Test Drive – Test Triumph Daytona 675 2013: triple impact! – Unbeatable!

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2013 Triumph Daytona 675 test: triple impact !

Test Drive - Test Triumph Daytona 675 2013: triple impact! - Unbeatable!

Lighter, more powerful and even more efficient, the 2013 Triumph Daytona 675 literally charmed us on the circuit in its sublime R version. On the road, is the standard version of the English Supersport also convincing ? Test.

Unbeatable !

Since its release in 2006, the Triumph Daytona 675 has become the pet peeve of Japanese manufacturers: without complex, the Triumph has given them leadership in the Supersport category, until now the preserve of Japanese "4-legs" … master stroke on the part of the English who learned how to learn from the fire failure of the 600 TT.

To beat Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, the Hinckley crest has indeed understood that it had to follow its own path rather than marked lanes. The mid-displacement inline 4-cylinder being a Japanese specialty, no need to persist: launching into battle by copying the strategies and weapons of your opponents rarely leads to victory, especially when said weapons have been refined for ages. by the opposing camp !

To win, innovate while standing out are more effective approaches. This is why Triumph wisely decided to abandon the 4-cylinder of the 600 TT (and the little known but nevertheless excellent Speed ​​Four roadster) and to bet everything on an engine architecture closely linked to its history: the 3-cylinder in-line.

A company crowned with success thanks to the many qualities of the "Triple" of the Daytona 675: more flexible and almost as torquey as a twin, it offers almost as much extension as a four-cylinder but much more "trunk"! All accompanied by an absolutely divine cavernous soundtrack, punctuated by backfiring at the gas cut evoking the exhaust of an old rally car a little liberated. Rhââ, lovely…

And the more the years pass, the more the gap grows with the competition because Triumph invests – and invests – to maintain its advantage. , the Daytona gets a complete overhaul in 2013: absolutely everything, from the engine to the chassis, including weight distribution and trim, has been redesigned to improve it..

The Daytona 675 now develops 128 hp and 74 Nm of torque (125 and 72 previously). It claims a record weight (all full) of 184 kg and exhibits even more qualitative peripherals: redesigned and stiffened aluminum frame, Nissin radial brake calipers (assisted by optional ABS), fully adjustable Kayaba suspensions (including in slow and fast compression), 500g lighter rims … Nothing is too good for the crown jewel of Triumph (read our Technical point on the penultimate page) !

Since worldwide sales of sports motorcycles are in free fall, admit that it was necessary to dare to overhaul an already extremely successful model! Especially that opposite, some provide only the "minimum service": the has not moved since the end of 2009, while the must be satisfied with a facelift and some modifications (new fork and refined injection, in particular) for its first evolution since … 2007 !

To you the little English girl !

Discovered in its "R" version on the Spanish track of Cartagena, the Supersport Triumph appeared to us at the height of its art (read our). But this "premium" version, recognizable by its Ohlins suspensions, its Brembo brakes, its shifter or even its carbon parts and its red rear buckle, is not cheap: at 13,690 € the Supersport, also "super" either- her, it calms…

Certainly, in view of the on-board gear and the qualities of the bike, the deal is not a scam. But from there to settle the Livret A or to contract a loan simply to "have the R", there is a step that many amateurs will not cross. Especially those whose journeys include "speed bumps" rather than "vibrators" and for whom a "good time" is not synonymous with more points in a classification but fewer points on the license…

From where the question : for mainly road use, isn’t the standard version of the Daytona 675 largely sufficient? Especially since the two models are aesthetically and technically very similar. The main differences relate to the luxurious equipment and trim elements listed above, as well as to certain chassis dimensions (more radical on the "R").

The engine is strictly identical, as is the frame, the magnificent asymmetrical swingarm, the 17.4-liter tank or the barely legible instrumentation (lack of contrast between the inscriptions in white and the black-blue background of the LCD screen). At € 11,790 (€ 12,190 with ABS), the "base" Dayto therefore gives value for its money: it is as beautiful and barely less desirable than the "R". It’s good for the ego, that !

The opportunity to note that the Hinckley Supersport is one of the cheapest motorcycles in its category with the (€ 11,999 excluding promotions): only the Honda CBR600RR gives it the brakes (€ 10,990) and then, the prices are ‘take off: € 12,199 for example for the new one and up to € 12,799 for the Yamaha R6! And then we are surprised that the sports market is collapsing…

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