Street Triple R - 1 week and 400+miles in.

[Bri w]

So is it as good as the hype, or is it just jingoism?

When the Street was first launched I thought it was ugly, especially without the fly screen which hides the fact the clocks and lights look like they're stuck out too far. But as with all things, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and as my eyesight is mellowing I've taken a shine to the bike.

Handling; the R has adjustable forks and shock. The previous owner weighed in at about 12st, and I'm somewhat cuddlier, so it took me a long day of fiddling to get the suspension where I wanted it. Now, allied to precise steering I'd rate it as almost stunningly good. But maybe, just maybe, its let down by the tyres that are currently on the bike. It has Maxxis on it, and although they seem to warm up fairly quickly they get a bit vague when pushing on a little on the Helmsley TT.

Brakes; doing a stoppie with these is probably possible. They are fierce but certainly give plenty of feedback. Stiffening up the front suspension has cut back on them diving without losing any of the feeling. The brakes on the R are excellent but you've got to be a little careful when grabbing a handfull.

The engine; the softer cams than in the Daytona give more low end grunt - probably making the bike more user friendly and more flexible for road use. It pulls from well down the rev range and as such makes it a decent first big bike.

Slow speed manouvering; not the best of sterring locks but its more than compensated for by the bikes lightness, 169kgs dry - 189kgs kerb weight. No snatchiness to the fueling when its just bimbling through traffic at slow speed.

Comfort; the pitch on the R is slight different to the Standard Street and sees you leaning forward a little more. The seat itself is all day comfy for me, but I've got plenty of natural padding. Switchgear is positive and easily to hand.

So how does it compare to the other, similar, bikes I road tested in the last year? The only bike I was happy to give back was the Shiver. Maybe I had a bad one but the fueling for slow speed was just awful. All the other bikes had pluses and minuses, and in truth it would come down to personal choice. And I chose the best one - *runs and hides*

[carelesschucca]

Nice wee write up. No need to run and hide...

A couple of days after I'd send you my thoughts about the R, I was standing in my olds driveway trying to turn the bike round and I thought oops should have mentioned this to Bri... Its not enough to spoil the bike though.

Try a set of Pilot Road 3's on the bike. Me, I love em, they have enough grip and feel for spirited road riding in the dry and in the wet they inspire confidence only thing that annoys is the slightly strange feeling when your braking really heavily (feels a bit like a soft ABS kicking in on a car)

Keep the updates coming its always nice to hear other people opinions about the bike...

[dyzio]

Originally Posted by carelesschucca

Nice wee write up. No need to run and hide...

A couple of days after I'd send you my thoughts about the R, I was standing in my olds driveway trying to turn the bike round and I thought oops should have mentioned this to Bri... Its not enough to spoil the bike though

So it's not just the daytona then
It does take a while to make a 10 point uturn in the garage

400 Miles? I've only managed 30

[Bri w]

Originally Posted by dyzio

So it's not just the daytona then
It does take a while to make a 10 point uturn in the garage

400 Miles? I've only managed 30

I'm blitzing my paperwork as we speak, and will get another 50 miles in later this afternoon.

[dyzio]

In my defence it, was +0.5C this morning.

Still took the bike

[Bibio]

pppffft turning circle, try an old duke 750ss. your better picking it up and turning it or learn the sidestand swing

nice to hear your enjoying the new ride Bri.

me jealous never.....

I love my R, I'm using Angel st's which are great but next I may get BT023's as they're awesome tyres, getting the suspension set up in April professionally as I'm not 100% happy with the set up especially with a pillion, it's a lovelly bike to ride yes I also have to do a 10 point turn, get yourself a copy of http://www.tuneecu.com/ and the cable from ebay about £10 just search tuneecu cable and you can change the ecu mapping, do diagnostics set parameters etc and register on http://www.street-triple.co.uk lots info and DIY mods etc a good one to start is the free flow intake mod http://www.street-triple.co.uk/index...ic,3754.0.html

[andrewsmith]

Glad to here your enjoying it!

I'm trying to resist test riding one (or my neighbours Street)

Jealous? nope

[punyXpress]

+1 to Dean's comments on the PR3s - I hated the qualifiers: could never go hard enough to get the heat to get the grip. What a woos!

[carelesschucca]

How many miles you done now Bri and how are the feelings of love growing?

This season since the start of the Largs ice cream run on the 26th Feb I've done just short of 1,000 miles.

I've also had the bike in to Two Wheels to get some 'free work done' as the bike all of a sudden started running like sick dog at low revs... Receipt says it was the Idle Stepper cam that had partially seized... Bikes like bran new again and I'm going to play some more over the weekend.