A couple of clicks of damping at both ends gave a tauter feel, at the expense of some ride quality. Shame the modified top yoke means the 41-mm Kayaba forks’ adjusters are now hard to reach below the handlebar. Not that I or most other owners bother to use them very often, though for track days in particular it’s very useful to have the potential there.
With the pace hot I was glad that Pirelli’s sticky Diablo Rossos are standard fitments on the R model and that its front brake blend of 310-mm discs and four-pot radial Nissins was powerful and utterly reliable. We didn’t get to test the ABS option, which looks good value. Those bikes won’t reach showrooms until the New Year, a couple of months after the non-ABS models.
In its spirit of being a lean and simple streetbike the Street doesn’t get much extra equipment as standard, though its instrument panel is re-designed to incorporate a fuel gauge, fuel consumption info and optional tyre pressure warning light. It’s a shame you still have to press the panel to toggle through the display, rather than use a switch on the handlebar and that there are still no self-cancelling indicators.
Hopefully those features will be added when Triumph eventually adopt ride-by-wire throttle control, which will also allow a traction control system like that of MV Agusta’s Brutale 675, this bike’s closest rival. (Triumph must be delighted that Japanese opposition has been limited to relatively heavy, dull fours such as Kawasaki’s Z750R and Suzuki’s GSR750, but the Italian marque is a growing threat.)
There are plenty of upgrades that can be added in the meantime, via Triumph’s extensive accessory catalogue. All the launch bikes were fitted with mini LED front indicators, machined brake master cylinders and nylon engine protector bars, as well as the colour-matched fly-screen and belly-pan. Some also had a quick-shifter, machined control levers, pillion seat cover and an Arrow silencer that sounded very fruity and comes with a street-legal baffle.
More practical extras include an alarm, pillion grab-handles and a U-lock, for which there’s now storage space below the seat. In some markets Triumph are also offering a ‘Launch Edition’ version of the Triple R — incorporating fly-screen, belly-pan, the machined master cylinders and engine protectors, plus centre-stand bobbins and tyre pressure monitoring system. It saves some money for customers who want those extras.
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