Triumph’s mid-capacity naked offering just got a whole lot smarter
I will never forget experiencing cornering ABS for the very first time. It was a decade ago on the skidpan at Sydney Motorsport Park on a BMW S 1000 RR and it was groundbreaking. I accelerated up the side of the pad, shut the throttle off, then tipped the bike into what was essentially a quick U-turn before going against every instinct in my body and reefing on the front brake.
To both my and the assembled group of onlookers’ amazement, the bike remained composed and on-line while slowing predictably. It was revolutionary at the time – and expensive – but it was technology reserved for top-level superbikes and high-end adventure machines.
Now, a decade later, I’m ripping through Lake Eildon National Park 100 kays northeast of Melbourne on the gloriously twisty Jamison-Eildon Road, accelerating towards yet another 30km/h switchback. The roads are dry but the evidence of a recent storm are stark, with leaves, sticks, rocks and the occasional branch littering all of its 60km length.
It’s a sight that should see me taking things a lot easier, but the first 20km of switchbacks has already taught me that actually isn’t necessary.
I’m riding Triumph’s latest Trident 660, which not only benefits from a handful of electronic rider aids as standard fitment but, for the first time in Australia, the 660cc triple is putting out its full potential and I’m having a ball. That potential is a modest 59.6kW (81hp) at 10,250rpm and 64Nm at 6250rpm, which is 20kW and five newton-metres more than the restricted LAMS-approved version – which, until now, was the only Trident to be homologated for the Australian market.
Confidence in chaos
Despite the debris, I’ve gained full trust in the Continental cornering ABS and traction control systems and my inputs are more or less what they’d be if the roads were clear. I can feel the ABS kicking in occasionally, both at the lever and through the pedal, but the traction control intervention is completely indiscernible. Impressive, yes, but no longer groundbreaking, and it’s doing wonders for my confidence.
Crucial to this confidence are the extremely capable Michelin Road 5 tyres, which had given loads of feedback in the previous day’s drizzly conditions and now are feeding me assurance on this grippy but debris-covered surface. I experience two front-end moments, both while leant over when the front tyre clips a stick. Both times I tense, momentarily waiting for the repercussions, and both times the tyre regrips and the bike regroups as quickly as it happened.
It also says a lot about the competency of the suspension and the chassis. A 41mm non-adjustable Showa separate-function big-piston unit at the front is well suited to the 190kg (wet) nakedbike. Between it and the tubular-steel frame you get a really clear sense of exactly what the bike is doing underneath you. Accelerating hard out of the slow corners, I expected a lot more squat from the rear Showa monoshock (I did find out that Triumph’s tech Andy had increased the rear preload by five positions from its factory setting, which is wound right off for solo riding), instead just swift propulsion towards the next apex where it was hard on the brakes again before picking up the ride-by-wire throttle and using all of that lovely triple-cylinder torque to fire me to the next one.
The wonderful thing about the ever-expanding crop of mid-capacity machinery is that you really can make the most of everything on offer, especially on a tight and demanding road such as this one. The usable spread of torque means I’m in a gear higher than I’d otherwise be on a mid-capacity twin in an environment like this, meaning I can spend less of my attention on the gearbox and more on working out exactly where to put that front wheel in the sketchy conditions, knowing the flexible triple will drive off the turns with decent poke. Mind you, the quickshifter fitted to my bike was buttery smooth at any revs…
The chassis is really agile and feels every bit original Street Triple to me (it’s not; I asked – it was specially developed for the 660 platform), as does the not-too-wide one-piece ’bar, which offers a perfect balance of leverage and comfort. A few times I wanted a bit more power from the twin-piston Nissin calipers, but it’s fair to say I wasn’t riding the bike as per the design brief, so it’d be wrong to criticise their performance.
In fact, because the whole package is so competent, it’s really easy to nitpick. Better brakes to match the chassis performance, please. Why do I have to go so far into the menu settings to disable the traction control? Or range-until-empty would be a more practical default display than today’s date, wouldn’t it? But when you stop and look at what your gripes are on a $14,290 (ride away) offering – and think about the rider it’s aimed at – you start to see it for the compelling value proposition it is. They’d be fair criticisms on the more-expensive Street Triple 765, sure, but not on this entry-level machine.
Tech savvy and well-equipped
As well as the lean-angle sensitive tech, the Trident 660 also gains cruise control, a third Sport mode and a two-way quickshifter as standard fitment, complemented by full connectivity including turn-by-turn navigation through the single circular LCD dash complete with a small TFT inset. The decision to include the tech, says Triumph, was based on the most popular purchases from the accessories catalogue. Speaking at the Australian launch, Triumph UK’s product manager James Wood named Yamaha’s MT-07 as one of the Trident’s closest competitors, a model that has received some tech upgrades for 2025 including traction control, selectable power modes, connectivity and turn-by-turn navigation – but no IMU to facilitate lean-angle sensitivity. “What we were aiming to do was lift the level of performance compared to that model,” he said.
The newly added Sport mode joins the Road and Rain modes and gives you a more responsive throttle compared to the softer maps of the two existing options. Accessed via a mode button on the left-hand switchblock, you can change them on the fly.
I love cruise control on a motorcycle, mostly for motorways and school zones, and while the system fitted to the Trident is relatively rudimentary, I’m nitpicking. Again. You can’t make incremental speed changes once the system is activated, and any input at all will deactivate it – be it accelerating, a gear change, you name it – and it’s slow to react on inclines or declines, but in those motorway or flat school-zone scenarios, it works absolutely fine and every owner would be glad to have it.
