*Unavoidable brain fade and a slip of the tongue meant we referred to the Street Triple as the Speed Triple early on in the video, we know. Feel free to point it out in the comments anyway.*

LET'S HYPOTHESIZE that you’ve got a mate who espouses the virtues of three-cylinder engines at every opportunity; every time you meet him for a coffee at your local bike meet, he bangs on about how his beloved triples offer a perfect balance between smooth, high revving inline four-cylinder power and the mid-range grunt of a twin.

And that’s before he proceeds to tell you about the character of his favourite engine configuration.

You think you’re immune to it but over time, the constant pro-three-cylinder rhetoric starts to rub off. You find yourself wanting to suckle on the nipple of the triple…

Fortunately, you’re not short of choice. Two of the most exciting three-cylinder bikes to grace showrooms in 2017 are Yamaha’s eye-catching, budget priced and updated-for-2017 MT-09 and the new Triumph Speed Triple 765 RS – the range-topping model in the family of new Speed Triples. We plumped for the top-bollock RS not just because it’s got the most power and best spec of all the new Street Triples, but also because we wanted to see whether, if you’re in the market for a naked three-cylinder, you need to spend RS money to get the best bike.

Read the full review here: http://www.visordown.com/road-tests/uk-road-test-triumph-street-triple-rs-vs-yamaha-mt-09