Hot Weels in top gear.

Smoke, tire screeching and sirens. Not the kind of things any of us want to encounter, especially during a motorcycle ride. But when you’re aboard the new Triumph Street Triple R these are some of the situations that come with the territory, often good but also bad - if you get caught.

So where was the smoke coming from? The rear tire of course. The screeching? Again, rear tire. And the siren? Well, that was an ambulance zooming past in the opposite direction, but it could have just as well been the police because when you’re on this bike you suddenly change.

We’ve felt this way before. In fact, when we rode last year’s original Street Triple this same feeling of lawlessness overpowered our every action. From the moment you hit the starter button to the time you drop the kickstand down, it is as if you relent total control to Triumph’s middleweight streetfighter.


Blame it on its ridiculously friendly liquid-cooled 675cc Inline Three engine, pulled from last year’s Daytona 675 Supersport (however, retuned with a lower redline and different camshaft profiles for increased low and mid-range torque). Simply put, the engine is a masterpiece. It is as mild or wild as your right wrist commands. A flat and no doubt purposely controlled spread of power is achieved right from the bottom sweep of the tach needle making wheelies in first gear mandatory. As the rpm’s climb, so does engine power, but it rises in such a linear fashion that within seconds you’ll be stabbing at the gearshift lever with all seven blue shift lights screaming for relief. This much fun should be illegal; unfortunately some of the time it is.

Adding to the exhilarating thrill of acceleration is the Triple’s unique engine octave. A few pumps of the throttle in neutral and the engine lets out a high-pitched whine. In gear, that whine is quickly trumped by an induction roar that gets progressively deeper, then all of a sudden morphs back into a shriek as the engine hovers near its 12,650 redline (1300 revs shy of the ’09 Daytona 675).
Keeping the engine out of the red and accelerating forward is accomplished via the same six-speed transmission as the original Street Triple, as is the manual cable-actuated clutch. The transmission continues to prove it’s the definition of “close-ratio” as it features gears stacked right next to each other. Add in the Street Triple’s lower final-drive gearing and it’s a recipe for constant left foot work. It’s a small price to pay, however, because with an engine as good as the Triumph’s you’re going to want to keep the throttle pinned as much and as long as possible.



Although the Street Triple’s powertrain doesn’t make use of a slipper clutch (which is becoming increasingly standard for high-performance streetbikes such as this one), the combination of its minimal engine braking and progressive clutch action counteract the lower drive gearing and make it easy not to miss.

So by now you’re probably wondering, ‘Jeez, the R -spec sounds just like last year’s Street Triple, is anything even different?’ Well, yes. The chassis is where the R-spec and regular Street Triple differ.

One of the only drawbacks we found with last year’s Street Triple was its suspension. Although it’s versatile for a variety of riders in all weights and skill levels, it’s definitely on the soft side. And combined with its lack of adjustment (completely non-adjustable with the exception of the rear shock spring preload) it remains the limiting factor when blasting around at speed.


Triumph answered by delivering the R-spec Triple with a 3-way adjustable (preload, compression and rebound) inverted fork and equally adjustable gas-charged rear shock. With the factory settings you’ll notice a tauter feel, front and rear, without it being harsh or jarring. This pays dividends when you’re loading the fork while jamming on the front brakes, charging into a corner hard. However, back out the preload and compression adjustment on the fork and it begins to feel soft and springy similar to the non R-spec Triple’s suspension. Adjustability is paramount and with the R you get the best of both worlds.
Another difference is the R’s higher-spec front brake calipers. Larger radial-mount 4-piston Nissin calipers grab onto a pair of similar-sized 308mm rotors, now with a new Nissin radial-pump master cylinder powering the set-up through stainless-steel brake lines. Out back the same 220mm disc is clamped down by a Nissin single-piston caliper and braided line.


We thought last year’s Street Triple had an above average set of brakes so we were optimistic about the upgraded Nissin’s. But our first ride let us down as initial front brake performance wasn’t on par with the sum of its components, even with around 1000 miles on the odometer. After a few hard stops, the brake pads did finally bed-in and performance improved significantly. As the bike sits now, the brakes are more than enough power to flip you over the handlebar, fortunately there’s also plenty of feel so fast, rear-wheel-in-the-air stops are simple and fun. Just like last year’s Street Triple, the rear brake is about as good as it gets. And with the bikes short wheelbase, low seat height and centralized 425 pounds of mass, it makes for perfect rear brake sideways antics.

