ZigOpinion: Triumph Daytona 660: What’s In A Name?

Triumph Daytona 660 will be launched tomorrow in all its glory. But let’s keep what it is aside for a moment, and take a look at its name. The ‘Triumph Daytona’ made its debut as a souped-up 500cc twin, called the T100R Daytona. It’s name was an homage to Buddy Elmore’s (a British racer) victory at the Daytona 200 in 1966. The Triumph Daytona was a race bike from the start, right? 

Well, not really. A Triumph Tiger (T100T) chassis formed a basis for the new Daytona. The race engineers and factory technicians cast mechanical magic on to the bike – race-spec carburettors, camshafts, and an upgraded cylinder head. All of which allowed this Daytona to make about 40PS, which was quite a lot for its day. The T100R went on to secure many more victories in the following years. 

The Triumph Daytona radically changed, especially after the brand went under the hammer in the early 90’s, and eventually evolved into a full-fledged sports bike we know of – à la Daytona 675R.

Which brings us back to the new Triumph Daytona 660. It’s more of a sports tourer than a hardcore track-bike. It shares its platform with the Trident 660 and the Tiger 660, just like back in the day. So, coming to the question – what’s in a name?

A lot, or nothing, depending on the way you look at it. It’s uncommon in the auto industry to slap on iconic badges to vehicles that might not be seemingly worthy of the badge they carry. The hue and cry over the new Daytona might not be completely unjustifiable. Just like the original Daytona, the 660 has ‘evolved’ from the Tiger (Sport 660). It was probably inevitable that it would spiritually return to its roots. 

And then there’s the aspect of it being appealing to the new audiences Triumph is targetting. The entire 660 platform targets a younger crowd with its more affordable price tag and easy usability. And if you look at it, the platform harks back to the brand’s glory days in the mid 20th century. Win-win for both I say. You get a proper British motorcycle with an iconic badge attached to it, at a relatively affordable price, and Triumph gets to reel in a new set of buyers who might have never considered buying a bike from the brand, at least for a few more years in their lives. I digress here, but… 

The Triumph Daytona 660 is an approachable bike for a relatively inexperienced rider. Even for an experienced rider, who is, let’s say, upgrading from a sub-450cc single-cylinder bike, especially in the Indian context. The Daytona offers accessible performance that can be enjoyed on a daily basis. Just for reference, the Daytona 657, as sweet as it sounded, needed honed skills and a racetrack to get the best performance out of it. The latter is not really something everybody in India has access to, making the Daytona 660 a much more logical purchase. This reminds me of the Honda CBR650R and its predecessor, the CBR650F. Neither were as hardcore as the CBR600RR but had that sweet sounding inline-four engine in a more approachable sport-tourer format. And they did really well for Honda India with a decent number of buyers. And that’s where we see the Daytona 660 heading when it launches in India. 

Since we must, the Daytona 660’s performance figures are not too far off from the revered 675R’s. The new Daytona makes 95PS and 69Nm, while its predecessor made about 118PS and 70Nm. Decent enough considering 660’s nature. Don’t get me wrong here; I am as much game for the road-legal version of the Daytona 765 as the next guy. But let’s be realistic. That’s not happening, most likely, ever. Ever tightening emissions norms, decline in global demand for road-legal hardcore supersports bikes, and just the overall shift to more road-biased bikes has claimed the lives of many of our poster bikes. So, I urge you to look at the Daytona 660 objectively when it lands on our shores tomorrow. It might not be a race bike, but it could just very well get your heart racing.