GO ON, GIVE IT A TRI

» Power: 80bhp » Weight: 189kg » Engine: 660cc 12-valve DOHX inline three » Price: £7195

Triumph’s new Trident 660 is not the best in its class yet totally deserves its place on the Bike of the Year shortlist. Whereas class leader, Yamaha’s MT-07, is absent. Eh? Japan’s representative is friskier, has more punch and like all MTS is always up for a laugh. But if a friend, who didn’t want to pull wheelies at every opportunity asked us which funky, affordable naked they should buy the Triumph is the one we’d actually recommend.

While the Yamaha is superbly built and finished, the Triumph feels so special you almost feel sorry for them selling it for just over seven grand (or £70 a month on PCP over three years with a 25% deposit). Styling is bang on and it’s detailed with as much love and care as their more premium models: cool paintjobs; snazzy colour TFT dash; full LEDS; raspy underslung exhaust; traction control; riding modes and ABS. And it is a bike that suits a wide range of humans: smaller riders, and the less experienced, will love the Trident’s compactness, lack of weight (just 189kg ready-to-go) and docile power delivery. Yet it’s also roomy enough for the taller and it doesn’t hang about when you give

the 80bhp, 660cc triple some what-for. It isn’t quite as much fun as the Yamaha, but it’s close.

We’ve come to expect new Triumphs to handle superbly, even weird ones such as the humongous Rockets 3s and Bobbers, and the Trident 660 is no exception. Its appetite for attacking corners isn’t so much down to flashy chassis parts (it has built-to-a price Showa suspension Michelin Road 5 sports touring tyres and no-nonsense Nissin calipers), but more thanks to a clever research and development department and test team, who know what a bike should feel like in the real world. Rivals such as the MT-07, Honda CB650R and Kawasaki Z650 handle perfectly well, but none have the quality tyre/suspension/brake combo of the Trident 660.

It used to be the case that if you wanted a fun, easy to get on with, everyday road bike with a bit of attitude we would point you towards Triumph’s own Street Triple, but since they have masterminded this total and utter gem, now the nod would certainly go to their Trident 660 instead.

‘Triumph’s Trident is not the best in its class. But…’