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Country roads comparison

BMW K 1300 R vs Triumph Street Triple R

Follow me if you can. Or: Why a 173 hp BMW K 1300 R can hardly follow the 106 hp Triumph Street Triple on the country road. How much power can a person actually take??

Tempo 100 ?? the guardians of law and order know no mercy. And since 1972. Only the ancients remember the times when free blowing is allowed on the country road ?? and quite common? was. Although we Germans still have a lot of leeway compared to our neighbors, Dutch or Swiss, for example, need considerably more physical control for the 80 kilometers per hour permitted there.

Isn’t twelve horsepower enough then? At 100 knots, at 300 km / h bullet only rotates a casual 3500 revolutions. Even a mid-range entry-level machine breaks the 200 mark today, and some scooters run more than 150 km / h. For 100 km / h, about twelve ponies would be enough, depending on air and rolling resistance. At 20, let’s generously say 30 little horses, you would have enough reserves to overtake or accelerate and could easily travel on the motorway at more than the recommended speed of 130 km / h. Why do most motorcyclists want to harness 100, 130 or even 180 horses anyway? Sure, because power is fun. Because it’s not about what you absolutely need, but what you want to have. Because it’s about acceleration, about thrust in intermediate sprints. And because you can even savor performance beyond 100 hp on winding mountain roads. But at some point, of course, the end of the story is reached. At some point even at 190 tire whimpers for mercy. And at some point even MotoGP riders cannot convert more power into better times, as the transition from the 1000 monster machines to the more mobile and therefore faster 800 cc has shown.

Power in abundance versus agile revving

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Triumph is ahead of the curve on an angled pass, but the duel could turn out differently under different conditions.

The healthy middle. That is probably why there is traditionally a strong middle in Germany. People who avoid extremes, consciously content themselves with normality. 100 HP, whether in a lively FZ6 or a gently bubbling R 1200 GS, is the quantum of power that you can and want to implement in everyday life. With 100 horses, longer motorway stretches are possible, but they are not too demanding on the country road. And so you can turn the throttle vigorously without constantly searching the roadside for speed cameras. Counter-argument from the other parliamentary group, those who can never have enough: Nobody forces you to open up the gas completely, peace lies in strength. The Hayabusa effect. When in 1999 the Suzuki Hayabusa was preparing to be the first machine to break the 300 km / h sound barrier, the sensational press immediately rushed to the high-speed weapon. Is it all crazy? Later it gradually turned out that the Hayabusa driver is not the wild boar overtaking on the green strip, but is often a cozy contemporary who wants to enjoy the abundance of power, but does not necessarily want to savor it, who seeks sovereignty instead of hectic . Small 600 series sports engines are much more the typical base for the stoker on the country road. Pointy engines that simply have to be flanged.

On the (front) last groove. With which we are gradually approaching the ever-young topic of the regulars’ table: Who is faster? The question actually shows that it is usually more about the driver than the machine. But of course the material also plays a role. It is a truism that small, handy machines are easier to navigate around bends, whereas strong motorbikes are easier to handle on straight lines. A country road duel between two completely different machines, namely the 173 hp BMW K 1300 R and the Triumph Street Triple R with a nominal 106 hp, will show who is ahead, where and when. Mind you: This is not about heating along the tire slip line on the racetrack or home track, but about speeding up gas on unknown, winding roads in the south of France.

In paper form, a catapult like the K 1300 is an almost unbreakable opponent, the performance at the same speed is about twice as high. Which is ultimately also reflected in the driving performance. The BMW is making progress that even a super sports car would have had a lot of trouble. In practice, however, the difference between the two test subjects is put into perspective surprisingly quickly. Because we’re not talking about speeds over 120 km / h, where the BMW mercilessly drives away from the Triumph, which is clearly inferior in terms of engine, but from the range between 50 and 120 km / h. Easy going is the second reason, which means that the Triumph’s performance is much easier to consume and translate into propulsion. Why? A closer look at the performance curves provides information. With the Triumph, every driver automatically drives a higher speed level. Because the motor delivers more pressure there, feels noticeably more comfortable and the performance can be easily controlled up to the highest speeds. Of course, that means more shifting than with the BMW, which, thanks to the smooth, precise transmission, is perceived as a pleasure rather than a burden.

Test of strength with fun factor

Surprisingly, the BMW driver can just follow the Triumph when accelerating out of a tight curve, but can hardly make up crucial meters. The reason: The fat engine not only allows lower speeds, it actually demands them. You cannot drive with 7000 revolutions in the apex of the curve because the force cannot be finely metered in this area. And in the further course the increase in strength would be too brutal, the highsider thus programmed. Within 2000 revs, the power increases to 170 hp, which is difficult to implement ?? and it is stressful. So you drive out of the curve with manageable 5000 turns. And then just has problems following the Street Triple organizing along the rev limiter, which also throws its weight advantage of more than a hundredweight into the scales. The meters lost in the bend can only really be caught up on longer straights, disregarding speed limits. Especially since the BMW has to give up when it comes to cornering. It is a chunk that stubbornly locks itself against inclines, which needs more physical effort. In contrast, the Triumph is a toy, incredibly easy to control, lively, precise, more direct. And that despite the fact that it is covered in tires with a rather diffuse Dunlop Qualifier, while the BMW rolls on the more sociable Conti Sport Attack.

