Triumph revised its Street Triple R ahead of MY2020 with a number of improvements across the board. A more extreme nose-down look adds to its racing credentials, and it all comes powered by a new three-banger that generates 11.3-percent more oomph than the superseded model. It's also available in a “Low” configuration that drops the seat almost two inches closer to the deck.

Triumph Street Triple R Design

Triumph intends its Street Triple family to serve as its definitive naked-streetfighters, and that drives the overall look of the Street Triple R. A cut-down front fender comes with foil-shaped uprights to aid in penetration and protect the swept area of the inverted front forks. Plus, its light weight helps reduce unsprung weight at the front axle, and that brings with it a measure of extra comfort and safety as it protects the integrity of the front contact patch.

Generous blackout paint covers all potential shiny bits, which gives it a stealthy/sinister panache that fits nicely with its street-racing chops. Dual LED headlights come complete with DRL brows that accentuate their angry-bird shape and add to your daytime visibility/safety. A short-but-broad flyscreen tops the headlight housings to provide protection for the LCD multifunction instrument display and its side screen that combine to handle all of the higher electronic functions as well as the mundane riding metrics. Blackout mirrors ride on a similarly dark handlebar that sports new switchcubes and five-way joystick control to spruce up the thumb controls.

The 4.6-gallon fuel tank carries a strong taper to the rear to meet the narrow waist with a broad flange up top that forms generous knee pockets and pull your legs in for man-machine integration. A sculpted saddle rides in a deep swale between the tank and upswept pillion pad for even more of said integration.

The base model seat rides at 32.5 inches off the deck, but if you prefer a lower saddle, the “Low” model drops the butt-bucket down to 30.7 inches high. Fold-up footpegs mount to the subframe for passenger comfort, but the tail is rather clean with no grab rails for your riding partner.

A high-and-tight taillight rides in the terminus of the tail above a narrow mudguard that also mounts the back blinkers, plateholder, and taglight, all in LED tech. Overall, the factory seems to have hit all of the pertinent high points for a naked-streetburner while maintaining its signature Britishness.

Triumph Street Triple R Chassis

Aluminum is the material of choice for the twin-spar front frame and die-cast, two-piece rear frame as well as the yoke-style swingarm to keep things as light as possible on the new Street Triple R. Since it manages a dry weight of only 370 pounds, I'd say it's a job well done.

The front frame sets the steering geometry at 23.5 degrees of rake with a dead-short 3.87 inches of trail once the 17-inch front hoop is factored in and that makes for decidedly agile handling to the verge of being twitchy.

Cast aluminum appears yet again in the light five-spoke wheels with a 17 incher out back as well, and they're shod with Pirelli's Diablo Rosso Corso hoops in a 120/70 ahead of a 180/55 to make the connection to the tarmac. They come with a top-speed “Z” rating that will take all you and the Triple can throw at it and should serve as an indication of the performance you can expect.

Inverted 41 mm Showa forks float the front end on the full trinity of adjustments and 4.52 inches of travel while the rear end rides on the same set of variables with 5.15 inches of travel – plenty for civilized roads. The anchors are pretty serious as well with dual 310 mm discs and four-bore radial monobloc calipers from Brembo to haul down the front wheel. Out back, a 220 mm disc and single-pot binder takes care of business, all under the watchful gaze of a stock ABS feature that'll keep you from locking them up.

Triumph Street Triple R Drivetrain

The three-banger engine on the Street Triple R that contributes to the name enjoys a rare pedigree with the famous “Daytona” engine as its main design contributor, and is significantly refined from the previous generation. Bore and stroke mic out at 77.99 mm and 53.38 mm for a 765 cc displacement and speecy-spicy 12.5-to-1 compression ratio that'll demand the most octane you can get from a road pump.

A ride-by-wire throttle control passes on rider demand to the ECU, but that's just the start of it all. A trio of riding mode profiles deliver varying levels of throttle response, and it comes paired with traction control to help you keep the thing dirty-side down.

As for power, the triple cranks out a generous 116 horsepower at a lofty 12,000 rpm, backed up by 57 pound-feet of torque that tops out at 9,400 rpm to make this a mill that likes to be wound up pretty doggone tight. Power is coupled to the transmission via a slipper-type clutch that provides some extra security for the rear contact patch by limiting the backtorque in the system upon hard downshifts and engine-braking actions.

A six-speed transmission crunches the ratios and sends the power to the rear wheel through a tough X-ring chain final drive, and the “R” comes stock with Triumph's Shift assist feature that lets you bang up and down through the gears. Top speed caps at around 144 mph.

Triumph Street Triple R Price

Whether you go with the stock model or its “Low” counterpart, you can expect to shell out $10,800. Both are available in a choice between Sapphire Black with red trim and Matte Silver Ice with red trim, both with widespread blackout treatment.

Triumph Street Triple R Competitors

The new Street Triple enters a mature market with no shortage of worthy competition from which to choose, so just a quick look at the Big Four turned up the naked Z900 ABS from Kawasaki.

Kawasaki Z900

Sugomi philosophy that seeks to impart elements of a stalking predator on the hunt.|align=center>

Sure, the Z900 is a little bit bigger with a 948 cc four-cylinder engine that puts out 125 shaft horsepower and 99 pound-feet of torque against the Triumph's 116/57 to gain an early edge. In the looks department, the Kawi benefits from the factory's Sugomi philosophy that seeks to impart elements of a stalking predator on the hunt, and to be honest, I think Sugomi}. This is mainly due to the weird sticky-outie headlight housing on the Trumpet of which I'm just not a fan. It's too insectoid/alien for my taste.

The Kawi also carries the Z900 actually wins the relative-beauty contest that sports a robust electronics suite to meet Triumph point-by-point. Suspension equipment takes a dive on the Z900 with only 2-out-of-3 of the tweaks carried by the Trumpet. Honestly, iABS, traction control, and power modes between these two, and the pain gets worse for Triumph at the checkout against t's the power figures that make the most difference to me.

Read our full review of the Kawasaki Z900.

He Said

“If only it weren't for that odd front end. The profile is just goofy looking up front with the eyes out on a central stalk, and I don't care if it's part of the intake or not. Looks aside, the Triumph triple makes for a viable alternative to the usual 2- or 4-bore powerplants, and at the end of the day, the new Street Triple R carves out a spot for itself among the top naked bikes in the world.”

She Said

My wife and fellow motorcycle writer, Allyn Hinton, says, “I have to agree with my husband. That weird sticky-outie headlight just puts me off. The upside is, if you're sitting on it, you're not looking at it, so I'll just set that aside for a moment. Performance-wise, the chassis and power-to-weight ratio make for a fun ride and it is priced lower than the model prior to this update. Comparing the Street Triple R and the RS, the RS has a TFT display, it has five ride modes instead of three, it has a handful more horsepower, and the rear suspension on the RS is Öhlins STX40 fully-adjustable piggyback reservoir RSU. You'll just have to decide it that's worth the extra $2,000 or not.”

Triumph Street Triple R Specifications

Further Reading

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