Triumph Daytona 675 Road Test Review

“…below that carefully crafted fairing lies around $9000-worth of factory Magic…”

Triumph was a latecomer to the middleweight supersport table, its TT600 in-line four arriving in 2000, some 13 years after Honda first produced the groundbreaking CBR600F.

Riding on the back of some fearless marketing, the TT was undeniably a worthy first effort, but its fuel injection was flawed and its conservative styling missed the mark, and sales did little to hurt Japan Inc.

The TT600 became the Daytona 600 in 2003, a thorough redesign resulting in new styling, more power and less weight, while this morphed into the gruntier Daytona 650 in 2005.

BACK TO BASICS

However, by now Triumph was renowned for its in-line triple engines – a three-cylinder, across-the-frame configuration that delivered oodles of low-down and mid-range grunt, coupled with a stirring whirr of valve clatter and a soulful exhaust bellow.

So in 2006 Triumph got back to basics, and produced the Daytona 675 – a supersport bike powered by a 675cc in-line triple – and it hit the jackpot. The bike now offered superb performance, up-to-the-minute styling AND that sought-after in-line triple Triumph character.

The Daytona 675 promptly cleaned up in bike mag comparison tests around the world, including Europe’s prestigious and internationally judged ‘Supertest’ and ‘Masterbike’ epics.

Today it’s still winning accolades, and after recently sampling the pocket rocket it’s easy to see why. However, I should point out this 675 isn’t your average Daytona. No m’lord, there be dragons lurking in that there engine…

Apart from some carbon fibre cosmetics it looks like a stocker, but under that fairing lies around $9000-worth of factory magic (see Race Options list)

Triumph Australia claims the extra gear brings it pretty close to the level of spec you’d find on the race bike currently campaigned in the Supersport World Championship by Australia’s Garry McCoy.

McCoy proved the model’s worth at the Australian round in March, when he squared off against the world’s best and came home sixth, crossing the line just 1.2sec after the winner. Needless to say, if you’re a track day fiend you’ll revel in the extra grunt the factory mods unleash.