We can’t start talking about Triumph’s new Tiger Sport 660 without first tipping our hat to its naked sibling: the Trident 660. One of the big success stories of 2021, not only is it a great value, top quality roadster with a cool badge slapped on the tank, but it’s also one that’s as appealing to newbies as the experienced, which is quite a trick.
Triumph have taken that winning formula to create the Tiger Sport 660 and it’s every bit as impressive. You could call it a tall rounder, or a sports adventure, but in many ways it’s the half-faired Street Triple we always wish they’d made, but never did.
It’s spacious, comfortable, agile and easy to manage, but can be genuinely sporty, too, with a front end that fills you with confidence, tyres that grip beautifully in all conditions and powerful brakes. That’s all on top of a tuneful three-cylinder engine that’s never short of grunt or excitement but still friendly when you need it to be.
It’s such a complete, well-built, affordable, creation that cruise control suddenly seems a glaring omission for a bike designed to do big miles, but it’s a small blip in a sea of brilliance.
Ride Quality & Brakes
5 out of 5
(5/5)
New bars are wider, higher and closer to the rider than the Trident’s and the pegs are lower. It’s a deliciously comfy and spacious riding position that works perfectly for big-mile riding, despite the Tiger’s mid-sized layout. It’s slim, well balanced, easy to manage and taller riders will love the legroom.
Its seven way manually adjustable screen is easy to jiggle with one hand on the move and effective, but like all tall road bikes, windblast can be noisy at speed.
Steel rather than aluminium is used for the frame and (longer) swingarm to keep costs down, but no matter because the Tiger Sport 660 is still light and agile. Its 30mm longer-travel upside down Showa forks (with a 1.5-degree steeper rake and 10mm less trail) and shock are basic, but they’re perfectly set to give the best mix of ride quality, cornering control and stability.
The Triumph doesn’t just handle well for an affordable all-rounder, it flows through corners with the poise of some of the best out there, with a similar feel to one of the most unlikely of great handling road bikes: Honda’s CB500X.
It has huge grip, a tactile front end and despite having low, knee-friendly pegs, we never get them scraping. Twin piston Nissin calipers are basic, but like everything with the Tiger belie their simplicity. Strong and consistent, they’re packed with feel despite its ABS
It works so seamlessly as a sporty, easy to ride, all-rounder, you wonder why it’s taken them this long to make it…and just how great a Street or Speed Triple version would be.
Engine
5 out of 5
(5/5)
The Tiger Sport’s 80bhp three-cylinder motor is identical to the Trident’s – itself a rework of their fantastic old Daytona 675 lump, with a shorter stroke and a bucket load of new components, including lower first to fourth gear ratios and higher fifth/sixth. Valve check intervals are at a generous 10,000 miles and a 46bhp A2 licence restriction kit is also available.
Its beating supersport heart and raspy soundtrack remains intact, so the Tiger is revvy, exciting and never short of grunt when you need it, almost regardless of the gear. It’s a sporty engine that’s livelier than its rivals, but crucially it’s also a friendly one, which has been the key to the Trident 660’s success.
Power is delivered smoothly low down, isn’t overwhelming or hard to control up top and the ride-by-wire throttle is light and accurate. At 70mph it purrs along at 6000rpm.
Fuel tank capacity is up from 14 to 17.2 litres. We get an indicated 51mpg during our spirited day’s riding at the Tiger’s world launch in the hills of southern Portugal (a theoretical full-to-dry range of 193 miles), with the reserve light coming on at 160 miles.
