  Since Triumph decided that the middle-class sports bike should be called Daytona and not TT, Hinckley has tried three times. First the four-cylinder engine in 600 and 650cc were created and now the three-cylinder 675. All good things come in threes these days for Triumph and it has been decided in the highest places that exclusivity will be connected with the make. So has Triumph got it this time?
Text: Tor Sagen/Photo: Claire McHugh   Over the last three years I have ridden both the in-line four Daytona 600 and 650 and now the 675 triple. Triumph have tried and tried but it is no longer a game. Succeed or disappear is the challenge that the designers at Triumph have set themselves.  To assert it among the Japanese models the 675 was born to have approximately as good performance. Triumph has achieved this with a powerful triple engine and very low weight. The engine gives its 125 horsepower at a low (relative to others in this class) 12.500 rpms and a torque that is the best in its class with 72Nm at 11.750rpms. None of the Japanese models give this much torque and power at such low revs. Triumph has achieved this by building a whole new triple engine in which 675cc is equivalent (or better) to a 600cc four-cylinder engine in performance. Bigger pistons and broader cylinder walls give better torque earlier in the register.  When I hold in the clutch and press the starter button it is immediately apparent that the new 675 triple has a different  tone from the four-cylinder. Deeper, but with an equally good running when on idle. At speed the engine makes noise in a metallic tone unique to a triple. Another box ticked for the exclusivity that a European bike should have. The engine is the central feature around which everything else is built and designed. By 62MPH in the highest gear the dial shows 4.500rpms. From these rpms the acceleration is smooth. From 8.000rpms we can define the class beating midrange and here it really begins to get going. The engine comes properly to life and there is play in the dial right up to the red marking by 14.000rpms. The  fuel injection is near to perfect and tolerates throttle completely on and off in high gear with low revs without a jerky response. The clutch is light and precise whilst the gearbox is still not equally good as the rest of the  running gear. The problem is that when up-gearing there is a little more resistance than you want. Instead of a progressive upward migration of the gears it feels as if there is ever so slight hindrance to your foot. A stiff feel in other words. Gearing down has good sensitivity on a par with better gearboxes. On the Daytona 675 this becomes especially prominent when there is almost nothing else to criticise or that I want to change.  Into the bends it feels that a little extra push on the handlebars must be made before the 675 can lean completely on the edges of its tyres. As soon as it bites the 675 is just as sure and stable in the middle of bends as the Ducati 749. The standard tyres on the Daytona 675 are the absolute best road tyre that Pirelli has namely the Dragon Supercorsa Pro. With the launch at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia there was no point  for the Pirelli technicians to take any special track tyres. The Supercorsa Pro tyres haven’t got patterned sides and work like a racing tyre at maximum lean. It is up for speculation whether Triumph chose this tyre for various comparison tests on the track. Regardless, you get a good set of tyres as standard. In the rain it is no joke to defy death too much and so you are best of staying as upright as you can on the wet stuff. When I was riding in the wet there was loads of grip on the patterned part of the tyres. For ordinary riding when it rains it is ok not to lean too much anyway. Daytona 675 is stable at high speeds and the very decent torque and triple characteristics teased me up in very high speeds without noticing. This can be put down to more than decent handling. *This is only excerpts of the full article.
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