. The way the Street Triple R stops ultra-hard and with total stability will make this a good bike for track days; on a twisty circuit I guarantee riders of the Street Triple R will embarrass many other more powerful but less torquey, less agile, sportbikes. Using lots of engine braking didn’t get the rear wheel hopping, in spite of the fact there’s no slipper clutch fitted; hard to believe when using lots of engine braking into a tight second-gear turn without any instability or trace of rear wheel chatter. ”We’re pleased that we’ve managed to deliver the comparable benefits of a slipper clutch through careful engine mapping, without the extra weight and expense of such a feature—and, no, that doesn’t mean a MotoGP-style variable idle speed,” says Warburton. But for those who still think it desirable, there’s a slipper clutch available as an aftermarket Triumph item. Triumph also offers an optional pair of Arrow slip-ons as part of its extensive list of aftermarket goodies for the Street Triple family, one Euro 3-compliant, and the other a 3-into-1 race exhaust just for track-day use. That options list includes the same broad range of bolt-on goodies as before, including a plastic deflector screen, passenger grab-rail, gel seat, magnetic tank bag, bellypan, instrument cowl, assorted clothing, etc.

We already knew the Street Triple was a great bike, but the R version is even better. Maneuverable and agile, it’s an ideal tool for the urban jungle, with great leverage from that one-piece handlebar for carving corners in city streets, yet out in the country it’s ready to outperform anything else in the middleweight naked bike marketplace, with the performance from that glorious-sounding engine to back it up. Rather surprisingly, it seems to fit riders of all statures and both sexes, although the sidestand is sometimes awkward to find. Still, the fresh restyling complete with wolf-eye headlamps sees it retain the posture of the original bike with a new look. Triumph has indeed made the best better still, and yet again, it raises the bar for the rest of the class. And that’s not the Union Jack on my helmet waving, either. Wait until you ride one.