2017 Triumph Street Triple RS review, track ride

Whether it's carving up the mountain roads around Barcelona, or hitting the track, the levels of intuition are phenomenal. And it also comes shod with Pirelli's Diablo Super Corsa SP tyres that work marvellously on the road and on the track. However, it would work better to get the tyres well-heated before trying anything aggressive, especially on damp or wet roads.

The Street Triple RS also gets ABS-assisted Brembo Monobloc M50 brakes that work wonderfully. And the brake lever also offers great adjustability. Not only can you adjust the how far it sits away from the handlebar, you can also set the amount of bite and lever travel via a small rotating knob at the base of the lever.

But the icing on the cake would have to be the new engine. If you thought the old engine was great, this one is even better. It's derived from the Daytona's 675cc inline-triple but gets a gets a bump of about 90cc and is now 765cc. This obviously results in an increase in power and torque, but nothing unmanageable. Although it puts out 123hp now, this engine is as user-friendly as before and encourages you to really wring that throttle open if the situation permits. The level of crispness and responsiveness delivered via the ride-by-wire throttle in Sport and Track mode is spot on. The gearbox gets a slight shortening of the first two gears, which works for traffic situations and ambling about, as well as out on the race track. This is where the quickshifter comes in handy. Clutch feel is light and precise, and the slipper clutch cuts in to allow for some nice controlled slides during hard downshifting. We would have loved to have the option of an auto-blipper.

Another area Triumph has done a great job again, is with the seating geometry. It's not too aggressive for the street, neither is it too laid-back for the track. All that time at the drawing board has definitely paid off. Although, because it is a naked, the wind blast post 130kph is noticeable. We'd recommend a taller, aftermarket windscreen for better wind deflection at the track as well. Once the RS crosses that 195kph mark, you'll really have to put in an effort to hold on. We saw a speedo-indicated 232kph on the main straight of the Catalunya circuit, at which point everything was simply a blur because of the amount of wind blast.

After spending an entire day riding the 2017 Street Triple RS through the mountains and on the Catalunya MotoGP circuit, we can say that we are mighty impressed with what Triumph has done. The second-gen Street Triple was a lovely motorcycle, but this third-gen RS version is a game changer. The levels of agility, overall friendliness and its electronics package are sure to make this great motorcycle. It will make its way to India via a CKD route, so we can expect rather competitive pricing. However, India will first get the S and R versions, which will be followed by the sportier RS version.

Triumph Street Triple

₹ 11.99 lakh * on road price (New Delhi)

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