Like the standard Street Triple, the R gets the identical frame and swingarm as this year’s Daytona 675. Though where the base Street Triple makes use of slightly less aggressive chassis geometry, the R gets identical numbers (23.9 degrees rake, 92.4mm trail) to the Daytona 675, including the ability to modify the pivot angle of the swingarm if desired.
On paper the R should turn sharper than the standard Triple, but we couldn’t tell any difference. What we did notice is that the Triumph’s agility remains as good as ever. Likewise, its stability, even at high speeds on rough pavement, is extremely planted. Also notable is the continued fitment of Dunlop’s versatile Qualifier rubber and we continue to be impressed with the tire’s quick warm-up times, mild steering manners and outstanding level of outright grip.


The R’s cockpit is a mix of old and new. The seat features a new double-stitched two-tone cover and is now slightly taller (5mm). Magura aluminum handlebars replace the steel bars yet retain the same slightly elevated position and bend. Another plus is the front brake lever now offers 6-position adjustment.

Compared to even a Supersport motorcycle, the Street Triple R feels small. The combination of its slim engine dimensions, short length front-to-rear and low center of gravity make it one of the easiest motorcycles to control. Period. Our only complaint is that handlebar movement is limited due to the steering lock, which makes tight quarters maneuvering more difficult than it should be.


The same slick-looking instrument panel returns and seems to have more onboard functions than the space shuttle. A big sweep tachometer is easy to see at a glance as are the digital speedo and standard warning lights. But when you try to use functions like the lap timer, miles-per- gallon, average speed, and other engine functions, it’s confusing. Further complicating things are the three small buttons on the base of the panel, which are hard to access with or without gloves. Even worse, once you figure out how to navigate through the menus, getting each function to reset is impossible unless you practically study the manual. It’s all way too complicated.


So is the Street Triple R right for you and is it worth the $800 up-charge over the standard Street Triple? Well, if you’re the type of person who has little self-restraint, than this motorcycle will not be for you. It’s one of the few bikes that possess the right combination of power, weight and size, which make it all too easy to get in trouble on a Mad Max maniac binge, and it’s just so much fun. And now with the R’s more competent suspension and brakes, it’s equally as rowdy through the corners. Quite the combination, only downside being you may be attending traffic school quite soon…

Who needs 165 horsepower and 132 lb-ft of torque? Well, nobody really needs it, but we sure aren’t complaining after comparing the Star VMAX and Triumph Rocket III Roadster.

This isn’t the first time we’ve sought a comparison mate for the reborn VMAX. When it first hit the streets in 2009, with its near 200 crank horsepower claims, we tapped the now-extinct Suzuki B-King for a comparison. Pure performance street bikes, head to head, but the sporty Hayabusa-powered B-King made the Max feel big and rather cruiser-ish. This time around we looked at the cruiser side of the performance spectrum for a comparison competitor.

A natural candidate emerged when Triumph announced it had taken its Rocket III Triple and wrung out 15% more torque, added blacked out styling cues and a more standard ergonomic package and slapped on the Roadster moniker. Voila, a hopped up performance cruiser to match up with the VMAX.

So that’s the rationale for our comparison. Grab two of the most powerful motorcycle engines available and run ‘em against each other to see what happens.

Testing these brutes we logged miles commuting to work, as well as off-the-clock play rides. Editors kept scrambling to place dibs on either one for the ride home on Friday, as there was plenty of rubber to burn on the weekend. We also put the two up on the Mickey Cohen Motorsports dyno, as well as our Intercomp scales to measure raw performance data and weights. And, of course, we had to take both out to the local dragstrip to snag some quarter-mile times during Friday night drags.

It was a fun couple weeks. Here’s what we discovered.

The VMAX and Roadster are both all about engine performance, but they bring the heat in two different ways. While the VMAX exemplefies the extremes of horsepower production with its distinctive V-Four, the Roadster rips pure torque from its Inline Triple.

A nasty-looking 65-degree 1679cc V-Four featuring 90 x 60mm bore and stroke powers the mighty Max. Internals include chain-driven intake and gear-driven exhaust cams actuating the four-valve heads, with an 11.3:1 compression ratio. Yamaha’s sportbike technology lends high-performance systems like the Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle (YCC-T) and Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake (YCC-I), the latter featuring variable-length intake trumpets controlled by the ECU dependent on rpm. Then, of course, there is the ram air flowing through the distinctive polished aluminum scoops (they ain’t just for style).

All that fancy engine talk equates to some serious real world wahoo! – to the tune of 165 horsepower at the rear wheel. Factor in about a 15% loss due to the shaft final drive and our dyno measurement matches favorably with Yamaha’s near 200 hp crank claims. It also makes the VMAX one of the most powerful machines we have ever tested. Only three production rides have registered more dyno hp: the 2010 BMW S1000RR (182.8 hp), 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa (166.8 hp) and the VMAX we tested in 2009 (166.4 hp). The Max produces plenty of torque too, with 104 lb-ft peak numbers.