20th Pictures

Images: Country roads comparison

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Technical specifications

BMW K 1300 R.
Four-cylinder in-line engine, six-speed gearbox, cardan shaft, 127 kW (173 hp) at 9250 / min, 140 Nm at 8250 / min, wheelbase 1585 mm, 252 kg, 13,750 euros

Triumph Street Triple R.
Three-cylinder in-line engine, six-speed gearbox, chain drive, 675 cm3, 78 kW (106 hp) at 11750 rpm, 68 Nm at 9200 rpm, wheelbase 1390 mm, 190 kg, 8640 euros

MOTORCYCLE conclusion

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End of the street games: The winner on the country road is Triumph Street Triple R. The BMW K 1300 R competes with confidence.

In the end, it’s all a question of character: Some would prefer to draw on the full, but never fully exhaust all the power. No one will be able to convert 173 hp on winding country roads. But the attempt offers a special kick? and besides, so much power makes you confident. The other is looking for borderline experiences, life at the limit? 106 HP are definitely more than enough. If you want to, the lively Triumph Street Triple R has the edge on winding country roads. But: Nobody forces you to mill full speed through the landscape, you can enjoy the single-track movement on both machines even at less speed.

Driving performance in comparison

Acceleration from a standing start

BMW K 1300 R.
0-100 km / h 2.9 sec
0-140 km / h 4.3 sec

Triumph Street Triple R.
0-100 km / h 3.7 sec
0-140 km / h 6.1 sec

Full barrel from the state: There is absolutely no herb against the overpowering K 1300 R, with 2.9 seconds it keeps even super athletes in check. The higher weight only plays a secondary role in the sprint in the lower area; it’s more about getting the performance down to earth somehow. This even applies to the Triumph, which, despite its lower performance, also likes to lift the front wheel. At the top, the mighty BMW can further set itself apart.

Accelerating from a hairpin
(Gradient of around 10 percent)

BMW K 1300 R.
50-90 km / h
3rd gear 2.4 sec
4th gear 3.2 sec

Triumph Street Triple R.
50-90 km / h
3rd gear 3.3 sec
4th gear 4.1 sec

Accelerating out of a curve is an everyday situation. In the same gear, the Street Triple always lags a little behind. The high tractive force on the rear wheel forces the BMW driver to use rather high gears. If, on the other hand, the BMW accelerates in the fourth and the Triumph in the third, both are almost on a par. In practice, there is also the fact that the Triumph driver is more likely to give full throttle when leaning, the BMW is more difficult to control at the exit of a curve.

Passage in the last gear

BMW K 1300 R.
60-100 km / h 3.2 sec
60-140 km / h 6.5 sec

Triumph Street Triple R.
60-100 km / h 3.3 sec
60-140 km / h 7.0 sec

Surprising finding: Who would have thought that a 675 engine with barely more than half the power can stand up to a 1300, especially when it comes to pulling through? A four-cylinder 600 would have absolutely no chance when pulling through in sixth gear, but the high-torque, briefly translated Triumph holds up to 100 fully against it and even loses just three meters up to 140 km / h and only a good five km / h against the heavier BMW.

Overtaking a truck

BMW K 1300 R.
4th gear 3.9 sec

Triumph Street Triple R.
4th gear 4.4 sec

Even when overtaking a truck driving at 70 km / h, it can be seen that the smaller machine does not seem underpowered in everyday life. The Triumph takes half a second longer to overtake in fourth gear, but in practice the Street Triple sometimes draws on par with the BMW, because you often go down a gear because of the more revving engine and easier control.

MOTORCYCLE measurements

power
Two fantastic engines: in terms of performance, there is roughly a factor of two between the BMW four-cylinder and the Triumph Triple over the entire speed range, while the speed range is quite similar. Both engines deliver an exemplary, practically linear performance curve without any waves or valleys. This also results in a flawless torque curve in both cases. Whereby the K 1300 slowly drops above its power zenith at 9700 rpm up to the limiter speed 10800 rpm, while the Street Triple turns into the limiter abruptly and virtually without warning at 12300 rpm. Also note the increase in power, which is a whopping 20 hp per 1000 rpm on the BMW and not even ten on the Triumph.

traction
Here, too, a two-class society: The BMW tire would theoretically have to cope with up to 4600 Newtons in first gear, which of course is not possible with less than 350 kilograms including the driver. Whereby the driver has to turn off the gas anyway when accelerating because of the wheelie tendency. The easily controllable third gear covers almost everything on the country road, shifting becomes a luxury. The BMW gears are evenly spaced, whereas the Triumph is more racing-like with short first and narrow upper gears. The BMW is geared to 275 km / h in the sixth, the Triumph to 225. Please note: The BMW engine has to move around 60 kilograms more.

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