Now, as I mentioned earlier, I did my review in the rain and this is where the tyres had to play their most important role: Keep me from dying. High-speed corner bumps won’t throw the bike off the line and most speed breakers can just be jumped over without either bottoming out the suspension or sending a jolt up your spine. Then comes suspension: Again on the firm side, squishy enough to soak in slightly rough terrain. Speaking of my hind quarters, the seat on the Trident is a little firm, but it’s not unyielding. You can go from a relaxed ride along the highway to carving the mountainside with a simple bum shift forwards or backwards. There is a fine balance there that Triumph seems to have nailed, quite well. While it lacks the to all out aggression that you feel when seated on the likes of the Street Triple or even something like a Kawasaki Z650, it’s not like you’re seated on a cruiser retro bike either where things are super relaxed. While it lacks the to all out aggression that you feel when seated on the likes of the Street Triple, it does not let you slump like a cruiser allows. This is probably why the Trident feels different when seated. What you have to remember is that despite this being a street fighter type of bike, it does have a retro design. It pulls easily and smoothly and, despite the lack of the melt-your-face redline, experienced riders will easily break into a smile. The bottom end is not too punchy, so it won’t frighten someone who is used to ham-fisting a throttle.īut go over the 3,000-rpm mark and the engine opens up to some really fun riding. This makes it extremely easy to ride, even for people upgrading from the 300-400cc range of motorcycles. What you do get however is an extremely linear power flow right from the get go. It’s not as potent as the Street Triple, mind you: it maxes out the rev counter at 10,000 rpm and also loses some of the top-end madness that makes the Triple so much fun. The Trident gets a unique 660cc inline triple engine that is capable of some decent power. This makes for an outstanding view from the back, with the floating tail indicators and licence plate atop of a wide rear tyre. But the best feature about the tail is the red painted underside with the integrated tail light. The seat is a single piece and tapers to the back. With the rear of the bike, things seem to get a little sportier and a lot less retro. Below that you have a black painted engine and red radiator shrouds. The tank too carries the retro theme, with a rounded shape and knee recesses to hold on to the bike. The round instrument pod adds to this theme but features digital inserts instead of an analogue gauge. From the head, you have the beautiful round headlamp, complete with LED lighting so as to not lose any modernity in keeping with classic design. Triumph has decided to go with a retro theme. Now that I’ve set the tone for my ride, here’s an aside on how it rides in dry conditions: really, really well.įirst, its looks. Of course, I wasn’t going to let a little unseasonal rain get in the way, so I quickly donned my rain gear and trucked on. But as I set off for my destination, it started to rain. The weather was pleasant, the birds were chirping and the Trident was humming. But just because it is a cheap-ish bike, it doesn’t mean it’s not worthy. Entering the affordable middle-weight category this time is Triumph with the Trident 660. With a number of middle-weight category motorcycles coming to the market, it’s only obvious that we get to see cheaper and cheaper-still price tags. Triumph Trident 660 review: Easy to buy, easy to ride