TRIUMPH STREET TRIPLE RS
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN…
It’s been a frustrating month for Triumph action. Sportsbike of the Year duties kept me out of the country for a week and also necessitated the loan of my RS to Bruce as I swapped in with his Fireblade which needed prepping and packing for the Portugal bound truck. Therefore of the three hundred miles registered this month very few are mine, in fact I think I did more on the R6 round Portimao in a day than I managed in a full month on the trumpet.
Fortunately I am still buzzing from my visit to Castle Combe which only reinforced the reports from the launch at Catalunia circuit that this was a proper track weapon. If any further evidence of this was needed there’s the fact that it, unlike the rest of Street Triple line up, comes with Pirelli Supercorsa SP as the OE fitment. This is a great tyre for Combe which has the ability to really challenge you, questioning whether you have the balls to carry your speed from the Start/ Finish into the long fast right hander at Folly. Holding your nerve to break late into the tight right hander at Quarry or indeed keep the gas on over the occasional bumps that make this a key TT training ground.
This track has intimidated me in the past but this day was different, the 765cc delivery is smooth though deliberate, and the M50 Brembo calipers work in harmony with the focused rubber and suspension. You always feel under control while heavy braking. Then of course there is the Showa big piston forks combining with the Öhlins STX40 Monoshock taking all of the movement out of the occasional sharp rise or fall in track surface.
Unfortunately I can’t ride this on track every day and with road miles limited this month have to look at other merits of this bike. One of the stand-out things is the TFT dash, not only pretty but extremely user friendly navigation. The five-way joystick on the left bar allows you to toggle through your modes with ease, be it Street, Sport, Wet, Track or Rider configuration. Wet as you would expect will give you a more sluggish power delivery to aid traction on damp surfaces, Street is the norm unless giving it a few beans which is when you would step it up into Sport. Then of course you have the Track mode exclusive to this model and Rider, where you customize your riding and can turn off TC, ABS etc. I shall be investigating this more soon.
As for the speedo and rev counter you have two ‘themes’ each including three styles of display. The other models in the range only have one theme thus three styles to choose from as opposed to the RS’s six. This is a nice touch for those that hanker after something a bit different. In each scenario you have your gear monitor, fuel and riding mode displayed which for me is the real benefit though choice is never a bad thing.
So for the coming month it will be more road miles for me. I will try to get another sneaky track session in to really get into the heart of the different modes but will see what I can get away with. I am very interested in running this on James’s Dyno at JHS racing. His take on the new 765 engine that will be supplied to all Moto2 racers from 2019 will be fascinating, especially with his past of racing what now seems like a very old 675….
Oh, and P.S. Made a boob last month when I said that heated grips came as standard. They don’t, it’s an added extra which came with this staffer as they probably knew I was getting it and was a bit of a Jessie...