Pommie flew out to South Australia to check out the heavily updated Triumph Street Triple 765, check out what he thought of the Moto2 derived machine on the road and at The Bend!
For the Aussie launch of the new Street Triple 765RS, we headed to the Adelaide Hills, then spent a day at The Bend Raceway! Despite the R not yet to land in Aus, Pom became acquainted with the new RS. He’s in love! Here’s our 765RS review Pics: Dean Walters
I remember way back in 2007 riding the original Street Triple 675, a bike that had been derived from the supersport Daytona. That bike had hit the mark worldwide, with the press and buyers alike – from then on, the Street Triple has evolved over the years into a formidable street bike that’s also more than capable of being fanged around a race track.
The bike’s styling has also developed and has become more and more aggressive over the years and although styling is a personal thing, I personally love it and have tested every model since, and it won many of our middleweight nakedbike shootouts in the Rapid Bikes days, for good reason.
Check out our last gen 2017 Street Triple 765 review here…
After catching up with the Triumph crew and the other journalists over dinner and a few beers, it was off to bed for an early start. With instructions to meet in the underground carpark at 8am sharp for a quick morning tech briefing about the bike, we then hit the streets and through the city, heading to the Adelaide Hills to put the bikes through their paces.
Triumph has improved the 765RS in all areas, to keep up and in some cases trump the stiff competition from the other manufacturers. For example, the RS motor gets a few goodies compared to the R model, these include high lift cams, new valves, high compression pistons that bring the compression ratio up to 13.25:1 and shallow intake trumpets.
All models now get a new IMU system, which incorporates clever lean angle traction control, wheelie control and ABS. You also get an extra 5hp up on the previous model, taking power to 128hp@12000rpm, which is 10 more horses than the new R model. Torque is now a healthy 80Nm@9600rpm on the RS, right where it’s needed.
Commuting in the city the bike is so easy to ride, it’s nimble through the traffic and has a cable operated clutch which is nice and light, making taking off from a start a breeze. The lever is also span adjustable to suit individual hand sizes, as is the brake lever side.
There’s nothing to dislike about street riding on the 765RS, it’s at home in this environment, the bars are wide enough to offer good leverage, but narrow enough to lane split, even with the wider bar mirrors on…
The gearbox is a thing of joy, precise with a good feel and really once you’ve selected first gear and let the clutch out, the up and down quickshifter takes care of the rest. It’s one of the best I’ve ever used – finding neutral is also easy, stationary or rolling to a stop. Helping with city riding is the fuelling, it’s smooth and progressive, just as it should be.
“The gearbox is a thing of joy, precise with a good feel. Once you’ve selected first gear and let the clutch out, the quickshifter takes care of the rest… It’s one of the best I’ve ever used.”
Once we started heading into the hills, it quickly became apparent that this bike was going to be a whole lot of fun, not that I didn’t already know that from the first second I pressed the start button, but for me though it’s all about the twisty corners.
Triumph have increased the steering rake on the RS model by adding a top shock mount spacer to the rear Ohlins STX40 shock lifting the rear by 20mm, which has the effect of sharpening up the steering and allowing the bike to turn quicker while still feeling composed with the help of the great damping from the 41mm Showa big-piston forks. Not that the previous model was known as a slow steering bike, quite the opposite.
With the increase in steering rake and the lightweight of the RS (189kg wet) you’d think that the bike would be twitchy and nervous, but this is not the case. Tipping into a corner the bike feels precise and predictable, you almost get the feeling that you can place the front-end wherever you want and the chassis would just accept it, even when on a decent lean angle encountering rough surfaces mid corner is not enough to dually unsettle the Triumph.
“Tipping into a corner the bike feels precise and predictable, you almost get the feeling that you can place the front-end wherever you want and the chassis would just accept it”…
They have done a good job of balancing the suspension for a mixture of comfort and sports riding. Getting hard on the gas exiting the corners the bike comes alive, in the first two gears the front end will easily lift off the ground, especially if you have disengaged traction control.
However, if you have the bike selected in Rain, Road or Sports mode the wheelie control will greatly intervene and spoil you hooligan fun, although Track mode does allow the front wheel to paw the sky and you can set up your personal preferences in Rider mode. The bike does make you come to a complete standstill before you can select Track mode and the same goes for deselecting the traction control, which is a real shame for experienced (hooligan) riders.
A standout feature on the RS are the brakes, with Brembo Stylema monobloc calipers gripping 310mm discs and a Brembo MCS radial master-cylinder fitted, it doesn’t get much better. The feel and power are just fantastic! You can’t even tell the ABS was intervening at all, the system just works together flawlessly. The front and rear brakes are linked together in all modes except Track mode, but for me the system works well and is hardly even noticeable on the road.
Triumph have done a good job with the ergonomics, after a full day in the saddle my bum was in good shape so I have no complaints about the comfort. The 836mm seat height is perfect for my 183cm frame, as is the reach to the bars and footpegs. Triumph does have a lower seat height as an option for shorter people. A small wind deflector/screen fitted as standard would be nice. When you get to higher speeds there’s not much protecting you from the wind, which would be very noticeable on a longer, faster track.
The new TFT dash is clear and easy to read, however, I’d prefer the option of a more traditional rev counter from the many switchable dash options, I find them easier to see. The TFT is very customisable and has a custom Rider mode, you could play literally with it for hours, changing colours and what functions you want to see displayed on the dash.
