Triumph Tiger Sport 660

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 is a road-baised adventure tourer motorcycle from the British manufacturer. It features the same engine as the Triumph Trident 660, but in a different package, one more suited to touring long distances.

Triumph has gone with a different design approach when creating the Tiger Sport 660, it doesn’t look or feel similar to the Trident in any way. The Triumph Trident 660 features a design that gives a retro vibe, with its round headlight and overall styling, whereas the Tiger Sport 660 feels like a properly modern bike.

The Tiger Sport 660 comes with a sharp looking half-fairing setup, combined with a tall windscreen that goes well with its touring intentions. It also gets a larger fuel tank and feels much bigger than the Trident. The subframe is slighter longer, to meet touring requirements and improve pillion comfort, and the wheelbase is also larger. Overall, the bike looks really good while giving this signature modern look and feel.

The Tiger Sport 660 is powered by the same 660cc, liquid-cooled, inline-triple engine as the Trident 660, producing 81PS and 64Nm. The engine is quite smooth and tractable, and it can easily handle riding at 30kmph on the 5th gear.

The main issue with the engine is that it lacks torque at lower revs, which is a bit of letdown. When riding with a pillion and with luggage the bottom end grunt is really necessary to get the bike moving. This is also necessary when riding through the hill and mountain roads, which many riders will be doing with the Tiger Sport 660. For more torque, the rider will need to work the gearbox from time to time. Thankfully, this might not be a big issue for most as the clutch feels light and the gearbox is smooth.

The Triumph Tiger 660 features longer travel suspension, with a Showa inverted fork and a monoshock, offering 150mm of travel at both ends. This is slightly higher than what the Trident offers, but not that much and the difference in ground clearance is quite negligible. 

Coming to the ride quality, like the Trident, the Tiger Sport’s suspension feels a bit too stiff to handle Indian roads. Over good roads, the Tiger Sport is fun to ride but on Indian conditions with bumps and potholes, the ride quality takes a big hit. 

Triumph has designed the Tiger Sport 660 as a road going ADV, meant for touring. It comes with smaller 17-inch alloy wheels and Michelin Road 5 tyres, which are only meant for riding on roads as the name suggests. So if you are thinking of taking the Tiger Sport offroad, we would advise against it.

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 is a comfortable motorcycle overall, the well padded seat can easily accommodate long journeys and it also has enough space for taller riders to move around. But the bigger issue is the stiff suspension which makes you feel a lot of the bumps and undulations on the road, ruining the riding experience.

In terms of features the Tiger Sport 660 offers the same set of riding aids as the Trident 660, including dual-channel ABS, traction control, and a bi-directional quickshifter. The bike gets a digital instrument console with smartphone connectivity and related features such as turn-by-turn navigation.

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 is a decent sport tourer but there are a few issues which hold it back from being a great one. Sure it offers good performance and comfort, but the suspension stiffness stops it from being a package that everyone can enjoy. If you are someone who is looking to get an easy going beginner tourer, then sure the Tiger Sport 660 would be a choice worth considering. 

Otherwise you are better off looking at its competitors like the Kawasaki Versys 650 which is Rs 3 lakh cheaper and offers better ride quality and handling.