Triumph Street Triple 675

Street Hooligan

WHAT IS IT?
Triumph's naked version of the ultra-successful Daytona 675, with a detuned powerplant and styling borrowed from the bigger Speed Triple.

WHAT'S IT LIKE?
An ultra-easy to ride road bike with loads of performance and strong sporting credentials - though not the equal of the Daytona as a track weapon.

THE BIKE
If nothing else, Triumph's PR folk aren't afraid of employing the random cliché generator. It's blurb on the Street Triple boasts: "Through a potent combination of performance DNA extracted from the Daytona 675 and aggressive streetfighter styling drawn from the Speed Triple, comes the most desirable naked middleweight motorcycle in the market - the Street Triple 675. As the Speed Triple's younger brother, the Street Triple 675 is a rebel with plenty of cause - lean, light and agile. The Street Triple 675 has masses of attitude and makes the most sensible rider grin like an idiot."

Actually, they have a point, as the mid-sized naked is a hoot to ride and has more than its fair share of hooligan attitude thrown into the mix. You may not have the skills of the stunt rider shown in the pics, but the layout of the machine does encourage you to explore the limits.

In some ways, this is hardly surprising. It's no secret that mid-sized road bikes tend to be more fun than just about anything else out there, combining serious horsepower into a compact and reasonably light package. The Street Triple is no exception.

Like just about every manufacturer out there, Triumph has taken its sports engine - in this case a 12-valve liquid-cooled injected triple - and detuned it for this use. Frankly I have mixed feelings about detuning naked machines, though this example works well enough on the road.

That's a fair drop in urge, but in any case something over 100 horses in a package this size is still serious. The bike is claimed to weight 167 kilos, oddly enough two more than the fully-clothed Daytona.

One aspect in the conversion which leaves me a little cold is the drop in spec for the front brakes, from four-piston radial mounts on the Daytona to two-piston conventional units on the Street Triple. That said, they work well enough and provide decent feel.

Suspension similar to the Daytona remains on board, with 41mm USD units up front and a solo rear, but it's lower spec and we're missing the full range of adjustment.

Tyres are Dunlop Qualifiers, which are built for grip rather than longevity.

Instruments combine an analogue speedo with digital everything else. The digi side includes lap timers, fuel consumption meters and trip meters, but no fuel gauge. There is however a low fuel warning.

Pillion accommodation is minimal and frankly I'd be looking for a bigger and/or more conventional machine if two people were part of the deal.

IN THE SADDLE
Frankly you could take any of the current middleweight nakeds out there and have a ball on it. Where the Triumph excels is with the sweet nature of the powerplant.

The triple pulls hard from 2000 and picks up a serious sport-bike howl (and lift in acceleration) above 8000rpm. It runs out of puff a little shy of 12,000, which means you have a very wide effective band of power, minimising the need to stir along the six-speed gearbox.

It may be down on power when compared to the Daytona, but it's not something you'll miss on the road. On the track, yes, but that's what the sport version is for.

Our machine had a full Arrow sports system on it. The finish was nothing to write home about, but the note was raunchy without being offensive, and by all reports it offers a noticeable lift in performance over the stocker. In any case, the throttle response was faultless and the package should be substantially lighter.

Steering is literally a delight. It tips in easily, leans predictably and there's a good sense of precision. The slightly lean-forward rider stance helps a little giving a slight sporting flavour to the plot.

Suspension is firm and not particularly long in the travel department, and responds well to smooth roads. Ours was a little nervous in the rough and we suspect this particular unit had problems with the rear damper.

The seat is very narrow, which will be helpful for those struggling to get their feet on the ground, but is not great for comfort. However out bike had an aftermarket gel seat, which helped things a little. Claimed height is 800mm, a substantial 25mm down from the tall Daytona.

Despite the lower seat, I found the bike reasonably roomy - certainly better than expected.

Fuel range from the 17.4 litre tank is quite substantial, given an easily-achieved fuel economy of 16km/lt-plus.

There's a lengthy list of accessories on offer and I'd be nominating the exhaust, gel seat and flyscreen as the top picks.

The Street Triple comes together as an absolute ball on a tight windy road, while remaining fun around town. There are better potential tourers out there, but it does at least have the fuel range to manage. All up there's a lot of stress-free performance on tap.

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