The dash is loaded with information that’s all accessed through the four-way arrow buttons on the left-hand switchblock. Your tacho, speed and fuel level are displayed on the LCD screen in the top half, while the default TFT readout in the bottom half displays a large gear-position indicator in the centre (very handy when ripping along relentlessly tight and twisty roads), which is flanked by a clock on the left and ambient temperature on the right (two surprisingly rare inclusions in this class). Underneath is, you guessed it, today’s date…
Using the down button allows you to scroll through all the information that’s available to you on the move, such as trips, screen brightness adjustment, fuel consumption, service intervals, water temperature and navigation. What you see here can be customised within the main menu, which you can only access when you’re stationary, and where you can also configure your three individual ride modes for ABS, traction control and mapping. You can choose manual or automatic indicator cancelling, enable or disable traction control, configure your service intervals, reset your trip meters and set up or disable the gear shift indicator – a lot of capability for an entry-level motorcycle.
Competitive contender
Still available in LAMS guise, Triumph’s 2025 Trident 660 has joined a growing list of learner-approved models to gain IMU-actuated electronics as standard fitment, joining the likes of Husqvarna’s Svartpilen 401, KTM’s 390 Duke and Adventure models, as well as Aprilia’s RS660. Ranging in price from $8795 for the Husky through to $22,740 for the Aprilia, the Trident finds itself almost in the middle in terms of ride-away pricing.
Okay, the fully faired RS660 has a few extra gadgets on offer over the Trident – plus fully adjustable suspension – but I’d argue the Trident’s three-cylinder engine is more engaging than the Aprilia’s parallel twin. I love the RS660, and the naked Tuono 660 for that matter (though lean-angle sensitive rider aids are an added extra on the Aprilia nakedbike), but the value is easy to see when you compare the models on paper. As for the three Pierer Mobility Group machines, they’re all single-cylinder 399cc LAMS models that are competing with Triumph’s Speed 400 models, not the Trident.
But when it comes to the price, the clincher for me is that the 2025 model is only $50 more than the outgoing 2024 model, a pretty significant move given the economic climate we’re in. Triumph’s brand manager Jono Kent said the LAMS-approved Trident was a huge success when it first hit the Australian market in 2021.
“When you look at a single model, it’s easily the most successful across our family,” he said, adding that the decision to have the full-powered version homologated for Australia was a result of feedback from both customers and dealers. And if the sales of the Daytona 660 are anything to go by, the full-powered model should make up 25 percent of total Trident sales.
If the LAMS-only Trident was a big hit for Triumph Australia, and now it’s far more tech-savvy while appealing to a new cohort of riders, yet remaining more or less the same price, it’s fair to assume we’re about to see a whole lot more Tridents on the road this year.
Middle of the road
Meet Triumph’s 660 family
Triumph has three offerings in the popular midsized category, all based on the same engine and chassis platform, kicking off with the naked Trident – which, in the all-black colour scheme, costs $14,290 on the road. But you’ll need to find an extra $300 if you want one of the three coloured options (yellow, blue or red).
Next in line is the $14,790 (ride away) fully faired Daytona that was released in the first quarter of 2024 in both LAMS and full-powered guises. In terms of tech, it’s still running non-lean-angle-sensitive ABS and traction control systems, plus cruise control and the quickshifter remain an accessory. And you’ll need to fork out an extra $200 if you want the red or granite option over the standard white colourway.
The sports-touring Tiger Sport 660, which has just received the same updates as the Trident, except that it’s still only available in LAMS guise, tops the range with a $15,890 ride-away price tag. As well as the extra protection in the form of an adjustable screen and the front fairing, it gets a 17.2L tank compared to the Trident’s 14L unit and a slightly taller 835mm seat height.
There are all sorts of rumours suggesting there’s an off-road biased adventure offering in the works, which – given the popularity of the likes of Yamaha’s Tenere 700 and Aprilia’s Tuareg 660 – would make perfect sense.
Watch this space.
Specifications
ENGINE
Capacity 660cc
Type Triple cylinder, DOHC,
four valves per cylinder
Bore & stroke 74mm x 51.1mm
Compression ratio 11.95:1
Cooling Liquid
Fueling EFI
Transmission Six-speed
Clutch Wet, multi-plate, slip & assist
Final drive Chain
PERFORMANCE
Power 59.6kW (81hp)
@ 10,250rpm (claimed)
LAMS: 39.8kW (53hp) @ 8750rpm (claimed)
Torque 64Nm @ 6250rpm (claimed) LAMS: 59Nm @ 5000rpm (claimed)
Top speed 180km/h (est)
Fuel consumption 4.4L/100km (measured)
ELECTRONICS
Type Continental
Rider aids Cornering ABS and traction control, cruise control and quickshifter
Rider modes Sport, Road and Rain
CHASSIS
Frame material Tubular steel
Frame type Perimeter
Rake 24.6°
Trail 107mm
Wheelbase 1401mm
SUSPENSION
Type Showa
Front: 41mm USD fork, non
adjustable, 120mm travel
Rear: Monoshock, preload adjustable, 130mm travel
WHEELS & BRAKES
Wheels Cast aluminium
Front: 17 x 3.5 Rear: 17 x 5.5
Tyres Michelin Road 5
Front: 120/70R17 (58W)
Rear: 180/55R17 (75W)
Brakes Nissin
Front: Twin 310mm discs,
twin-piston calipers
Rear: Single 255mm disc,
single-piston caliper
DIMENSIONS
Weight 190kg (wet, claimed)
Seat height 805mm
Width 795mm
Height 1089mm
Length 2020mm
Ground clearance Not given
Fuel capacity 14L
SERVICING & WARRANTY
Servicing 1000km
Minor: 16,000km
Major: 32,000km
Warranty Two years, unlimited km
BUSINESS END
Price From $14,290 (ride away)
Colour options Cosmic Yellow, Diablo Red, Cobalt Blue or Jet Black
CONTACT
