2024 Triumph Street Triple 765 R and RS Review

Sep 28, 2023

Arguably Triumph's most important motorcycle has come in for a full facelift for 2024. Let's go for a spin and see what's up.

Photography by Gareth Hartford and Andrew Northcott

The Triumph Street Triple is the most important motorcycle in Triumph's lineup. It's a big statement, I know, but let's look at how I came to that conclusion.

The Street Triple, at least the motor, is responsible for one-third of the powerplants currently doing circles in MotoGP. As the current single engine supplier to Moto2, the Triumph 765 motor comes under incredible scrutiny by the most demanding riders on the planet and under the full spotlight of the world's media, and it's become so reliable and consistently powerful that many team owners no longer bother attending the random lottery for the distribution of powerplants, according to Trevor Morris, the technical director the company employed to build and maintain the engines at ExternPro in Spain.

Another reason why the Street Triple is the most important bike in Triumph's lineup is this bike has officially replaced the legendary Daytona as Triumph's supersport bike and must fill two very different roles. No longer is Triumph building a race bike and selling it on the street. It's the other way around now—they’ll sell you a street bike that you need to convert into race trim, which seems like a winning formula, judging by their success at Daytona, the TT, WorldSSP and more.

And, finally, it's the most important bike for Triumph because the middleweight naked-bike class is currently where most of the development from the leading manufacturers is going. The 1000cc-plus naked-bike segment is slowly running out of puff, and just like the mid-size ADV market, middleweight nakeds are seen as the hot girl at the party, the one whose attention everyone wants. You can do pretty much anything on a 765 naked (or a Yamaha MT-09 SP or KTM 890 Duke R) that you can do on a 1000cc firebreather, but not have to deal with the weight. The only place those bikes make sense is on the Autobahn or the racetrack.

The Street Triple 765 is available in three editions for 2024—the lower-spec R, the more track/sport-focused RS, and the limited-edition Street Triple Moto2, which has sold out everywhere except in America (they’ll probably be gone by the time you read this).

We just got back from experiencing both the R and RS on the roads surrounding the momentous racetrack of Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto—the Moto2's basically sold-out existence means no rides for hack-handed freeloading journos—but the changes wrought on the two lower-spec models have resulted in a significantly improved motorcycle, one that was already near the top of the middleweight class.

As has been the case for a while now, the Street Triple range, which hit the 765cc mark for the 2017 model year, is a gradual ramp-up in specification but with the same familial genes at heart.

That heart consists of a relatively heavily revised powerplant that produces a claimed seven horsepower up on the last Street Triple to get revised in 2020. The RS leads the way with a claimed 128 hp at 12,000 rpm, with the base model R producing a claimed 118 hp at 11,500 rpm. Both bikes have a claimed 59 lb-ft of torque, taken at 9500 rpm.

"We wanted to improve combustion, that's really important, and we wanted to improve the intake and exhaust-gas flow," says Triumph's Head of Engineering, Stuart Wood. "We wanted to increase compression ratio and allow higher combustion pressures, so when you put those things together, that's when you get the increase in performance.

"The absolute core of the engine is the combustion chamber in the cylinder head and the piston crown. Both of those areas are now fully machined and are now exactly the same as the Moto2 engine. That allows us to have very precise control and to take ourselves closer to the limit of compression ratio that we’d like to achieve.

"We’ve gone up to 13.25:1 compression ratio, which is just a fraction less than the Moto2 engine. We’ve machined in bigger valve cut-outs in the cylinder head, we’ve got more valve lift, and we’ve gone for a stronger conrod, all to take the loads we are now producing. This engine really is a case of our racing department helping the production side."

Wood's team coupled the combustion-chamber and piston-crown changes with 20mm shorter intake trumpets, although the inlet ports have been machined compared to the Moto2's more exacting hand-polishing.

"In addition to the piston and conrods taking more load, we’ve got wider, stronger, crank primary gears and clutch gear to take the extra power, and we’ve also improved the gearbox with both the R and RS getting the up-and-down quickshifter," Wood says. "The gearbox is much stronger, and we’ve got new gear ratios in every gear. The first-gear ratio is slightly taller, but second to sixth gear is shorter for faster acceleration.

"When you take all of those mechanical changes into account, add the higher combustion pressures we’ve tuned in, the increased breathing and a responsive, aggressive tune, that's really when this engine comes alive."

Exhaust gasses now exit in a revised three-into-one exhaust system that houses a single catalytic converter and a new muffler, helping pull down weight from the center of the motorcycle and increasing everything from acceleration to cornering agility and braking performance.

The motor's performance is coupled with four ride modes in the base model's R form and five riding modes in RS form—Rain, Road, Sport, Track, and a fully configurable Rider mode, the latter of which is missing from the R. Rider mode allows you to get in there and change the available traction, ABS and throttle maps to anything on the menu, so if you want a Road level throttle with no TC, you can have it. Or Track throttle with full ABS, no worries—the choice is yours. Each mode has a dedicated throttle, ABS, and TC map (traction control and wheelie control are linked), with Rain mode limited to 98 horsepower (100PS).

The chassis bones for the R and RS are similar, but there are a few key differences. Using the same aluminum-beam twin-spar frame and two-piece rear subframe, the RS gets a slightly racier geometry, with a 23.2° rake, down 0.5° compared to the more road-focused R model's 23.7°. Trail is also down a bit less on the RS, 96.9mm, to the R's 97.8mm.

These slight variations in geometry put more weight on the front of the RS and have given it a 10mm taller seat height at 836mm/32.9 inches, although both bikes can be fitted with the 28mm lower accessory seat, making it 798mm for the R and 808mm for the RS. You can even go lower than that by getting the suspension-lowering kit for those really short riders out there, which can knock a further 10mm off the seat height on both the R and RS models.

