FEATURE TRIUMPH DAYTONA 660
“I have just one question,” came a voice from the other side of the room. “When are you going to build a proper Daytona?” As you can probably imagine, that moment felt about as awkward as walking in on your neighbours to find them covered in chocolate spread, indulging in some adult time. Wide-mouthed, sitting in the midst of the Daytona 660's global presentation and wishing I'd brought a tub of popcorn, I eagerly awaited the retort from Triumph to the Brazilian journalist who'd fired the shot, point blank and full bore. “Well, this is a proper Daytona. Long before the 675, there were several other sporty Triumphs that shared the Daytona moniker. Some were big, some were small, some were more focused, others more comfortable. If anything, this is a case of going back to our roots and delivering to the people the bike that they want – a sportsbike that can do it all.” It was a polished and convincing response, and as bad as I felt for, Alastair, the Triumph representative up on stage who had to offer the room his answer, I figured it was a fair question, and one which a lot of people are wondering, myself too.
Let's cut to it, hot off the heels of arguably one of the most-loved and best-selling middleweight sportsbikes on the market, the news of a 660 triple effectively taking the name and place of the masterpiece that came before it didn't bode well, especially with those of an age who've seen, ridden and loved the 675 that first blew the world away back in 2006 when it superseded the
