Triumph Street Triple RS Test Ride Review

Performance – The Triumph Street Triple RS has a gem of an engine. The performance of this machine is absolutely ballistic. The sense of acceleration is so intense that you feel as if someone strapped you onto a bullet, loaded you into a gun, and fired you straight down the road, each and every time you whack open the throttle. The sense of acceleration is immense, you literally blow past 100 km/hr in 1st gear. Stay anywhere below 4500 RPM and you’ll notice what a calm and easy to ride motorcycle it is. The power has been spread out really well throughout the rev range, it has a strong mid-range which javelins you into its explosive top-end. The low-end never feels bland or slow and in fact feels perfectly balanced for city riding. I can’t get enough of the acceleration on this machine, the amount of ferocity it exits corners with is quite addictive.

Having so much power available throughout the rev range ensures that you’re almost never in the wrong gear and there is always power available for you to tap into. If there is anything that gets in your way, it’s the wind that you have to fight your way through, thanks to this being a street naked. The 765cc inline-triple engine is super in terms of refinement and even after riding it through the usual Bombay traffic, the entire highway commute to Lonavala, the serpentine roads to Aamby Valley and then all the way to Pune and its traffic, it handled everything without breaking a sweat. Engine heat has been managed extremely well and you can hardly ever feel it. It manages to remain fairly efficient too and managed to do the entire above-mentioned trip in almost one full tank! The 17.4-litre tank ensures you don’t have to make frequent stops on the highway to refuel, and lets you spend more time out on the road, which is no bad thing.

The 765cc motor is quite flexible and doesn’t mind moving at slow speeds

The gearbox is quite fun and slick. Gear shifts are smooth and the addition of a quick-shifter makes banging through the gears a very fun experience. The quick-shifter comes standard on the RS and allows clutchless upshifts. Rev it anywhere above 6000 RPM, and you just simply fly through the gears as you build speed and don’t have to cut the throttle while shifting. This makes the whole riding experience feel so seamless, that using the quick-shifter starts getting addictive, and I found myself using it much more as my time with this machine progressed. In case you’re worried about downshifts, this doesn’t allow clutchless downshifts, but if you ever do find yourself aggressively downshifting, the slipper clutch has you covered. It allows smooth downshifts even under aggressive corner entry, without disturbing the balance.

The ride by wire throttle feels great, with throttle response being extremely accurate, which further aids your ability to better modulate the power while mid-corner or while exiting one. Coming to the riding modes, they are fairly simple to use and understand. They really do help balance this motorcycle out and thanks to the number of electronics motorcycles have these days, it really lets you fine-tune your experience to fit your whims and fancies. This machine doesn’t feel like a slouch in any of the riding modes but functions accordingly in a more controlled fashion. The riding modes essentially toggle between the various fuel maps as per your riding mode and fine-tunes things like throttle response, ABS and Traction Control accordingly. For instance in Rain Mode, ABS and Traction Control are found on their highest settings and the fuel map and throttle has been set-up to be linear. This does make the RS feel a lot calmer and makes the bike a lot easier than it already is to ride. In Track Mode on the other hand, which finds itself on the opposing end of the spectrum turns Traction Control off, and sets the throttle response and fuel map on not so linear mode and has you screaming each time it rockets you forward.

There is also Street and Sport mode that finds a balance between these two modes. Last but not least, is the Custom Rider mode that lets you choose and tailor a mode that suits your riding style if not the above-mentioned ones don’t cut it for you. Having so much power on hand lets you build a lot of momentum, very fast. It may make you question the motorcycles ability to be able to shed it. The Brembo brakes found on the RS are phenomenal, their ability to shed speed is unbelievable. The braking feel and feedback is spot on, there is no delay in bite and it drops anchor from the moment you even gently tap the lever. It envokes a lot of confidence and you’ll always find yourself braking much later into a corner because you know the brakes have you covered. If you do ever find yourself panic braking, these drilled discs manage to break momentum without losing out on balance, which further enhances the experience.