Triumph Street Triple
(2007-2010)
Think of a bike that packages up all the things we loved in the likes of the Yamaha Rd350lc, 250, or later YPVS. Think of something with a stunningly characterful engine, with a chassis that delivered handling perfection in spades and had that perfect balance between power, chassis and brakes. This, my friends, is what you’re looking at here: the modern Elsie, and it’s British. This is no idle boast. I truly believe it. Launched in July 2007 around Lake Garda, this was, essentially, a Daytona 675 with the fairing ripped off it, but (as with the best bikes) the sum of the parts (removed or otherwise) became so much more.
Like the LCS and Powervalves of old, as soon as you ride one of these things you have a daft grin plastered all over your face. Power comes from the characterful 674.8cc liquid-cooled triple used in the Daytona, but re-tuned for lower-rev ‘oomph’. The result is a peach of a powerplant: you’ve got 107-claimed bhp at 11,700rpm and 51ft-lb about 2000rpm lower down. Ultimately the revs were capped down to 12,650rpm from 14,250 of the Daytona to give the bike that extra mid-range grunt. It’s lovely and – with some saucy pipes – sounds
even better than it goes. You really don’t need any more than what the Street Triple gives you, even if part of you will almost want the extra from the 1050 Speed Triple of similar vintage. Back-to-back you’ll get more out of, and have more fun on the smaller bike. Trust me.
Chassis/styling was based on the third generation of Speed Triple and it’s a gawky, ‘only-a-mothercould-love’ mix of bulbous eye/headlights, hi-rise pipes and exposed frame and engine. I love it, some don’t. With the motor and handling being bob on, Triumph did the business in the braking department too, although they did go for twin-piston sliding calipers and not the radial brakes which were coming into fashion at the time. They still work well, and as-new shared brake pads/compounds from the sportier Daytona 675.
While this thing did handle, the budget side of things (it was only £5349 new ferchrissakes) also meant that, along with brakes, the suspension was a little basic. The 41mm inverted forks were not adjustable, while the rear monoshock was pre-load adjustment only. If the sussies are still in good nick today, that will be fine, but if you like the bells and whistles you could always seek out the later ‘R’ versions (late 2008-on), which mates the fully adjustable suspension of the Daytona 675 to the already phenomenal motorcycle. Please don’t think that anything I’ve written here is hyperbole, because this bike is a stunner in the mould of the middleweight classics of old. Cheap on launch, today £2500 could see this future classic in your garage – £3k would get a nice one. What are you waiting for?