CarBrandLogos archive · Triumph Motorcycles · 2006

Triumph MotorcyclesDaytona 675

Three cylinders against a class of fours, and it beat them.

Photo: NathanLee at English Wikipedia · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Triumph Motorcycles history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Triumph Motorcycles Daytona 675, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The middleweight sports class of the mid-2000s was settled: four manufacturers, four 600 cc inline fours, differing in details. Triumph's previous entry, the Daytona 650, had competed on those terms and lost. For 2006 the company stopped trying.

Triumph daytona 675 assen · KevinBruurs · CC BY 3.0

Design and engineering

The Daytona 675 used a 675 cc liquid-cooled triple, physically narrower than a four and able to carry more mid-range torque without giving up the revs the class demanded. That let the chassis engineers build a slimmer, more compact motorcycle around it, and it gave riders drive out of corners where the fours needed another gear. The press comparisons went Triumph's way almost immediately, which for a British firm competing on engineering against Japan in 2006 was not a small thing.

Triumph Daytona 675 SE · Dédélembrouille · CC BY 3.0

In production

It earned results too. The 675 took a British Supersport championship in 2008 and went on winning in national Supersport racing for years, helped by class rules that allowed the extra capacity for a triple. A 2013 redesign moved the exhaust from under the seat to a side silencer and sharpened the whole package; the R versions added Öhlins suspension and Brembo brakes.

2008tornadored675 · Linux insidev2 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Legacy

Production ended in 2016 as the supersport market collapsed, but the engine had a second career. Enlarged to 765 cc, it became the control engine for the Moto2 world championship from 2019 — every rider in the class, on the way to MotoGP, riding behind a descendant of this motorcycle.

At a glance