VOL. 50 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 8, 2013
P53
MPARABLE I
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALESSIO BARBANTI
AND MATTEO CAVADINI
THE NEWEST
TRIUMPH IS THE
BEST TRIUMPH
YET. BY FAR.
ncomparable. That's the word
Triumph used to describe its
new Daytona 675 on its debut
back in 2006, as the first threecylinder Supersport contender
created under the FIM's new
class rules equating 600cc fours
with 750cc twins and 675cc triples. But that turned out to be a
double entendre, as this unique
triple systematically laid waste
to its four-cylinder Japanese rivals in successive comparison
tests, carving out a solid slice of
middleweight sportbike sales for
the British manufacturer. Truly incomparable.
But seven years on and 29,406
examples of the Daytona 675
later (counting both the standard
version updated in 2009 and the
uprated 675R variant launched
the following year), the Triumph
triple is no longer unique.
Triumph admits the new threecylinder MV Agusta F3 launched
12 months ago actually outsold
the Daytona 675 this past year
– although winning the British Supersport title with Aussie
Glen Richards might have provided some consolation. But Triumph had its retaliation already
planned, and it has arrived in
We rode the newest incarnation of
the highly successful Triumph 675R
at the Cartagena track in southeast
Spain and came away impressed.
The new 675R may just be the best
Supersport bike ever made.
