The middleweight motorcycle segment has just seen the launch of the 2017 Triumph Street Triple, that arrives in India in an all-new avatar. The highly capable offering only gets better with the latest version packing in evolutionary styling, more power, more electronics and lighter weight, thanks to its revised chassis. However, the middleweight space has witnessed a healthy set of new launches this year including the all-new Kawasaki Z900 and Aprilia Shiver 900, which were launched in India recently; while the Ducati Monster 821 still remains a force to reckon with in this space. Does the new Triumph Street Triple hold a chance then against its rivals? We do a quick specifications comparison on paper to find that out.
Design
All three motorcycles are as different as it gets when it comes to design. In the all-new avatar, the Triumph Street Triple 765 looks beautiful, yet boasts of an agile and sharp presence at the same time. The twin headlamps give the bike a distinctive look, and there's a certain fondness for its design that grows on you with time. Meanwhile, the Ducati Monster 821 incorporates its iconic styling in a extremely well finished package. The 821 is simply gorgeous sporting the round headlamp with LED DRLs, bulbous fuel tank and the LED tail lamp cluster. The shotgun styled exhaust muffler adds to the muscular look of the naked and you will simply love the Monster for the way it is.
While the Street Triple and Monster have been in India for a while, the Aprilia Shiver 900 is a completely new offering and brings some novelty in this space. The distinctive Italian styling is evident on the Shiver as well and you get a cracker looking motorcycle. In fact, it is the only offering here to get an underseat exhaust. You don't see that often anymore. The only Japanese naked, Kawasaki's Z900 is sharp but gets a tad bit understated styling over the Europeans. The green middleweight gets an evolutionary design language over the Z800 and one that will be most appreciated in the long run. Fans of the Z1000 will certainly love this one too and the Z900 manages to please with its design.
The Kawasaki Z900 is an all-new offering from the Japanese marque
Features
Save for the Kawasaki Z900 that makes do with only ABS and slipper clutch, the Shiver 900, Monster 821 and the new Triumph Street Triple are loaded on electronic hardware. The bike get ride-by-wire (RbW), multiple riding modes including Road and Rain; slipper clutch, traction control and much more. The Aprilia also gets electronic accelerator system as part of the RbW. All bikes use an LCD screen for the instrument console that displays all the vital information, but the Ducati unit also comes with optional Multimedia System allowing for smartphone connectivity.
Engine
The Triumph Street Triple is a major upgrade over its predecessor and the power unit too has seen massive changes. The 765 cc in-line three cylinder unit now churns out 110 bhp of power and 73 Nm of peak torque, using 80 new components that have helped improve the power output. Boasting of identical figures, the Ducati Monster 821 uses an 821 cc twin-cylinder unit (L-Twin in Ducati speak) that belts out 110 bhp and 89.4 Nm of peak torque.
The Ducati Monster 821
The Kawasaki Z900 gets the biggest engine here with its 900 cc in-line four-cylinder unit belting out a tad better 123 bhp of power and 98.6 Nm of peak torque. The least powerful bike in this comparison happens to be the Shiver 900 using an 896 cc V-Twin that produces 95.2 bhp of power 90 Nm of peak torque. All units come paired to a 6-speed gearbox.
However, the bikes are extremely different when it comes to the power-to-weight ratio. Triumph says the Street Triple is the lightest in its class with a dry weight of 166 kg, which even with a wet weight, expected under 200 kg, should keep the bike quick on the throttle. The Kawasaki Z900 has lost about 20 kg for 2017 and that makes for a kerb weight of 210 kg, still higher than its rivals. Both Italians in this comparison, the Shiver 900 and Monster 821 share a similar kerb weight of 205 kg.
Verdict
The Triumph Street Triple was a fantastic motorcycle to begin with and the all-new version only makes things better for the street-fighter. Having ridden the bike earlier this year, the new Street Triple 765 qualifies as a fantastic bike for the open roads as well as the occasional track visit. The bike clearly packs in a lot more than its previous iteration and on paper, it is loaded to the brink against rivals. However, how does it fare against its competition is something we are eager to find out. We will be comparing the new Street Triple to its rivals for a full blown comparison very soon, so make sure to watch out for one.