Triumph’s Rocket is no slouch either. It churns out prodigious torque courtesy of a 2.3 liter Inline Triple. Yes, that’s economy automotive-type big, and at 2294cc it’s the largest displacement motorcycle engine in production (we’re choosing to ignore the Chevy V-8-powered Boss Hoss – see side bar). To get a grasp on scale, that’s an extra 615cc more than the hulking VMAX! Like the Star the Rocket sources DOHC valve train, but with a much larger 101.6mm bore and 94.3mm stroke producing a lower 8.7:1 compression ratio.

At the tech briefing for the original Rocket, Triumph’s product manager told us that during engine development the mill produced so much power it caused the pipes to glow on the dyno. So it’s perhaps not surprising that the engineers at Hinkley managed to coax an extra 15% torque out of the already prodigious motor. Still, the 132 lb-ft registered on our dyno run makes the new Roadster the most prolific torque producer we’ve ever come across (and our lb-ft measurement tallies a little low from what we’ve seen, with some sources claiming close to 140 lb-ft).

Although both impressive, on road the two motors deliver a different riding experiences. The Triumph stonks acceleration right off the bottom, but can’t compete with the sheer brutality of the VMAX. That’s not a slight on the Trumpet, just a nod to the Yamaha. It takes a lot of chutzpah to call the Rocket III Roadster slow, but the VMAX has the stones to back it up.

“The VMAX may not have the torque of the Rocket but it certainly is the King of this duo,” says Motorcycle USA VP Ken Hutchison. “Head to head roll-ons still seem to be the V-Max’s forte. One-up or two-up the Max feels faster in the real world. The engine is just awesome.”

The Star motor spins up much quicker than the Rocket, the throttle packing a knockout punch right from idle. The practical application of all those horses on the pavement is a rear wheel that can’t keep from spinning. Crack the throttle violently and the VMAX spins it up in the lower gears without effort. This trait alone make the Max a must ride for hooligans.

“By itself, it is impossible not to get sucked into cracking this thing open now and then,” admits Ken. “It’s so damn fast it makes me laugh. It burns out in parking lots if you crack it open for a second. It burns out when you are accelerating from a stop light. Heck, it even burns out if you give it too much throttle on the exit of a sharp turn. This is the original hooligan bike baby, and I dig it.”

The Roadster’s acceleration is far from timid, but by comparison feels more manageable and linear. Torque is everywhere, plenty of it, chugging along from right down at the bottom. With well over 120 lb-ft just off idle, the torque climbs and holds steady right up to 4000 rpm where it registers peak horsepower at 114 hp. From there it signs off fairly quick, but don’t worry, shift up through the five-speed gearbox and hold on tight.

“The Roadster has the capacity to draw power from very low rpm,” agrees our Cruiser Editor, Bryan Harley. “Hitting an uphill switchback with the added weight of my wife as passenger, I was able to keep it in second gear despite dropping down to 1500 rpm, and it still had the torque to power back up without having to shift down. Impressive pull, with a very linear power delivery and broad powerband.”

It’s worth noting too, that with a curb weight of 809 lbs the Rocket has to carry an extra 120 lbs compared to the VMAX. Yet, in spite of the weight handicap, the British bike still blurs the roadside scenery at a brisk pace.

Considering their immense size and power outputs, neither engine exhibits much vibration – particularly when judged as performance cruisers (imagine the vibes from a 165-hp Harley – forget your fillings rattling out, your teeth would be gone!). With the Triumph’s monster Triple longitudinally mounted, we also expected the twisting force of its gyrating crankshaft to be far more noticeable. The sensation is there, particularly when revving hard at idle, but it’s not overpowering and less pronounced than what we recall even from the BMW Boxer or Moto Guzzi V-Twin. Triumph credits a contra-rotating balancer and shaft drive for the smooth operation.

Triumph tweaked its shaft final drive and clutch to match up with the up-spec engine performance. The VMAX is shaft driven as well and while these bikes are not as smooth as a chain or belt-driven motorcycle, neither shaft unit significantly hinders performance, though they felt a little more course when applying throttle in a corner (which you need to be very careful with, particularly aboard the VMAX.)

The Triumph and Star each sport a five-speed gearbox. Some testers noted the Star’s clutch engaged at the end of the lever, with a stronger pull required, but both bikes acquitted themselves well enough in this area. Our Cruiser Editor did note, however, that the Rocket III transmission felt more clunky than the silky-smooth gearbox on the British firm’s new Thunderbird Twin.