“Cruise control is a feature that I would have liked to have seen as standard, but you can get it as an option and it only costs $190″…
Cruise control is a feature that I would have liked to have seen as standard, but you can get it as an option and it only costs $190. Some people will be saying “Why do you need cruise control on a bike?” but once you’ve used it on one of these new fly by wire bikes, it’s hard to see owning a bike without it.
You wouldn’t look at the Triumph Street Triple 765RS and think “This will make the perfect track bike”. In a way you’d be right, there are far more suitable bikes out there for track days. However, we were given a chance to spend the day at the east circuit of The Bend and I’m completely blown away by how capable the 765RS is on track.
I’m not going to pretend that I’m a road racer, I’m a street rider that loves to get on the track whenever I can and when you get the likes of two time Isle of Man TT winner Cameron Donald passing you, it’s a timely reminder that ‘I’m not as fast as I thought I was’. Saying that, you don’t need the skills of a TT legend to have fun on the 765RS, it’s a very easy bike to ride fast.
The 765RS really shines on this tight and twisty track, where the bikes razor sharp handling comes into its own. The Bembo Stylema brakes perform brilliantly through hard braking, combined with the grip the Pirelli Super Corsa tyres offer, it’s way more performance than I could ever find the limits of.
A great thing about being at this track and only having another four or five riders on there at the same time, means you can really have a play and explore the performance of that incredible triple-cylinder engine, that’s been derived from Moto2 technology.
Stopping to launching from a start is great fun on full throttle and clicking up through the gears using the quickshifter I can really use all of those 128 horses. The sound being sucked through those induction trumpets, combined with the three-into-one exhaust note, is addictive, I can only imagine what one of these 765’s would sound like with an aftermarket airfilter and slip-on exhaust.
With the fully adjustable Big-Piston Showa front forks and fully adjustable Ohlins XST40 shock, you have pretty much every option covered to be able to set the bike up for yourself. On the road, the suspension is a great compromise for sporty riding and comfort, on the track I had the option of stiffening up the settings, but I chose to keep it stock. If it were my bike, I’d have a bit of a play with the suspension once I’d become more familiar with the bike and the track I was riding on.
I almost knew before coming on the launch that I’d love the bike, I mean all the previous models have been great, Triumph would really have to have dropped a bollock to stuff this one up and I’m glad to say they haven’t. It’s just a combination of the bike’s lightweight, quick steering, great handling chassis and the sound/performance from the three-cylinder powerhouse.
More importantly, it’s the way the bike put a smile on my face when I rode it and at only $20,590 RA for the RS, it’s a bargain, unless you get carried away with the extensive options available that is…
2023 Triumph Street Triple 765RS Specifications
Price: From $20,590 rideaway
Colours: Carnival Red, Silver Ice, Cosmic Yellow
Warranty: Two year warranty
Claimed Power: 95.6W@12000rpm
Claimed Torque: 80Nm@9500rpm
Wet Weight: 188kg
Fuel capacity: 15L
Fuel Consumption Claimed: N/A
Fuel Consumption (measured): N/A
Engine: Liquid-cooled, 12 valve, DOHC, inline 3-cylinder, 765cc, 13.25:1 compression ratio, 78mm x 53.4mm bore x stroke, Multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection with electronic throttle control, Stainless steel 3 into 1 header system with low single sided stainless steel silencer, six-speed gearbox, multi-plate slipper clutch.
Chassis:Aluminium beam twin spar frame with 2 piece high pressure die cast rear subframe
Suspension: Showa 41 mm upside down Big Piston Forks (BPF), adjustable compression and rebound damping, and preload adjustment. 115mm wheel travel (F) Öhlins STX40 piggyback reservoir monoshock, adjustable compression and rebound damping, and preload adjustment. 131.2mm wheel travel (R)
Brakes: Twin 310mm floating discs, Brembo Stylema 4-piston radial monobloc calipers, OC-ABS, Brembo MCS radial master cylinder (f), Single 220 mm disc, Brembo single piston caliper, OC-ABS (r).
Wheels & Tyres: 120/70 ZR 17 Cast aluminium alloy 5 spoke 17 x 3.5 in, 180/55 ZR 17 Cast aluminium alloy 5 spoke 17 x 5.5 in.
Dimensions
Wheelbase: 1399mm
Seat height: 836mm
Ground clearance: N/A
Overall width: 792mm
Overall Length: N/A
Overall height: 1064mm
Electronics: Full colour 5″ TFT instruments
2023 Triumph Street Triple 765RS Aussie Launch Gallery
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The Verdict | Launch: 2023 Triumph Street Triple 765RS, Road & Track Test!
March 28, 2023
Headline! A pom goes round the bend in Adelaide!
March 29, 2023
So is the moto2 model available to buy in Australia?
Seems to be on the Triumph website, but keep reading elsewhere it’s sold out?
Any review of the phone connection options to report?
Nobody seems to have reviewed this, considering the price it would be nice to have some feedback or information on what it’s actually like. Previous generations have underwhelming reviews.
April 3, 2023
Hi Max – the Moto2 model is listed as available as you say – but it may be a long wait, or not updated. I’ve emailed Triumph OZ to find out. When we get the bike for our usual two week test, we can explore the connectivity. Too hard at a launch.
Cheers. Jeff.