21/09/2025

theSunday Special XIV ON SUNDAY SEPT 21, 2025

a Brembo MCS radial master cyl inder. ▶ At the back, there is a single 220mm brake disc, serviced by a Brembo single-piston brake cali per. ▶ Lightweight cast aluminium alloy rims, shod with Pirelli Diablo Super Corsa V3 tyres. ▶ Tying everything together is an aluminium twin spar frame, with a bolt-on subframe. ▶ The swingarm is also cast aluminium. ▶ Seat height is 836mm with the rear preload at standard set ting. ▶ Super quick 23.2° steering angle. ▶ Fuel tank holds 15 litres of fuel. ▶ Triumph claims a wet weight of just 188kg. ▶ On the electronics front, there is a six-axis inertial meas urement unit (IMU). ▶ Data from the IMU is fed to

stopped at traffic lights for long durations. Pressing the mode button tog gled through the riding modes, while jiggling the “joystick” let us page through several settings including the screen’s display style, connectivity, and navigation (which requires connecting to the Triumph app on your smart phone). Getting on the bike is like hug ging a long lost friend, as we had ridden on all the Street Triples prior to this one. The seat is tall, with a lowish front end, although not as low as a pure sportbike. The footpegs and foot controls are placed inside, high up and back, out of the way for ground clearance. Putting a foot down needed this tester to hang half a bu** cheek off the seat, but it was not difficult as the fuel tank had a very narrow profile where it joined the seat. Triumph calls it “track ready,”

The Brembo Stylema brakes were of course awesome and needed only the index finger to slow down the bike. Picking the bike up from Motoplex PJ just after lunch time meant that we had to fight through traffic all the way to Jalan Gasing but again the bike was light on its feet and made the task much easier. Opening up Time to test the bike in earnest. We got up early the next morning to ride the bike on the Suke, SPE, and all the way up Genting Highlands. The real test on Suke and SPE was the bike’s handling on the bumpy corners from Seri Petaling to the Ampang section. The Street Triple 765 RS’s rear suspension was stiffer when it contacted sharper bumps, while the forks worked well. Again, it truly showed that

ners. Doing so lets the bike hunker down in corners and avoids it from hopping (on bikes with stiffer suspension) or bobbing up and down (on bikes with softer suspension). We also told ourselves to take it easy while riding on Karak Highway – but it was not to be. Switching to Sport mode had the engine taking on a rawer char acter. It sounded more aggressive and responded faster when we blipped the throttle. Letting out the clutch also had the bike pulling away much quicker and the quickshifter became smoother. The engine howled as it pulled through the rev range, followed by that intoxicating rush as we clicked into another gear using the quickshifter. Every corner was dispatched with ease, but the real difference was the bike’s willingness to

engage that spot in our brains to unleash the need for thrill. We had so much fun that we turned around and went up the mountain again on the same day! Conclusion At RM76,000, the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS is not cheap for the engine capacity. But what you do get is a premium bike full of high-end components and a handling that any other bike will finds it hard to match. For example, personally, this writer would upgrade the suspen sion on another bike, which would bring that bike’s price to some where in the Street Triple’s ball park anyway. And that may not even yield the right results. So, why not just set tle on a complete package from the start? Yes, we know, not everyone likes the Street Triple’s looks. But guess what? We were in the same

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boat prior to riding it. The bike has endeared itself to us since then, and we found that the styling is distinctive – mean ing that no one is going to mistake it for another bike. So, there you have it, floats like a butterfly, stung like a bee. Speaking of bees, the metallic yel low paint and black accents did make it look like another famous character, Bumblebee, which is also agile on its feet. SPECIFICATIONS Engine: 765cc, liquid-cooled, Inline 3-cylinder Power: 130PS @ 12,000rpm Torque: 80Nm @ 9,500rpm Transmission: 6-speed Wet weight: 188kg Price (as tested): RM77,700 We like: Stylish and agile. We don’t like: Difficult to not have fun. 1. 15-litre tank is good enough for long distance rides. 2. The seat on the Street Triple is not too high, making it ideal for all riders. 3. Front forks are also fully adjustable for maximum control. 4. Brembo brakes offer face morphing force. 5. Triumph’s triple cylinder engine is well known for its high revving nature.

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the engine ECU and ABS ECU to provide cornering traction control and cornering ABS, respectively. ▶ A full-colour, 5-inch TFT dis play. ▶ Through it, the rider can select one of 5 riding modes (Rain, Road, Sport, Race, User), display modes, multimedia playback, phone functions, and navigation. ▶ Whether it is decipherable or otherwise, that spec-sheet is filled to the gills with premium compo nents. Riding the Triumph Pre-ride Pre-ride always involves setting a bike up even before climbing on. Getting this out of the way avoids getting distracted while riding. The bike had plenty of switches on the left handlebar that gave us something to play with when we

after all.

Triumph was not kidding when they said that the bike is track ready. Despite the jumping around, the bike maintained our chosen lines without threatening to send us into the barrier. As with the previous Street Triple’s, this new bike’s handling fits the oft-used “telepathic” cliche to a T. All you needed to do was look through a corner, select your line, and the bike obliges, so much so we rode even faster – bumps be damned! Stopping for fuel at the Karak BHP petrol station, we retuned the suspension by reducing com pression and rebound damping at both ends, to let the tyres bite into the road more. As a note, this writer prefers a softer front end to let the forks sink into their initial stroke in cor

change lines mid-corner should we find another vehicle in it. All we needed to do was lift the bike slightly, switch to the next lane, and steer it back into the cor ner. Mind you, the bike was going way above the legal speed limit at this point. Heading up The Mountain, the engine’s torque and handling let us ride harder than we thought we would. It did not matter what kind of corner: sweeper, decreasing radius, on camber, off camber, the Street Triple did not care. We just lined them up and steered. There was no danger of losing grip either since those Super Corsas bit into the road surface like a pitbull. We even dragged the rear brake through the hairpin corner near Chin Swee Temple. It seemed uncanny that every aspect of the bike is designed to

First ride With Road mode selected, the clutch lever had a very soft yet progressive feel to it, benefits of the clutch’s assist feature. Cracking the throttle ever so slightly was enough to have the engine’s torque rolling the bike forward without fear of stalling. It was immediately apparent that the bike had lost none of its easy yet sharp handling character istics, as with any Triumph. Heading into the massive traf fic jam along Jalan Universiti, the engine’s linear torque delivery along with its nimbleness had us switching lanes with aplomb. It felt a lot like riding a 250cc bike but with a much better chas sis. Our only worry was the bar end-mounted rearview mirrors which stuck quite a long way out.