Buy a Street Triple 675

The Triumph Street Triple is compact, lively — and big fun

TRIUMPH HAS PREVIOUS when it comes to taking a sporty model, throwing away the fairing and creating something that handles like a sportsbike, grunts like a tractor and wheelies like a mad thing. When it announced the skinny, track-focused Daytona 675 for 2006, everyone knew we’d be seeing a naked version not long after. It took nearly two years, but it proved worth the wait – the Street Triple was astoundingly good, as well as competitively priced (just a hundred quid more than a Honda Hornet at the time).

The styling was based on the bigger Speed Triple, but the Street was more than a small clone —it had a character all its own. Despite being detuned from Daytona spec, the revvy triple motor had plenty of pep for hauling out of corners, helped by lower gearing that also made it a wheelie monster. Suspension and brakes were basic but that was easily remedied by using Daytona 675 bits from breakers, or waiting for the ‘R’ model, arriving with full-featured suspension and brakes in late 2008.

A major update in 2013 saw more angular bodywork, a new frame and ABS as standard as well as reduced weight, a low exhaust, taller suspension (to keep the exhaust off the floor in corners) and a taller first gear. 2017 saw the new 765 version appear, but we’ll concentrate on the 675. There are plenty to choose from and they’re generally great buys, but there are a few things to be wary of.