Triumph Daytona 675 long term review: Introduction

If you've gone through our 17th anniversary issue, then you might recall Fiona, my 2011 Ninja 650R, from the story on the personal motorcycles of us scribes at OVERDRIVE. Well, I've traded her in to make room and money for my new ride – a Triumph Daytona 675 ABS and I call her Toothless. Before you ask, the R overshot my budget, else that would have been my obvious choice for its Ohlins suspension and Brembo callipers. Not that the plain 675 was within easy reach either, but she is here and comes with Kayaba suspension instead. The front feels a tad too soft for my liking. It is adjustable for preload though, but I intend to set it up at the track if I take her to Kari for the Indimotard track days on October 10 and 11.

Like the R, the plain 675 too comes with the Pirelli Supercorsa tyres and that is a bit of a problem. Thanks to their track-focused compound and construction, they are not recommended for road use if you are looking for life out of this rubber. Owners of the Daytona tell me that their tyres last for 3,000-4,000km before the slipping and sliding begins and that is almost half of what I get out of the Metzeler M5s on Ratatouille, my KTM RC 390. The grooves are only around the centre strip, and from the shoulders and beyond, the Supercorsas are designed to act like slicks. So you get a hard centre strip, medium compound shoulders and soft compound rubber on the extreme edges. What that translates into is compromised grip if you hit running water or even the smallest of puddles when you are leaned over into a corner. On dry tarmac though, the grip is unbelievable. I took delivery in the rains though and the breaking-in started the very next day on the serpentine roads of Mutha and Lavasa and I did have more than a couple of scary moments on the wet surface.
The solution? I'm going to swap the Supercorsas for a pair of sport or sport touring tyres for my weekend rides and slap the sticky rubber back on for the track. Shumi seems impressed with the Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa on Ferine, his Street Triple, and those could be a good choice for Toothless too.
The first service, at a little over Rs 5,000, was quite inexpensive considering it was for 3.2 litres of oil. The next one is scheduled for after 10,000km or one year, which is pleasantly surprising for a machine of this cadre.

Total Mileage 800km Date acquired Aug'15