Triumph Tiger Sport 660, Track Test

The Tiger Sport 660 is an interesting motorcycle, which serves as the entry point into the iconic Tiger range. In theory, it’s a jacked-up Trident 660, which is perfectly kitted out for road trips and even everyday commutes in Indian conditions. To be honest, even in practice, it isn’t too far from that.

The Tiger Sport 660 sounds great – the inline-three makes a sweet, refined note, which makes you want to rev it every chance you get. It makes 80bhp at 10,250rpm and 64Nm at 6,250rpm, so it’s no slouch either. In fact, the Tiger Sport sits on that border of ‘usable’ on-road performance. On the track though, the Tiger Sport fails to impress.

But that doesn’t mean that It’s a bad motorcycle – far from it! The Tiger Sport 660 handles corners with grace and doesn’t require too much commitment from the rider. Plus, its straight-line performance is simply brilliant. Simran, however, had some difficulties in pushing it to its limits because the tyres had polish on them. Taking that into consideration, its lap time is good enough for a sports tourer.

It’s very accessible for those graduating from a 300 – 400cc motorcycle because its performance wouldn’t require them to undergo a mental recalibration to get used to it. The traction control is a shortcoming, though, because instead of gently reining in the horses, it usually makes a rather jarring interruption. On the plus side, the Tiger Sport isn’t very tall, with a seat height of 830mm, which means that even shorter riders won’t struggle to put their feet on the ground. At low speeds though, the Tiger Sport feels a bit twitchy and top-heavy, which makes it intimidating when slithering through traffic jams.

That said, the Tiger Sport is a bike that you’ll quickly grow out of, for its performance isn’t thrilling. And while it doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, the significantly more affordable Trident offers a more engaging riding experience. Yes, the Tiger Sport 660 adds versatility and will be a great companion on both the highway and twisty sections, but all that comes at a price.

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