What started out as a budget bike has proved to be one of the real heroes of the Triumph range in recent years…
Much like the Ducati Monster, which enters its 30th year in 2023, the Triumph Street Triple started out as something of a parts bin special – before going on to outlive the model from which it was derived.
Where the Monster mashed up a Ducati 900SS and an 851 to create a naked roadster, the the base for the Street Triple was the Daytona 675 – Triumph’s breakthrough supersport machine launched in 2006 – with a hefty dash of Speed Triple 1050 thrown in for good measure. Introduced for the 2008 season, the Street Triple remains a massive success more than 15 years later – delivering the looks and entertainment of a supernaked motorcycle without the overwhelming power figures or eye watering price tags of the stripped-down superbikes.
And that should be no surprise. The three-cylinder Daytona was a landmark machine for the Hinckley Triumph era, giving the company its first truly class leading machine – and in the most hotly contested class of all – the 600cc supersport class where it went up against big hitters like the Honda CBR600RR and the Yamaha YZF-R6.
What the Daytona did was to challenge the 600cc four-cylinder sports bikes with a unique proposition, a torquey 675cc triple in a slim and agile chassis. It was a huge success and lifted the perception of Triumph as a staid but worthy manufacturer to one capable of innovating and bringing new ideas to the market.
So it was no surprise when, in late 2007, the Street Triple was announced.
At its most basic level, the Street was a stripped-down Daytona – minus the sports bike’s fairings, and with some lower grade components to keep the price down. The engine, detuned from north of 120bhp on the Daytona to 106bhp on the naked, featured cast iron cylinder liners to the race rep’s aluminium items, while the camshaft and various other internals were built for price and midrange tractability over outright performance.
On the chassis side, the two bikes shared the same frame, although the Street’s OE Dunlop Sportmax Qualifier tyres, non-adjustable suspension and sliding caliper brakes were basic to say the least. That said, with a £5349 price tag at launch, the Street Triple was an entry level model in the Triumph range, coming in a good £2000 less than the Daytona. It adopted many of the styling cues of the Speed Triple, the naked streetfighter which was one of the hero bikes in the Triumph range, most notably the twin bug eyed headlamps and the twin high level exhausts which were very much of its time. It replaced the Speed Four, the Daytona 600 derived naked, in the range and marked the end of Triumph building four-cylinder machines.
And it was a huge success, garnering rave reviews and flying out of showrooms as quickly as they could be built. The 675cc motor was a real peach, one of the most soulful ever made, and it handled sweetly despite the penny-pinching spec. It was a super fun machine and gave a far more engaging ride than the likes of the Honda Hornet and Kawasaki Z750 it was pitched up against.
A year after launch the Street Triple got the componentry its chassis deserved, and the Street Triple R was born. Selling alongside the standard model, the R didn’t receive a power boost but gained the adjustable suspension and radially mounted brakes of the Daytona. Other tweaks included fat alloy bars (replacing the cheap steel items from the standard model) and some matt paint finishes. The Street Triple R also featured in a short-lived one make race series, the Triumph ParkinGO Street Triple R European Series, which ran alongside European World Superbike races during the 2010 season.
A minor restyle in 2011 got a mixed reception. Technically the bike remained the same, just with some of the finishes upgraded, but it received the same controversial angular plastic headlights and odd tank badge as the Speed Triple. It wouldn’t be until 2013 that the Street Triple got a major overhaul.
As with the originals, the second generation Streetie shared much of its DNA with the Daytona, which had also undergone a major overhaul around the same time.
The 2013 Street Triple still wore *those* headlights but the frame and wheels were new and lighter, while the change from the traditional high-mounted twin silencers to a single muffler situated under the engine led to a 6kg weight loss and better handling through improved mass centralisation. Unlike the Daytona, which received a new short-stroke motor, the naked bike retained the same basic engine as before – albeit with a taller first gear.
Prices now started at £6999 but the componentry kicked up a level even on the base model, which now rolled on Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa rubber out of the factory. Once again, the R version (costing £700 more) featured better brakes and suspension, as well as cosmetic upgrades. As with earlier models, the R proved to be the more popular choice with buyers – who could now specify ABS brakes as an option. Early 2015 also saw the arrival of the oddly named Street Triple Rx, alongside the base model and the R, which was essentially a regular Street Triple R, but with the Daytona 675’s tail unit and distinctive red wheels.
By 2017 the Daytona was no more. Changes in taste had seen demand for middleweight sportsbikes fall through the floor and Triumph decided to axe it rather than reengineering it to meet the latest Euro4 regulations. The Street Triple, however, was a different matter and Triumph developed a new 765cc motor to power a range of third generation models.
Now a flagship model in its own right, the 765 truly was all-new and no longer constrained by being developed alongside the Daytona. In a bid to broaden the appeal as much as possible, Triumph offered it in a myriad of spec levels with differing power outputs. The base model made 113bhp and was now dubbed the S, with the 118bhp R and 123bhp RS offering higher levels of chassis components and electronics in addition to the extra power. The S was also made in small numbers with a 660cc engine, making it eligible for A2 licence holders to ride.
This new Street Triple range also utilised ride-by-wire technology, allowing Triumph to fit a whole suite of rider aids to the triple, with higher spec models getting more gadgets and even TFT dashboards – something usually only reserved for high end bikes back then.
By now the Street Triple was no longer a naked Daytona or a baby Speed Triple, but a distinct model, or range of models, in its own right. The launch of the 2017 Street Triple came with a real surprise, when Triumph announced they would be replacing Honda as the engine supplier for the Moto2 world championship, with all chassis manufacturers having to use the Street Triple’s 765cc motor for their race bikes from 2019.
The street bikes gained another update in 2020. Ostensibly to meet the latest Euro5 emissions rules, the 2020 models were more or less the same in terms of chassis and styling, but gained a whole host of engine and electronics modifications to make them more efficient. Although peak power figures remained the same as on the 2017 versions, Triumph’s engineers managed to extract more mid-range power and torque, making the Street Triple even more ridable and continuing its ascendency into a more grown up and refined machine.
In recent years Triumph has continued to drop some Street Triple surprises. For a brand which had previously shown a real reticence towards going racing, and with a bike which was always designed as a naked street bike, the aforementioned announcement that the 765cc motor would be adopted as the spec motor for the Moto2 world championship was something no one saw coming. The project really seems to have paid off for the British company, with the engines proving reliable and lap times proving much faster than their CBR600RR powered predecessors.
Even more unexpected was the decision to enter the Supersport World Championship under the ‘Next Generation’ rules designed to open out middleweight production racing to bikes beyond the traditional 600cc fours from 2022. Adorned with the Daytona 675’s fairing, the racing Street Triple RS even won in its debut season, with Italian rider Stefano Manzi topping the podium in Portugal.
This year sees the arrival of a fourth-generation model. Taking on board the learnings from racing, and making some modifications which should benefit racers and street riders alike, this year’s range again has three variants. Tellingly, the 118bhp R is now the base version, with the 128bhp RS joined by a new Moto2 Edition. The Moto2 machine is the sportiest Street Triple yet, featuring clip on handlebars for the first time, as well as Ohlins suspension front and rear.
The Street Triple is no longer the result of a raid on the Hinckley parts bin but a dedicated sports naked with a pedigree every bit as strong as the Daytona 675 and Speed Triple which inspired it – who’s to suggest we won’t still be celebrating it in another 15 years time?
VIDEO: 2023 Triumph Street Triple range | What you need to know!
