BikeTest: Triumph StreetTriumph's new Street Triple is sure to suit your every mood, so you can get rid of your other bikes, says Rohit Jaggi
Could this be the holy grail of modern motorcycling? The one bike that you can do everything on? Tour sedately across continents with a pillion; ride twisty roads with verve; zoom around race circuit curves with your knee skimming the road?
Triumph has pulled a storming bike out of the bag with its 675cc Street Triple. It looks like a downsized version of the attitude-filled 1050cc Speed Triple, but is better described as a Daytona 675 sports bike that has dispensed with the fairing and other plastic.
The Speed Triple is top of the class of civilised hooligan bikes - or hooliganised civilised bikes? - that draw for their styling on the machines used by stunt riders such as Kevin Carmichael, who can wheelie and stoppie a bike for miles before breakfast, and the stripped-down machines known as streetfighters.
Improvement by reducing, removing and minimising has a noble tradition among motorcyclists - from full-dress Harley-Davidson touring bikes becoming choppers as far back as the 1950s, to today's customising movement, which once lurked in the fringes, spawning the "naked" bikes that every motorcycle manufacturer now includes in their model line-up.
However, Triumph was ahead of the game - the Street Triple was conceived alongside the tiny and outstandingly good Daytona 675 fully-faired sports bike, launched two years ago.
The naked Speed Triple has a slightly detuned engine, giving it a fatter torque curve for better real-world usability, and twin bug-eye headlamps instead of the Daytona's bodywork-mounted ones.
Triumph talks of the Street Triple sharing the DNA of its 1050cc sibling - the bug-eyes ape the Speed Triple's style, as do the sharply cut-off rear end and the stubby high-level exhausts.
The Street Triple swaps the Dayton 675's racing crouch for a more upright position that makes it easier to ride - the only exceptions are riding fast on motorways, where the wind-blast makes you wish for lower bars, and track riding, where a tucked-in position would allow you to cut through the air more cleanly.
But the Street Triple scores on the public highway, whether in town or on winding trunk routes.
At the bike's launch at Lake Garda in Italy, the twistiest of mountain roads could be dispatched with ease. One stretch of road, also used as a race track, allowed me to use its handling almost to the full - keeping a bit in reserve for the unexpected, such as trucks on the racing line.
The weight and balance make this bike unintimidating, unlike a number of models whose market is limited immediately by their seat height. BMW's off-road pantechnicon, the R1200GS Adventure, is a case in point. A handful even for skilled Long Way Round riders Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor, the bike is literally out of reach for those short of leg.
A similar issue with Triumph's otherwise excellent Tiger limits its riders (mostly) to men.
No such problem with the Street Triple: being able to look down at the ground without experiencing a skydiver's adrenaline rush is a great boost to confidence for newer riders, as well as shorter ones.
Other features that boost the rider's confidence are powerful brakes with predictable stopping power.
The Street Triple also offers great reassurance at corners - some bikes, after a bend, seem to wag their finger and reproach you: "Not so fast next time." This machine says: "You could have gone faster, but that's okay - I'm ready when you are."
If you do want greater speeds, the adrenaline rush is never far away.
The broad spread of torque means almost any section of road can be ridden in at least two or three gears: a high one for looking at the scenery, a low one for putting your head down and chasing the road's vanishing point.
All this could solve a big problem for me. Replacing my five bikes - each for different moods - with just one, would mean I won't have to rip out my kitchen and replace it with a garage.
Factfile: Triumph Street Triple
POWERTRAIN:In-line three-cylinder engine delivering 106 bhp at 11,700rpm and 51Nm of torque at 9,100rpm. Six-speed gearbox. Chain drive
CHASSIS:Aluminium alloy frame, upside-down forks, lightweight cast wheels, two-piston sliding calipers at the front, sports tyres. Chassis geometry is slightly more relaxed than on the Daytona 675
DIMENSIONS:Length 2,030mm, seat height 800mm
DRY WEIGHT:167kg
TOP SPEED:227km/h (141 mph), 0-100km/h (0-60mph) 3.7secs
PRICE:€8,100 estimated