Triumph Street Cup
Triumph Street Cup £8800 + 900cc parallel twin + 54bhp + 200kg + 12L tank + 780mm seat Tester: Lee Skellet, contributor
A SHORT WHILE ago, editor Weir gave me the good news: “I’d like you to run a Street Triple for the year.” You won’t hear me complaining – though giving a Street Triple to a chap with a tendency for motorcycling mischief is like giving an assault rifle to a chimp: at some point, something’s going to happen. But that will have to wait, because the Street Triple R isn’t in dealers yet, so in the meantime, I’m trundling around on this Street Cup.
Trundling is certainly the right word, too, because even though it’s already run-in and I’m not restricted to half revs, the 900 twin of the Street Cup doesn’t exactly tear your arms off. The flat exhaust note throughout the rev range does little to add to the excitement, unless you count the rush of hitting the limiter when trying to join the motorway. Top that all off with the intrusive traction control and you have the recipe for a much more sedate ride than that promised by the Street Triple. But the more those underwhelming first impressions subside, the more I’m getting to like the Cup.
That’s mostly a result of nothing more substantial than pure aesthetics. Like many a modern retro bike, it definitely looks cool. But the Street Cup’s ace-in-the-hole is that it also manages to make you FEEL cool when you’re riding it. That blend of good looks and ego massage makes it easier to overlook the lack of high-speed performance. Just look at those sweeping exhaust headers or that seat unit and try to dislike it...
Throw a leg over it, lower yourself on to the drop bars and stare into the twin round clocks, and suddenly you don’t really care about repeatedly hitting the rev limiter, the dull brakes, or the fun-policing TC. It’s not the point. All that stuff just isn’t important when set against the enjoyable experience you get when you just back it off a bit and waft along, soaking up the Street Cup vibe.
Of course, I could set about extracting more power, changing exhausts and upgrading brakes, but I don’t really want to. The Street Cup is never going to be a powerhouse and that’s not what retro bikes like this are about. As it stands, this bike is just the right balance of practical and pretty for me. So, if it ain’t broke...