A question of costs
Gareth’s been busy with a calculator to compare the Trident with its rival
With list prices starting with a seven, both this Trident 660 and its main rival, the Yamaha MT-07, appear to offer stonking value. But that’s to buy outright and doesn’t account for how much the bikes actually cost to run, so I thought for this update I’d delve a little deeper.
Fuel economy is an easy one: both return 51mpg and have 14-litre tanks. They cost the same to tax too, and both have a two-year warranty.
However, insurance is always a fickle thing to discuss, since risk profiles differ greatly with almost no rhyme nor reason.
I’ve done my best to grab two equal quotes from MCN Compare, our comparison website. I entered my exact details, only changing the bike and keeping everything else consistent – 38-year-old male, bike kept in locked garage in Northamptonshire, relatively low riding experience of a few years, fully comprehensive cover – and the results were interesting. The cheapest quote on the Trident was perhaps unsurprisingly through Triumph Insurance, which quoted £288 a year, or a £43.24 deposit and nine payments of £32.69 a month.
The MT-07 worked out slightly more expensive. The most reasonable was Bikesure at £323.54, or £48.53 and nine payments of £36.62 a month.
But there’s another factor: servicing. Triumph have made much of the 660’s reasonable servicing costs. Because of the relaxed state of tune, Hinckley have extended service intervals to 10,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first, after the initial 600-miler. The MT-07 needs a service every 6k miles, or 12 months. Over a three-year period if you extend to 10,000 miles in each 12-month period you’re going to be seeing the dealer more frequently with the Yamaha. How much more it’ll cost depends on your mileage.
Finally, PCP pricing – which
I’ve been keeping an eye on because it’s a great way to get onto a bike like this without a huge initial outlay – throws up another curious factor to consider. If you key a £1000 deposit into both firms’ calculators over a 37-month PCP with 4K miles a year, you’ll see the MT-07 is £93.58 with an optional final payment of £3510 a month while the Trident is £102 a month with £3947 payable at the end to keep the bike.
The difference here is
APR – Triumph’s is 7.9% representative, and Yamaha’s is 6.9%. And just to confuse us further, companies like to change these deals regularly.
Which just goes to show, it’s always worth crunching the numbers before you sign on the dotted line.