User Review of Daytona 675 ABS by Ricci

Style the styling of the daytona 675 is conservative, but smart. It's got mild cruves, few sharp ends and skips the edgy sharp styling of late model supersports. It might not be the best looker but it will surely not be called ugly by anyone. The styling is mature and sober, cycle parts of good quality and finish.There's nothing on the bike that can be considered cheap or poor quality, except the mirror stems perhaps and the india-specific bits added, like the plastic rear mudflap or the saree guard. The mirror stems are solid, but they're designed a bit loose, so on rough roads, the mirrors shake and rattle. On smooth roads, they're steady at even high speeds.

Engine performance, fuel economy and gearbox the engine is the best thing about the daytona. It's powerband is wide, and powers up from as low as 2000rpm without a hiccup, in top gear , so long as you don't go wide open and expect instant warp force drive. It gets stronger past 4000rpm before really getting down to business around 8000rpm. The sound that emanates from the stock silencer is awesome. It's not too quiet at low rpm, and not very loud at high rpm, just perfect. This is one bike that doesn't really need aftermarket exhausts. There is a high pitched whine (some call it whistle) at all times, which is not prominent in most other bikes. The torque from low down to well into 5 digit rpm gives the 675 such a wide powerband, you can ride it with such ease in top gear at 40km/h.

The indian arai rated daytona makes 118ps, down from 128ps from the eu-spec model, but there's no shortage of power really, at least not until you find a clear traffic free road to give it alll the gas in company of similar or bigger displacement bikes. That said, most bike aficionados crave more power, and i'm no less - i'd love to have a 1000cc bike like the bmw s1000rr or bigger, like the zx-14 but practically speaking for indian conditions, a 600 is more than enough.

Gearbox is flawless. Shifting action is smooth and effortless, with no false neutrals or between-gears-traps. The 675r comes fitted with a quickshifter from the factory, the standard 675 does not but it is available as an accessory. It allows you to shift up without rolling off throttle by momentarily retarding ignition to unload the transmission for the duration of the shift ( a fraction of a second -like 90 milliseconds ). You still have to declutch to shift down though.

The clutch is super light, the lightest of any triumph here, including the street triple. Streep triple owners have a harder time in traffic due to higher effort to pull the clutch, the daytona's clutch is noticably lighter.

Fuel economy is normal riding is around 16-17km/litre, in touring mode at speeds upto 140km/h , you can get 19-20km/litre. Hard riding, like charging up ghat sections in lower gears can bring the efficiency down to 12-13km/litre.

Ride quality & handling the suspension is a bit on the stiffer side as with most supersports, but it's not bone-jarringly stiff. The forks are 41mm kayaba upsde down with full adjustabilily - preload, compression and rebound. I can't verify but they're supposedly similar to showa big piston forks (not the cartridege type, that is ). The rear monoshock is also kayaba or kyb for short, with full preload, compression and rebound adjustability. Needless to say, the ohlins fork and shock on the 675r are better, especially if you are really into track riding. The ohlins are easier to adjust - no tools required for the rear, and the front have just one screw each for compression and rebound adjustment.

Bump absorption gets better at higher speeds due to the stiffer setup.

The brakes are strong and progressive, even the nissins on the standard 675, and the brembos on the 675r even better.

The 675 has a steering damper, but steering effort is very light. In fact, i find the daytona a little too quick steering than i'd like. I prefer a more stable handling bike, the daytona feels very nimble and quick, responsive, catching me by surprise a few times. Despite that, at low speeds it's a pain to turn in narrow confines, like parking lots or for u turns - the steering lock (left to right movement ) is minimal as with any supersport, and you need a wide road to execute a u turn in one semi-circle. Not as bad as a hayabusa - but definitely a lot more of a handful than even a pulsar 220/karizma. At speeds, the bike feels planted and doesnt' waver, but in slower turns i do find it steer and lean in faster than i expected. Front end can get twitchy at times , the price paid for making a bike steer this quick and nimble.

Ground clearance is adequate, never touched anything while upright and riding single, even on high speed breakers, while leaning in turns, nothing touches down even when you're at the edge of the tyre's tread - the pirelli diablo super corsa sps fitted as oem as regarded as the best tyres in terms of dry grip, but their minimal tread means in wet weather you have to be extra careful. I think the front tyre is a little too pointy (as opposed to curved) which makes the bike turn in rather sharply. Still have lot of tread so no experience with other tyres.

Final words the daytona is a beautiful bike , having won most of the intenational middleweight sportbike awards. The powerband is wide and fuelling smooth, glitch-free, with an amazing sound that neighbours won't complain of as too loud. It is one of the lighter bikes , weighing under 200kg. That alone makes it a lot easier to manage for the average indian who isn't built like a european ( closer to 6 foot , 90kg build ). The daytona does lack some gizmos like engine power modes, traction control etc, making do with just abs , but the bike doesn't really need all that.

I wanted an inline 4, but after hearing the daytona on youtube videos, i loved the inline 3 sound as much. Powerwise, it gains from 75cc extra over regular 600s, but any of the 600s makes easy 115+hp , so it's not too much margin either way.

All in all, it's great bike though the pricing is rather steep. So far triumph had no competition in the middle-weight supersport class, but soon the mainstream japanese 600s will be here, and that is when we will know how well it can really hold up in our under-served market.

Areas of improvement the headlamps aren't great, considering the world is moving on to projectors and leds. The mirror and read mudflap rattles are bit of a letdown for a 12 lac rupee bike.

Ergonomics - though this is said to be more comfortable than the previous generation daytona, it's still very racy and you lean forward quite a bit. It's rather uncomfortable to ride in urban traffic.

Not so great for touring (it is a supersport after all).

Pros

powerband, sound

cons

ergonomics

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