New super-sized Triumph Street Triple

Triumph’s new 800 caught testing on the road

It’s something of an open secret that Triumph’s Street Triple is set to get a larger capacity engine for 2017, as reported by MCN several times over the last six months, but this is the first clear picture of the bike testing on the road and it shows that the engine changes are much more significant than expected.

The new Street Triple has already been shown to customer clinics to gauge their reaction, and information from those events indicates that it will be called Street Triple 765 – transposing two of the numbers of the current model’s designation to reflect a 90cc capacity increase.

That information matches details from an online survey run by Triumph more than a year ago, when the firm indicated that the next-generation Street Triple range would expand to four models and have an engine of ‘above 750cc’ capacity.

This single picture, which our photographer managed to grab despite the best efforts of the test rider to get away quickly, might not give a perfect view of the bike but it does confirm that the engine is heavily revised. The clutch and engine covers on the right hand side are significantly different from the existing 675cc triple and the larger 800cc version used in the Tiger 800, with a different bolt pattern and shape. The castings for the cylinder head bolts are also different. These changes show that the engine block itself is new rather than simply being a bored or stroked version of the existing unit.

The engine is bolted into a frame that appears to be much the same as the current Street Triple’s, with an apparently identical seat subframe. The bodywork changes are subtle, rather like the ones on the new, 2016 Speed Triple 1050, so don’t expect radically new styling. Visible here is a slightly re-sculpted seat unit with new grab rails, headlights and bar-end mirrors closely resemble the new Speed Triple’s. The silver side cowls on either side of the radiator also mimic the 2016 Speed Triple.

Another big change confirmed by this picture is the new swingarm. Earlier, long-range photos of the new Street Triple on a test track seemed to show that the swingarm was a different shape to the current model, but this is now clearly visible, and appears to mirror the aluminium trellis shape of the bike’s subframe.

Despite new emissions and noise rules, the exhaust is still largely hidden under the bike. This picture reveals a massive silencer and catalytic converter tucked ahead of the rear wheel, as the prototype is missing the final stubby tailpipe that will exit just under the rider’s right heel.

When launched, the bike will appear in no fewer than four versions. As well as a base model, with Nissin axial brakes and Kayaba suspension, there will be an ‘R’ with radial Nissins and a Showa fork – the model spec seen here. Above that sits an RT with the same suspension as the R but more touring-oriented levels of kit and an optional half-fairing, while the top-of-the-range model will be an RS variant with Öhlins suspension and Brembo calipers. The new engine will be offered in three states of tune. The base model will make around 110bhp, the R will be tweaked to 115bhp and the RS and RT are both set to make somewhere in the region of 120bhp.

The bike pictured is the R, set to cost just under £9000. The base bike will be nearer £8000 while the RS and RT will be around the £10,000 mark.