The sky looked like a murky lake in the distance, a stark contrast to the gleaming lineup of fresh Triumph Trident 800s outside my hotel in Cyprus. I felt the weight of the clouds as I hadn’t ridden in more than three months due to moving continents and an Irish winter. Now, I didn’t just have to go for a ride; I had to put my testing helmet back on.
As soon as I threw my leg over, met the handlebars, sat the bike up, and brought my right foot to the peg, I thought, “This is a motorcycle.” I don’t mean that in the extraordinarily obvious way, but in the quintessential—the Trident 800 feels exactly how you expect a comfy(ish) and sporty(ish) naked motorcycle to feel. My body fell into place naturally, and the next steps were equally as intuitive.
I got to grips with the controls and menu without a single eye roll, which is a rarity on many modern bikes. Initially, I just wanted to set off in Road Mode and make sure I knew how to get into Rain Mode when the time came, and Sport Mode if I was lucky. But I easily mastered more than I needed to know and more before sparking up the engine.
If you were to have taken my temperature, right then, I might have told you the bike’s familiarity verged on boring. Oh, how wrong I’d have been.
What A Peach
The star of the Trident 800’s show is the 798cc triple that was already well-received in the Tiger Sport 800. This powerplant lives to be ridden in the mid range and doesn’t beg you to rev it, unlike the Street Triple R it replaces. There's so much torque on offer, so much sooner than expected, that my grin came early and often.
The 61.9 lb-ft of peak torque hits at 8,500 rpm, plenty shy of the Trident’s 11,500 rpm redline. But because of the bike’s hooligan nature between 4,000-8,5000 rpm, I found myself happily short shifting to get back into the meat, rather than spinning up to the 113 hp peak at 10,750 rpm. It’s worth noting that although the Trident is down five horsepower when compared to the Street Triple R, it has a few more lb-ft of torque, and the torque is much more accessible for everyday riding. In fact, the Trident 800 makes, on average, 10% more power than a Street Triple RS from idle all to 8,500 rpm.
This Trident lured me into a sense of security before I set off, and by the time I realized it’s a menace in the midrange, I was feeling confident and eager to exploit it. This bike won’t force you to power wheelie in first or second gear—motorcycles can’t force you to do things—but if you were that way inclined, you’ll have a very willing companion in the Trident 800.
Thanks to its engine and mapping, this model sits in a special category between motorcycles that you can ride flat-out everywhere and things like the Speed Triple, which is like having a nuke deployable at any point in the rev range. The Trident 800 injects excitement into your daily ride at reasonable speeds, while still having the reserve power to blitz an overtake and put you into license-losing territory pretty quickly if you don’t pay attention.
Some motorcycles make you ride their ride, but the Trident 800 isn’t one of them. It’ll happily burble along to the sweet hum of its triple around town, or get fiery on mountain roads, shooting crackles on the overrun—it leaves the decision in your hands.
Trident 800 is brimming with excitement in most everyday scenarios, but its chassis contributes almost as much to the equation as its engine.
Nimble and Flighty
Apart from the Trident’s powerplant, its chassis is the other crucial element that makes it an everyday hoot. Its exceptionally short wheelbase of 1,402mm—the lowest in the class—means that it's almost as eager to turn in as it is to wheelie.
Again, the Trident didn’t force me to tackle the second-to-fourth-gear bends with more aggression than I wanted, but it let me know that it was more than happy to engage and push on. The tubular steel perimeter frame isn’t razor sharp or as rigid as the Street Triple R’s, but the flex in the chassis isn’t a weakness—it imparts an incredible amount of feel through the handlebars, seat, and pegs.
Rounding a corner, the Trident 800 isn’t necessarily faster than the competition, and it’s certainly not faster than the Street Triple R. But it relays such a connection to the road that I felt immersed in the ride and instantly confident. The result is a bike that’s far more engaging than I expected and yet remains forgiving. Although I know I could tackle corners more aggressively on something like the Street Triple, not once did I want to.
There was plenty of room for my 6-foot-tall frame, thanks to the bars being lower and wider compared to the Street Triple and the pegs being lower, and the 810mm seat height made stop-start riding a breeze. What was more surprising than the roominess on what looks to be a compact bike was how much front-end feel came through the bars in such a relaxed riding position—the Michelin Road 6 rubber deserves a huge shout-out here.
