2026 Triumph Trident 800 Review | Motorcycle Test

2026 Triumph Trident 800 Review

Sometimes you really can have too much of a good thing, and Triumph’s mid-capacity Street Triple range in recent years is a case in point. Prior to the arrival of today’s test bike, the Trident 800, the Street Triple 765 family had swollen to four variants: the base 765 R, the sharper 765 RS, the sharper-again 765 RX, and the limited-run Moto2 Edition.

Things grew murkier still when you consider that the RS effectively became Triumph’s de facto supersport offering, one you had to convert into a racebike yourself after the true Daytona (and no, not the 660) quietly disappeared. Meanwhile, the Moto2 Edition, which logic would suggest should be a fully faired race replica, remained stubbornly naked. Got all that?

Thankfully, Triumph has realised its folly somewhat and altered its line-up, dropping the 765 R from production and bringing to market the new Trident 800, complete with its own dedicated chassis and an all-new three-cylinder engine.

The Trident is aimed more at regular street riders than those chasing lap times. Triumph claims the Trident will tip the scales at 197 kg, a fair bit heftier than the RS at a claimed 187 kg ready to ride.

You still get all the regular bells and whistles like cornering ABS and traction control, four-piston radial-mounted front brakes, Triumph’s sublime quickshifter, cruise control, optional heated grips, and a raucous 798cc inline three-cylinder motor that sounds like one third of a NASCAR when being given the berries.

In short, there’s very little the RS can do that the Trident can’t, up to rather illegal speeds or when aimed at a racetrack.

This new kid on the Triumph block comes in at a tasty $16,695, meaning it’ll go head-to-head with bikes like the base model Yamaha MT-09 and the Kawasaki Z900, but a step up from Honda’s Hornet CB750 and the GS-8S from Suzuki.

The Trident 800 uses the same main chassis as the Trident 660, except for a slightly wider top section to accommodate three 42mm throttle bodies, replacing the single throttle body system used on the up-to-2025 Trident 660. You also get a slightly revised sub-frame on the 800 that accommodates a wider rider and passenger seat pad.

Triumph has gained a deserved reputation over the years for a skinny mid-section (wish I could say that about myself), and it’s the same with the Trident.

It runs an 810 mm seat height, meaning it should be within most riders’ reach as long as you’re not too tiny in the inseam; for the record, I’ve got an 838 mm inseam, and I’m almost too tall for the Trident. Almost.

Those used to the Street Triple’s sharper tank lines will notice the Trident’s almost pea-shaped tank gives a pretty different rider stance. The tank sides are wider and don’t allow as much tuck in as the Street Triple’s, but it keeps you a little more upright and in not quite as aggressive a rider stance.

The Trident looks traditional without being old, thanks to the big, classic-looking single headlight and the rear end that has a few modern racebike cues, meaning the designers have struck a pretty funky balance in how the Trident presents itself. Think bruiser streetfighter in the traditional sense, not a stripped-back supersport bike.

Once you’re underway, two things immediately stand out. The first being how soft the suspension is set as standard, the second is how much of a blast that 798 cc in-line three-cylinder engine is.

The 41mm Showa Big Piston Fork comes with full adjustment, but it’s the rear shock that will require some preload if you’re north of 75 kg dripping wet, which I most certainly am.

At conventional road speeds, like pottering around inner city streets, the settings are fine, but as soon as you want to wick the pace up, you’ll want to give the rear suspension a bit of preload for some extra support. Do that, and the Trident will hold its line beautifully, and its sub-200kg wet weight means agility is never in question.

The Trident retains the beautiful agility that’s a genetic trait of the Street Triple line-up, but the slightly more relaxed riding position means it doesn’t feel quite as urgent. There’s a more chilled-out vibe to the Trident’s persona, enhanced by how comfortable the seat pad is for a long day (a small detail, but important).

An area the Trident is lacking is front braking feel. Power is reasonable, but the cheapie master cylinder doesn’t give the deft feel on the first quarter of braking pull I’d have wanted.

It’s an easy fix, just throw a race-spec master cylinder at it (and maybe some higher-spec pads), and the braking will be transformed. You’ve got cornering ABS inside the electronics at any rate, so you’re halfway there already.

Ride quality is pretty good overall, but it will require a bit of fine-tuning to get perfect, which is easily done with full adjustment on the fork, though you’re limited with preload and rebound on the shock.

Our ride was accompanied by plenty of freezing sleet and rain in the mountains of Cyprus, which undoubtedly sucked some of the fun out of the experience but gave an unlikely hero a chance to shine.

Michelin’s Power Road 6 is standard fitment on the Trident, and having never ridden them before, I was pleasantly surprised more by their wet performance than anything they managed in the dry. Initial turn-in is a little slow, but stability and braking performance from the Michelins is excellent, especially in the cold and wet.

Now, turning our attention to the 113 hp, 798 cc inline three-cylinder motor that powers the Trident, I wish I could say anything other than it’s an absolute gem of a thing.

I’m really starting to believe the three-cylinder is the ideal streetbike motor for all the reasons the engineers have sprouted (good initial torque, strong mid-range, plenty of top-end), but more than anything, the Trident’s motor is just straight-up fun to use.

Yes, there’s plenty of all the good stuff you’d expect from a triple, but it’s so smooth in its delivery, so effortless in how it plants a smile on your dial. Whereas the Speed Triple 1200 RS that I just gave back is a bit of a boxing match, the Trident is a playful sparring partner, with more than enough performance for 90 per cent of the riding you’re going to put it through.

Pair it with that beautiful quickshifter, and you’ve got a ride that’s extremely enjoyable as well as one that can more than hold its own in the performance stakes.

As expected, you’ve got three riding modes of Rain, Road and Sport, with traction control and wheelie control linked to each individual mode, and you can’t customise them separately. On a bike like the Trident, that’s not such a big deal. If you’re really keen for some extra-long wheelies, you can turn the TC off, but I didn’t tell you that…

Another creature comfort Triumph has included as standard is one-touch cruise control. It’s a little confusing at first as when you look at the left switch block you can’t actually see it, but it’s there and helps Triumph give a quick left jab to a couple of its Euro rivals you insist on making add-ons like cruise control an optional extra, even when their bikes are more expensive and, well, not as good anyway.

On that note, heated grips are an optional extra, so that proves you can’t have it all. I was more than happy to have them fitted as we navigated some of the cold and wet potholes in the mountains of Cyprus.

So, where does the Trident stack up against some of its rivals? Rather well, I must say. Given the ride-away price is well under $17K, it sits close to the $16,773 Kawasaki Z900 and a little below the $18,099 Yamaha MT-09.

New-old-stock 2024 KTM 790s can be found for $13,495 reduced to $10,995 ride-away under KTM’s Power Deal pricing, which isn’t bad at all. Don’t even bother about including the $20,700 2026 Ducati Monster, that’s getting up into Street Triple 765 RS territory.

Triumph’s latest offering bridges a small gap in its lineup that many didn’t know existed. The Trident’s funky styling, matched to that ripping little motor, means it should find favour with a wide variety of nakedbikers quite easily.

The performance is backed up by that tasty price, and the build quality is typically nice, even if that horrid clutch cable makes me squint when looking at it from the right-hand side.  There’s a lot to choose from in this sector, and whether you like it or not, that choice just got a bit harder.

Head to the Triumph Motorcycles Australia website for more info.

2026 Triumph Trident 800 Specifications

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