Well ahead of the rest of the world, Triumph Malaysia has just received its first shipment of the 2020 Triumph Street Triple 765RS, its middleweight sports naked. While the author liked the first generation 765RS enough to add one to the personal stable back in 2017, what changes have been made for the second generation model.
Closely following Triumph’s engineering philosophy of making incremental changes to the model range versus a complete revamp, the 2020 765RS comes with slimmer, sleeker LED headlights. The headlight design of Triumph naked sports machines has always been polarising and this attempts to address that issue, along with the deletion of the lozenge shaped DRLs, replaced by LED DRL “eyebrows”.
Inside the engine room, the 765 cc, liquid-cooled, DOHC, inline-triple is still there, but given a slight massage for a claimed 9% more torque in the mid-range. Power numbers stay the same, with 121 hp at 11,750 rpm and 79 Nm of torque at 9,350 rpm, despite now being Euro 5 compliant.
Performance riding remains the 765RS strong point with improved engine response obtained by a 7% decrease in rotational inertia. At 166 kg dry and fuel carried in a 17.4-litre tank, Triumph says the 2020 765RS has the best power-to-weight ratio in its class.
The full-colour TFT-LCD instrument panel inside the revised front cowl now comes with second generation graphics with four display styles in four colours. The screen itself has an adjustable viewing angle, giving the rider the optimum viewing angle.
Also revised as the riding modes, of which there are five – Road, Rain, Sport, Track and Rider configurable. New to the instrument cluster is My Triumph connectivity which is enabled by installing an optional Bluetooth module to connect to the rider’s smartphone and gives the rider GoPro camera control, turn-by-turn navigation, phone and music via the handlebar switch pods.
The seat cowl is given a new look for the 2020 765RS, which now comes with vents on either side of the rider’s posterior, taking a cue from the cowls used on pure race machines. The pillion seat is now some 25 mm taller than previous, giving the passenger a little more leg room.
Braking remains the same as the previous model 765RS, using Brembo M50 Monobloc calipers with twin 310 mm floating brake discs, while the rear has a 220 mm disc and single-piston caliper. Suspension is similar, with the Showa Big Piston Forks (BPF) – now in a darker shade of anodised grey – and Ohlins STX40 monoshock being retained with full adjustability.
Two colour options are available for the Triumph Street Triple 765RS – Matte Jet Black with Aluminium Silver and Yellow decals, or Silver Ice with Diablo Red and Aluminium Silver decals – featuring hand-painted red pinstripes on the wheels. The 2019 Triumph Street Triple 765RS retails for RM67,900 in Malaysia with the 765R Low Ride Height priced at RM59,900 and the 765S at RM53,900 but currently on offer at RM49,900.
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Those grasshopper eye headlamps… not my cup of tea but I guess they’ll continue as a feature as it is the model’s signature look…really not my taste