2008 Triumph Street Triple
2008 Triumph Street Triple
Middleweight Heavy
BLAKE CONNER
IT WOULD BE A REAL SHAME IF THE BRAND-NEW 2008 Triumph Street Triple isn’t a smashing success. This bike is really, really good. It will likely post huge sales numbers in Europe, where consumers’ egos don’t as frequently get in the way of their purchasing decisions. But over here in America-where everything is supersized-a large number of buyers go straight for liter-class sportbikes, even if they have no business riding one. They’ll be missing out.
CW FIRST RIDE
NEW BIKES 2008
The Street Trip may only have recently been announced to the public, but the bike was designed in conjunction with the Daytona 675 for release two model years after that repli-racer. The engine that powers both was from the beginning designed for duty in a naked bike, right down to the visuals. Knowing this, designers made sure that wiring looms were neatly tucked away and that ugly fittings that might be normally hidden by bodywork were aesthetically cleaned up.
Take everything that you have read or know about the Daytona 675, then strip the bike down to its raw elements, throw on a set of upright tubular bars, install the iconic headlights made famous by the big brother Speed Triple and a star is born.
Most nakeds are dumbed-down versions of flagship sportbikes or, even worse, they get called “entry-level” But the ST is different. Changes were made to optimize this bike for its intended purpose of hardcore hooligan duty. Better yet, those changes have reduced the price of the bike by a full grand below the Daytona’s $8999 sticker.
It shares the same liquid-cooled, 675cc, 12-valve Triple as its plastic-clad sibling. Key difference is that the cam profiles have been altered (less lift) to provide more low-end torque, while the rev ceiling has been reduced from 13,200 rpm to 12,650. With its claimed 107 horsepower and 51 foot-pounds of torque at the crank, expect the Street Triple to top every other bike in the middleweight naked class. The closed-loop Keihin fuel-injection system shares the Daytona’s 44mm throttle bodies and triple multi-holed injectors.
This bike is a blast. With a power-to-weight ratio similar to that of the Speed Triple, the Street Triple is just plain impressive. The combination of a lightweight chassis stuffed with a torquey wallop of an engine makes this a bike that will satisfy not only less-experienced riders but those jaded types with many more miles under their belts. Triumph doesn’t exactly come out and say that this bike is its entry-level sportbike (it is), because it provides so much more than that label would suggest. The Street Triple will kick sand in the face of a Suzuki SV650, Honda 599 or Kawasaki Ninja 650.
Like much of the bike, the chassis is a kissing cousin to the Daytona 675’s. The same frame and swingarm are used, although the swingarm pivot point has been lowered by 2mm. Rake and trail are slightly more conservative (24.3 degrees/3.75 inches) to balance the leverage provided by the upright bars. Key to reducing the price of the ST was swapping a few main components for cost savings. The Daytona’s fully adjustable fork is replaced by a Kayaba 41mm inverted unit sans adjustability, while the Kayaba monoshock only has provision for spring preload adjustment. Another significant change is the use of two conventionally mounted, pinslide, twin-piston front brake calipers.
The international press introduction for the Street Triple took place near Lago di Garda in northeastern Italy, a beautiful region that is only a tank of gas away from the amazing mountain passes of the Dolomites. But the roads of the Trentino area have some pretty amazing curves of their own.
On bike, first concern was whether the more budgetoriented components were up to the task of attacking secondand third-gear mountain hairpins all day. The Triumph quickly defused any negative notions. Fitted with excellent Dunlop Qualifiers (120/70ZR17 front and 180/55ZR17 rear), the Triple instantly proved that not only could it handle the assignment, but you’d be hard-pressed to find another bike that could do it better.
From a handling standpoint, the Street Triple feels extremely light and responsive, flicking into and out of tight corners effortlessly. Point it through a series of fast sweepers and the front-end geometry provides excellent stability and neutral steering. The Italian mountain roads we sampled offered all sorts of surface conditions, and the bare-bones suspension sucked it all up with ease, thank you very much. We’re not sure if more-expensive components would improve the experience but they would definitely raise the price.
The same can be said of the brakes. A quick glance at the spec sheet doesn’t tell the story or do these stoppers justice. They provide more than enough power and have good feel; in fact, the Daytona’s brakes would be overkill on this bike. How can you complain about brakes that, with only one finger on the lever, pivot the bike up into long rolling stoppies?
The 675cc engine is also a perfect fit. The low-end and midrange torque made first-gear corner exits a one-wheel affair. We love this powerplant in the Daytona, but it perhaps fits this bike’s persona even better. Our only complaint pertaining to the engine was a slight stumble in fuel delivery at 5000 rpm when opening the throttle mid-corner from a completely closed position; we suspect it’s a lean spot that is a by-product of stringent Euro 3 emissions.
After a day in the accommodating 32-inch-high saddle, we came away impressed. The Street Triple has an excellent balance of power, handling and braking performance, all at a price that should be super easy to swallow. And how’s this for going out on a limb? It could just be that this bike even trumps the bigger Speed Triple! Let the inter-family rivalry begin. □
