TIMMY’S TAKE
I love a three-cylinder machine and there’s no doubt about it, the Triumph Daytona 675 is the OG when it comes to triples. I mean, what’s not to like about that throaty grunt and induction whine – it gets me every time.
But let’s start with how it felt to ride. The Triumph has the best riding position by a good margin of all the bikes in this test. It’s not nose biased like the other two bikes, but instead feels neutrally balanced and is very comfortable to ride. The handlebar position is perfect, set much wider than the others which makes all the difference in leverage of the bike, and the footpegs didn’t even come to mind, so they must be bang on.
The fact it’s an inline three versus an inline four means the chassis is much narrower than the Honda and Yamaha, and therefore a thinner bike between the legs, which for me always gives a feeling of control and being on top of the bike; you’re not having to straddle a hefty beast. The handling of the Daytona was impeccable; lightweight, nimble and most importantly, precise – wherever I looked it went, which I can’t say is the case for all bikes out there.
The motor is full of character, mainly thanks to the fact it has only three cylinders rather than four and sounds completely different from any other bike out there. That’s what makes this machine so special, it never fails to put a smile on my face. Of the three bikes on test, the Triumph was the only one with a quickshifter (up only) fitted as standard, and quite frankly, it’s a game changer. It works silky smooth with a perfect ignition cut, and when you’re hammering the throttle and giving it the gears, it really is on a different level to the R6 and CBR. It may have a stronger bottom end with more grunt and torque, but it didn’t feel particularly fast at the top, if anything a little slower.
Unfortunately for the others, the Triumph was also the only bike with a gear indicator, and a very simple and clear to read dash which I found makes all the difference. It’s not overcomplicated with info, but a basic analogue and digital dash. If I had to get picky, it would be that my gloves caught on the mirrors while I was turning around in the middle of the road, but that would be because it has a much better turning circle than the others, so actually you could say that’s a perk. It certainly made life easier and in day-to-day use of this bike would be a huge benefit for moving it around and manoeuvring tight turns. The Daytona comes out on top quite easily for me and if I was after a used 600, then this would be the one without a doubt.