Triumph Street Tracker coming

Triumph's reign over the segment went unchallenged for years, except for the anemic Moto Guzzi V7 and Royal Enfields, until the BMW R nineT, Honda CB1100, Yamaha SR400, and Ducati Scrambler came along the last two years.

Well, it looks like Triumph isn't ready to go down without a fight. In 2012, Triumph filed trademark claims for the name "Street Tracker." The Italian website Motociclismo recently posted the first spy shots of the bike, set for release in 2016.

The biggest thing you'll note from the photos is the inclusion of a radiator. Currently, the only liquid-cooled Triumph twin is the Thunderbird cruiser. The photos pretty clearly show two different models, which most people are calling the Street Tracker and Street Tracker R, keeping in line with Triumph's normal naming structure.

Rumors vary, but most people seem to expect the Street Tracker to be between 1,000 and 1,200 cc and make somewhere in the range of 100 horsepower to compete with the BMW (keep in mind, the air-cooled twin in the Bonneville and Thruxton makes around 60 at the rear wheel).

I'm happy to see dual discs on even the lower-spec model. Having owned a 2010 Bonneville, I'm far too aware of how badly those brakes need an update. We can also assume both the R and non-R versions will come with ABS, as that will be mandatory in Europe by the time this thing sees production.