What owners say…
WHO BUYS STREET TRIPLES? The average age of ‘our’ owners was 43 but that spans novices looking for their first big bike to older riders who are looking for something different. And sometimes both in one package. Pete Owens is 52 but didn’t get round to passing his test until 2012, and bought his 62-plate Street straight after: “I wanted a bike that wasn’t too heavy or too fast and I thought a naked would keep my speed down. It’s a superb-handling mid-size bike, great fun to ride fast and slow.
“I typically lead group rides anywhere between 150 to 350 miles in a day and find the standard seat comfy enough provided I stop every 90 minutes, which coincides with coffee and loo stops anyway. It’s easy and light to manoeuvre when putting it away, washing it or reverse parking. I think it’s good as a first bike and still looks great. It’s never broken down or let me down.”
Sarah Harper is another relative newcomer who went straight from test to Street Triple (a 2014 base model) and she’s packed in the experience ever since: “So far I’ve done around 27,000 miles in just under two years. The bike
wants to go. Wants to have fun. It’ll make you smile. It’ll make you giggle.
“You can’t help but get swept up in its enthusiasm. If you’re not smiling after the first day there’s something wrong with you. It’s happy around town in traffic or at speed around the twisties. I can do motorway mileage despite the lack of wind protection.
“The furthest trip we’ve done was 4500 miles from Blackpool to Morocco and back. I was told it wasn’t possible to do such a trip on “a girl’s bike” and that I should “get myself a proper adventure bike” but there was no way I was going without my Stripple. Half the fun is sharing the adventure with it. We got lost and did 65 miles over the Atlas Mountains, mostly off-road with pot holes that dropped into Hell. I came away smiling. I fancy Iceland with it next year. “
Just to balance out all that positivity, Elliot Waters has a very different story. He’s our youngest owner here, at just 21, but he has also had the most problems with his Street Triple — a 2016 example. “The curves and the whole look is just awesome to me. The inline triple is amazing, the sound and the feel round corners is blissful. It’s reactive yet forgiving.
But... In the first two years I’ve had the following problems, all covered under warranty: oil leaks, four new indicators, new tank (seat rubbed through paint), new radiator (just split — a massive hole), rusted tail tidy, paint around the engine behind the headers flaking away and a whole new lock set — the ignition just stopped working. Seems like I ended up with a Friday afternoon bike. Now I’m left with a horrible rattling noise from the engine — it sounds like a bag of nails.”