Going further, the suspension is where you’ll see the biggest difference. The R runs the 41mm Separate Function Big Piston Fork (SF-BPF) and a Showa monoshock, both ends fully adjustable, while the RS gets the higher-spec 41mm Showa BPF (not the Separate Function unit) and the Ohlins STX40 monoshock that we saw first implemented on the 2017 Street Triple 765 RS.

The brakes are a similar case of price reflecting the spec. The RS gets the Brembo monobloc Stylema four-piston calipers gripping 310mm discs and the MCS ratio- and span-adjustable master cylinder, with the R getting a more basic master cylinder and Brembo's M4.32 monobloc calipers gripping 310mm discs.

Oh, and they’re also rolling on different tires, with the RS getting Pirelli's track-specific Diablo Supercorsa SP V3 rubber and the R using street-specific Continental ContiRoad rubber.

A quick look at the electronics sees a Continental six-axis inertial-measurement unit fitted to mitigate the cornering ABS system that houses a linked-brake setup, so you’ll get a slight amount of rear brake when you hammer the front brakes. There are two modes of ABS intervention to choose from, including the Track mode, which has minimal pulsing at the lever.

Next is the cornering traction control that also houses the wheelie-control mode in one platform (I’ve never been a fan of combined TC and WC maps, but this one is pretty good overall in its application), with four levels of intervention plus Off.

The R and RS run different dashes with a more traditional rev counter and gear-position indicator on the R compared to the RS, which has a five-inch TFT that has four different layouts you can choose from. Both bikes get a USB charging socket under the seat, self-canceling indicators, and an immobilizer, but the latter also lets you get the Triumph turn-by-turn navigation and Bluetooth connection via an accessory module, a lap timer and daytime-running lights.

Our road ride in Spain gave us half a day on the RS and the other half on the R, and you can feel the differences just listed within seconds of climbing on board.

The taller back-end of the RS and the sharper geometry give the machine a turn of speed at least one notch in front of its less-expensive brother, as does the extra bite from the front brakes.

The base model R is plusher in the initial part of the stroke but doesn't have the same resistance to sending the shocks up the seat as it does on the Ohlins-shock-equipped RS, which is something to be expected. But the R does have a more sedate nature, one that's almost welcome over the harder-edged RS.

The slightly lower seat height and flatter seat angle give the R a more relaxed demeanor, although with a claimed 118 horsepower on tap, it's still no pussycat. Softer settings in the fork provide good bump absorption at low to medium speed, but if you really start to pull on the noise tube, you’ll find the limits of the suspension (at least with Triumph's factory settings) pretty quickly as the composure of the chassis starts to come into question.

With four riding modes, you get the best throttle connection in Sport mode (and that includes the RS's Track mode). Sport mode on both the R and RS offers the smoothest transition of torque without feeling like the bike has been castrated, and considering this is standard fitment on the R, that's a win for the cheaper bike. As is the fact that the quickshifter is standard fitment on both bikes, and it works exceptionally well in up- and downshifts when you’re not running racetrack levels of revs.

But the RS gets better the faster you push it. The higher-quality rear shock and fork, and the sharper geometry, allow you to rip through small and fast corners more easily than on the R model. This is what you pay for and where the $2600 difference really shines through. The electronics aside, the ride on the RS is a touch sportier in every way, from the braking power and feel from the MCS master cylinder to the suspension and ride position, and then you factor in the electronics control suite with the five-inch TFT display.

The R still holds its own, mind you. The RS may have the performance edge everywhere, but the R is still a huge amount of bike for the money at under $10K. The ride position is more comfortable thanks to the seat angle, and I suspect if all you’re after is a nice street bike with no ambitions of hitting the track or your twisty canyons, I’d go for the R and save the money.

We didn't get to ride the R on the track, which is not surprising, given its designation.

With a session to refamiliarize ourselves with the Jerez layout while using the RS's base suspension settings, I came in and immediately had the Triumph engineers put two turns of front and rear preload in and almost maxed out front compression and rebound (only one turn out from max) to stop the front-end from diving under the braking forces encountered at the track.

With the new settings, the RS came alive. More chassis composure made for a motorcycle that followed my intended path, had far better braking poise, and kept itself taller in the stroke when the throttle was reapplied and you unleash all those British ponies.

The 765 motor builds its torque from about 3000 rpm and never stops until you are within milliseconds of the redline, which is a point of contention as it's very difficult to see said redline with the dash designs you can choose from.

As a result, I had to shift earlier than I wanted and missed out on some vital ponies when coming up the Jerez front straight—a traditional/digital rev counter in the old-school style would fix this problem.

That gripe aside, the motor is a gem of a thing. With such a broad range of torque, it continually pulls harder than you expect. It's mated to that quickshifter which is great on upshifts, but it's not the best on downshifts, especially with the revs high. You need to be very deliberate on your downshifts—and not bash back down through the gears like you can on some dedicated sportbikes—to ensure each cog is selected precisely.

The RS is one of those bikes you can push harder and harder, and it continually lets you know where the limit is. Shod with Pirelli's brilliant Supercorsa SP V3 rubber—a tire I’ve got plenty of experience with—turn speed and agility on the RS are never in doubt, nor is braking power. However, I found the MCS master cylinder not to have enough adjustment, with the lever continually too far away from the handlebar for my liking.

By the end of the day, I began to understand Triumph's decision for no longer producing the Daytona, as the RS can fulfill 90 percent of what the Daytona can do on track while being a far better bike off it.

The RS is not miles and miles better than the outgoing model from 2020, but it's just a little bit better everywhere. Subtle improvements in chassis behavior in braking and acceleration matched that excellent engine; it's a very good machine that can be more than just one thing to one rider, as has been proven on the racetracks of America and Europe. CN