Japanese declare Triumph makes the perfect motorcycle

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Four-cylinder 600cc motorcycles from Japan may account for the majority of supersports machines sold around the world, but the leading Japanese magazine ‘Motorcyclist’ has added to the Daytona 675's impressive list of accolades by awarding its first ever perfect score to the unique three-cylinder Triumph in its regular feature ‘Ride with Edge’.

Ride with Edge has appeared in the magazine each month since January 2001, producing a comprehensive evaluation on a set road route and race track, as well as bench testing the bikes for power and torque. Each month the magazine tests one of the world’s leading performance bikes, but never before has a motorcycle received a perfect 100 out of 100 – until the Daytona 675 appeared in the current issue.

Tester Kei Nashimoto, a world class racer who has competed at the prestigious Suzuka Eight-hour event, said of the Triumph: “The Daytona 675 provides a riding pleasure that cannot be felt in other bikes. The specifications are class-leading and the Daytona 675 has great potential for racing too. The Triumph is king of the middleweight sports bikes.”

Triumph’s Daytona 675 has been universally praised as the best supersport machine on the market since its introduction in 2006. This year’s heavily updated version has raised the bar even further, winning numerous group comparison tests, including the supersport category at the annual Supertest event, which the Daytona 675 has won every year since its introduction. British weekly newspaper MCN went even further, declaring the Daytona 675 as its sportsbike of the year, ahead of even the latest 1000cc superbikes.

Daytonas have also been tearing up the race track since gaining to homologation to compete in the Supersport World Championship. Last year Daytona 675s won two of the world’s most competitive domestic supersport championships, in Germany and the UK, and last weekend saw Australian legend Garry McCoy score a podium placing at the Supersport World Championship round at Donington Park, close to Triumph’s Hinckley factory, in the just company’s second season of world championship competition.

Priced at £7,589 OTR the Daytona 675 raises the bar once again.