[shoggot]

I'm starting to look into the various modern nakeds, and am faced with a question; why do people get the street triple instead of the speed triple? I'm honestly curious what sells this bike.

For myself, I'm mildly concerned that with my prodigious frame (275lb of it @ 6'2"), this bike might be a bit underpowered for me?

I'm coming from (and planning on adding to; not planning on ditching it) an '02 TB, a 900 triple, and just want something with a bit of extra twisty oomph, and perhaps a bit more highway acceleration. Not sure if the street would fit the bill.

 

[Diego]

Well, why don't you ride both the Street and the Speed and see for yourself whether your "prodigious frame" is really power-hungry or whether it appreciates the nimbleness of the Street? Different people are going to answer that question differently. And have done, in a couple of existing threads you can search if you want.

Your size has nothing to do with it. I'm the same height and nearly the same weight, and I can assure you the Street doesn't care about that. It's all down to what you yourself most enjoy feeling--the torque of a big engine, or the nimbleness of a much lighter bike.

I like both, and I've owned both the Speed and the Street. Since I couldn't keep both under Kansas' ridiculous property tax structure, though, I went with the trait that sold me on my very first motorcycle 30 years ago (light, quick handling) and kept the Street. But your criteria may be different, and only you can judge that.

You're accustomed to your T-bird, and I only have a couple of weeks of riding one of those to compare with. The Street delivers more horsepower and also accelerates more quickly than the T-bird I rode, but it revs higher to do it, rather than depending on torque. You'll just have to find a place where you can do some demo rides and see whether that suits your preferences or not.

 

[Neanderthal]

If you look around on most Triumph forums you'll see the same common denominator - the lightweight Striple with that sweet 675 engine has been perpetuating many trades. It might well be the best motorcycle engine in the game right now.
You might want to get the R version for the better rear shock based on your weight. Excellent shocks are available for the classic Striple as well.

Neanderthal

 

[shoggot]

Good feedback, both of you. And I'd never thought about the bike weight tradeoff; I suppose it's similar to comparing the grunt you get from a classic 900, versus the whipiness of a '72 scrambler.

Regarding test rides, at least here, dealers generally echo "Sure, you can test ride it - just buy it first with our financing, and if you don't like it within 24 hours, you can return it" - which is a tad more paperwork than seems reasonable. I s'pose I could wait till a striple turns up on craigslist, but that doesn't seem to happen very often.

Heh, anyone near Washington, DC want to let a (responsible, 38yo) guy try out his striple? You can guard my TB while I ride =)

 

[97TB]

Since when is the Speed Triple not considered quick and nimble? It's only 50 lbs heavier, yet has 23 more hp and a whopping 26 lb/ft lbs more torque than the Street. I think there are reasons why one may prefer a Street to a Speed, but I don't think anyone would really consider the Speed Triple to be slow and heavy. lol

 

[Pokeyjoe]

I do believe your answer is here. Baltimore. July 10th. Be there.

 

[shoggot]

I do believe your answer is here. Baltimore. July 10th. Be there.

Why would it be that day? That's the starting day I head down to Georgia =(

Although the Highspire, PA one's a possibility.

 

[Pokeyjoe]

I just thought it was the closest and soonest.

 

[Diego]

Since when is the Speed Triple not considered quick and nimble? It's only 50 lbs heavier ...etc... I don't think anyone would really consider the Speed Triple to be slow and heavy. lol

Don't put words in other people's mouths. No one, here or elsewhere, ever said the Speed Triple is slow!

But it is heavy by comparison--50 pounds is a lot! And while the Speed is no slouch in the handling department, it simply does not handle quite as nimbly as the Street, either in low speed maneuvers or in the twisties. I've owned and loved both; I know whereof I speak.

 

[86gn]

To me the Speed feels like it carries its weight higher than the Street.

 

[dbandirola]

After riding both rather extensively the deciding factor in favor of the Street Triple R was nimbleness. The street feels much narrower between your legs and carries the weight lower. For me this means it is quicker to transition from corner to corner and less tireing after long days of twisties (just got back from 1500mi in 5 days). The speed has more feel of power under acceleration, but the street is more than adequate. In all reality either is quicker in the twisties than most sportbikes and a lot more fun. I did not miss the extra power of the speed and feel that in twisties the street can be ridden more quickly because of the reduced effort. One definate suggestion is to go with the Street Triple R for the better suspension. I was able to outride the suspension on the regular Street at a ready to ride weight of about 210 pounds. The upgraded brakes really don't make much difference as the regular ones are more than adequate.

Dave

 

[iggypop]

I owned a 1999 955 Speed Triple, and sold it to get a 1050 Sprint ST (the Sprint is entirely irrelevant to this thread). Demo'd the Street for a day in the process.

Going from a 10-year old Speed to a brand new Street was a huge letdown. The Street was definitely smaller and nimbler, in the same sense that my wife's Suzuki GS500 is smaller and nimbler than the Speed. I'm 210, and the Street's lack of torque (in comparison to the older Speed) was a huge PITA. With the Speed, gear choice coming out of a corner was almost irrelevant; with the Street, it was paramount. A gear too high meant running out of revs whereas a gear too low meant acceleration like a Hyundai Excel. The Speed was (for me) already quite nimble, so the extra nimbleness of the Street was not a factor. It was kind of cool that I could treat a street bike kind of like a 125cc dirt bike, tho. Throw some knobbies and long-travel suspension on it and you'd have the ultimate dual-purpose bike, maybe.