Between the engine and how communicative the chassis is, the Trident 800 gave me a direct message as to what it brings to the table: accessible, everyday excitement. But here’s the kicker, with an MSRP of just $9,995, it’s the cheapest bike in the class, so has Triumph cut corners? No, but there is marginal room for improvement in some areas.
Chassis Components
Instantly, the Trident 800 makes it clear that it’s not meant to be a track weapon—although I’d happily take it to one—due to how soft the suspension is as standard.
The 41mm Showa USD forks have adjustable rebound and compression damping, and the rear Showa shock has adjustable preload and rebound damping. There’s nothing wrong with the suspension specs on paper, and for some riders, there’ll be no problem at all; it’s only when you really push on that you want a bit more.
The rear shock was a tad under-damped, and the front forks a bit soft, particularly during the initial phase of compression. But this only really became apparent when I pushed, and by just adding some preload to the shock, the bike was noticeably more taught around faster corners.
Similar to the suspension, the Triumph-branded J.Juan brakes and Nissin master cylinder were totally acceptable at this price point. The initial brake feel when chomping into the 310mm discs is a bit wooden due to a somewhat basic cornering ABS, but progressive and with enough stopping power for the vast majority of riders. More stopping power would be nice, but the limits of the brakes only became apparent when riding like a twat, so no marks against the Trident.
The fact is, the Trident 800 feels much like a road-biased version of the Street Triple R, and that’s not a bad thing at all. I own a 2021 Street Triple R, and I’d choose the Trident 800 for the majority of my daily rides. For a bike in this category, at this price, it’s hard to have too much of an issue with the suspension or brakes. But although this is on the budget side for Triumph, it’s far from a budget motorcycle.
Extras as Standard
Triumph skated the line perfectly to not make me feel like I wasn’t wearing a rental tux—the Trident has all the tech I need, plus a tad more, while still beating the competition on price. Three riding modes, three-level cornering TC, and cornering ABS are standard, and that’s exactly as much as I want from this bike.
I geek out over new motorcycle technology, but stressing about whether I’d chosen the right combination of rider aids on a bike like this, which just wants to hit the road and please you, would totally detract from the experience.
Triumph throws in a no-frills, one-touch cruise control as standard, which is more than I expect, and it works as it should. Topping it off, you get an up-and-down quickshifter, which is buttery smooth and one of the better examples of this technology on the road today. Triumph’s Shift Assist also allows you to shift down while accelerating and up while decelerating, which I consider the gold standard in today’s quick-shifting landscape, and was particularly useful when overtaking rows of cars held up by tractors.
Even cosmetically, you get a fly screen and belly pan as standard, which adds a touch of lairiness to what is otherwise the most gentlemanly-looking bike in this class. The models this bike competes with are polarizing in the style department, but the Trident 800 doesn’t shout “Look at me” as it passes—it’s as gentlemanly as you’d expect from a Triumph.
Unmistakably Triumph
The Trident 800 grew on me throughout the launch in Cyprus, and, regardless of its 12 o’clock energy, I couldn’t help but feel like a hooligan dressed in gentleman’s clothing. I dare say it even helped keep me in check, while within the city limits, because while it’s a sub-$10k bike, it still has the distinct, high-brow air of Triumph about it.
There aren’t any gold, shiny Ohlins components, striking metal finishes, or OLED screens that you could watch Netflix on. But everything on this bike is finished well, from the switchgear to how the wiring is hidden. I’m not the biggest fan of the dash—I know I’m not alone—but it doesn’t feel cheap, and arguably matches the Trident 800 better than any other bike in Triumph’s range.
In many ways, the Trident reminded me of a bike I’d always admired: the Honda CB600F Hornet of the early 2000s. It’s the eternal all-rounder. The Trident is all-day comfortable, affordable (relatively), exciting, engaging to ride, and will commute, rip, and tour all in the same day.
I take my hat off to Triumph for creating the Trident 800, because it has made a bike that will undoubtedly encourage folks to spend more time on the road, go on more adventures, and experience more of what biking has to offer on an approachable, exciting, yet respectable platform.
