Since its launch in 2007 Triumph’s Street Triple has exceeded all expectations and proved itself a phenomenal success. Anyone who has tried to place an order for this little streetbike will be familiar with the term ‘waiting list.’ As it currently stands if you try and order one in white or black, the most popular colours, it should arrive sometime in January, perfect timing to enjoy those freezing UK roads while the salt eats away at anything metallic. Want it a bit sooner? Well, if your choice of colour is the rather lurid green option you should get it by October. But from that point on you can expect a hefty dose of ribbing from your mates, not to mention some fairly spectacularly crap weather in the coming months obviously.
Why is there such a backlog? Well, the Street Triple’s success caught Triumph on the hop. Sure, they expected it to sell well, but it’s actually the fastest selling Hinckley Triumph ever. This year they sold 7,500 Street Triples globally, with 1,100 of those staying put in the UK. So, to coin a phrase, Triumph has decided to make hay while the sun shines and launch a hotted-up R version.
Initially the plan was to only make 1,000 Rs and keep it as a limited edition prestige model, but that idea was soon scrapped when they saw riders clamouring to get hold of the basic model. Now just over half as many Rs will be made as standard bikes, and at only a £500 premium.
So what does you extra cash get you? The most obvious difference is the subtle matt paint schemes. Although the bikes we rode were only in the muted grey colour, come January this will be joined by a slightly more up-beat matt orange, which looked fantastic in the brief bit of sun that we had during the launch. Also new is a funky two-tone seat cover and chunky Magura handlebars, which look far more manly than the weedy chromed items on the stock bike. Visually that’s it, and engine-wise the two bikes are identical, but the R’s trump card is its fully-adjustable suspension, taken from the 2008 Daytona 675.
Apparently supersport racers who run Triumphs are finding there’s a healthy market for secondhand stock 675 shocks as Street Triple riders stick them in their bikes. Which is basically what Triumph has done. The body of the shock is identical to the 675’s, as are the forks bar a few millimetres of extension, but the Street Triple-R has slightly different spring rates and altered damping characteristics to suit the lighter bike. To all intents and purposes this is a Street Triple with the bouncy bits from a Daytona bolted in. In fact despite Triumph declining to confirm this, I’m 100% certain you could do just that, although please don’t sue me if you try and create some ditch-seeking naked missile!
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