Yes, I am talking about a 10-year old Speed vs. a new (2008) Street. The 2009 Speeds have 95cc, 22hp and 5 ft-lbs more while being 75 lbs lighter than the one I had. I didn't ride one because the Sprint seduced me before I had a chance... I don't think a new Speed vs. a new Street would have been in any way a fair comparison.

The Daytona 675 with Arrow exhaust - now that was cool!

 

[Diego]

I don't think a new Speed vs. a new Street would have been in any way a fair comparison.

I do. Like I said, I've owned both, not just ridden demos. And like I also said, yes, there is a difference in torque and all that entails. But gear choice is just NOT that critical coming out of corners on the Street, unless you've simply gotten lazy in depending on torque to get you through poor gear choices going IN to the curve.

Those accustomed to riding a wide range of bikes on a regular basis try to stay more aware of each ride's characteristics, and aren't going to easily run out of revs with the 675 engine! All the motojournalist test riders agree on this point too. Additionally, I say this as someone who also owned (and still sometimes rides) a Rocket III, which puts the torque of the Speed itself to shame. The Street is different, sure, but by no means a "letdown."

 

[Thirdway]

I also owned the older 955 Speed and frankly it was awful (there I said it). Big heavy thing that tied itself in knots when you tried to go fast on proper bendy roads, although it was incredibly stable on fast sweepers.

The engine had good low down torque and power but gave it up early. The Street is miles ahead of that bike and has an incredible bottom end for what is essentially a 600. You don't need to rev it, but when you do it gathers it skirts and flies. A 600 is never going to have the same midrange as a litre bike but the fun is in using everything it has and what it has is sufficient for all but the drag strip racer.

FWIW the Speed triple is an old engine and frame that has been tweaked through 10 years to remain competitive. It owes Triumph nothing and produces great profits that allow it to build bikes such as the Street. In all likelyhood it is overdue for replacement before long.

Their seems to be a whole host of Triumph fans in the US that regard the Triumph marque in the same way as Harley Davidson. In the UK we don't have such fierce loyalty, we simply buy the bike that appeals the most regardless of it being American, English, Japanese, German or Chinese.

If I was looking for a big naked then I would be looking elsewhere KTM Super Duke, Aprilla Tuono, Ducati Street fighter. I have already owned the bigger bikes and like others here decided on a smaller naked in preference.As the well known saying goes "Its not the size, it's how you use it".

 

[Diego]

Oh my. Now I've got a dilemma.

I've got to agree with most of that, but I also must defend the newer Speed Triples to a certain extent. The 1050 engine is not just a bored-out version of the 955; it has quite a few internal improvements, intended to be evolutionary more than revolutionary of course, but still significant improvements; likewise the gearbox. And the frame and steering geometry are a big improvement over the original, IMO, not just a tweak.

The one I owned was one of the newer ones, and it is no slouch by any means. But it does have that slightly higher center of gravity and extra poundage, so when it comes to handling, it's no Street Triple either.

 

[Thirdway]

I shall bow to your experience as I freely admit never having ridden the newer version. It never seems to come out on top in the big naked bike shoot outs these days, that honour goes to the KTM which is a bike I have ridden and is suprisingly similar to the ST but with even faster steering, an insane engine which seems to ape everything from a twin to a four depending on how far up the rev range it is.

 

[Diego]

Yes, KTM does keep coming out with intriguing models. Wish we had a dealer within 150 miles so I could get a closer look.

 

[traveler501]

I just rode my first Striple the other day (loved it btw, and need one desperately *grin*)...in reading this thread what seems to jump out is that the Striple and Speed both behave very well for their context. Personally, what I wanted in the Striple was agility and lightness with sufficient torgue and rev range. IMO it has that in spades. I haven't ridden the Speed but it sounds like a larger, more powerful bike designed for high speed stability more than flicking about (I could be wrong about that). The Speed is a GT, the Striple a roadster...like comparing a 300 SL Gullwing to a Lotus 7...both are brilliant cars, totally different in purpose and behavior. Just my 2 cents...meanwhile, still high from that first ride. I've been doing classic bikes forever...just rode a VSTROM 1000 and then the Striple...can't figure out what took me so long to update LOL
regards,
John

 

[Thirdway]

Yes, KTM does keep coming out with intriguing models. Wish we had a dealer within 150 miles so I could get a closer look.

I think thats always been a problem in the US. We are lucky in the UK as most places have a dealer stocking virtually every marque of bike within 30 miles. When I was the KTM forum it always seemed US KTM dealers were absolutely rotten.

Triumph was always seen as a bit of strange choice to buy if you live in the UK. Generally regarded as lagging behind the Japanese bike in performance and reliability, not having the style or kudos of the Italians or the percieved quality of the german bikes. That began to change with the Daytona 675 and the Street Triple, almost if those two bikes are completely seperate (I remember a similar thing hapening with VW when they brought out their hot hatch).

 

[Dickie2679]

I've just traded a 1050 tiger for a street triple & the fueling & gearbox are far better on the 675 motor than the 1050. The gear change is 'suzuki' quality & there is none of the 'snatch' from closed throttle that I had on the 1050.