We're in the lower foothills of the Himalayas near Dehradun, this is elephant country, this
also used to be tiger country not so long ago, but the middleweight motorcycle segment
in India, the 650cc class, it's been played by the Versys, that game's been played
by the V-Strom, but today this motorcycle is joining that fray, this is the new Triumph
Tiger Sport 660.
The word sport is critical to this story.
In this video I'll explain why that is and what this motorcycle does.
But before we start on that, would you do me four small favours, the subscribe button,
the bell notification icon, give us a thumbs up if you like the video and please do show
this video to your friends.
The Tiger 1050, back in 2013 added the sport tag to a motorcycle that was for people who
wanted a versatile motorcycle, sort of halfway between the Speed Triple and the Tiger Explorer.
In that sense, the Tiger Sport is a motorcycle that has no intention of going off-road despite
the Tiger name.
That's why there are no off-roading shots in this video and Tiger Sports have 17-inch
wheels, sporty rubber and if you look closer the suspension travel and the ground clearance
are just a little bit more than the Trident 660, on which of course the Tiger Sports 660
is heavily based.
In sum you get the same engine, same gearing and tune in the same mainframe.
The steering is sharper, the swing arm is a bit longer, and the subframe is new to accommodate
pillions as well as luggage on a machine with touring intentions.
All that means is the same 81PS and 64Nm motor with the six-speed gearbox, the slip assist
clutch just like the Trident.
When we rode the Trident, we were surprised by how much vibration there was on that engine
especially at the higher revs and since this is that engine with that gearing and that
tuning, there's no surprise that there is vibration here as well.
Up to about 80kmph, this is a very calm motorcycle, there's a lot of torque and you will really
enjoy riding it.
Ask that, you will notice the vibration and while new riders won't find it slow, the top
end is good but not mind blowing.
That said 100-110 kilometre an hour cruising is pretty smooth, but the thing that is most
impressive is the spread of torque which starts almost off idle and carries the motorcycle
forward strongly at any revs in any gear, whether you're going 40 or 80 in sixth.
However, the engine does run hot, and I was surprised to note the heat even at high speeds
like 60-70 kilometres an hour on the highway.
The weakest link in the Tiger Sports story, however, is its suspension.
Now that TS 660 is meant to be an economical product, and therefore it gets budget suspension.
On its own, that's not a problem, but there's two things.
One, both of its competitors offer more suspension, more sophisticated, adjustable suspension than this.
And two, I don't really think that this tune actually works in Indian conditions.
So what it seems to be able to do really nicely is when the roads are really smooth, it gives
you this sense of being extremely plush.
But when the road starts to get bumpy, it neither absorbs sharp bumps really well, nor
does it do well over undulations, messing with the preload doesn't seem to make much of a
difference and it's almost as if there is no state of tune on this suspension setup
that actually works here.
Will you not be able to live with it?
You would, but would you come to the conclusion that there are better options in the market?
Eventually you would.
The brakes are decent though, and I'm quite surprised that the Tiger Sport 660 seems to
do its best work when you don't ride it hard.
As soon as you try to go faster, its composure unravels, and it's the suspension despite
the remote preload adjuster on the back and the Showa SFFs on the front, which is a big surprise.
Thankfully, the frame itself is quite likeable and for the Tiger Sport, it is important that
it should be.
Now Triumph India hopes that a lot of new riders will find their first big multi-cylinder
motorcycle in the TS 660.
And for those riders I would say they will find this very, very interesting to ride because
it's unchallenging, it's very easy to ride the handling is very nice and simple and at
moderate speeds, this will be a motorcycle that you'd get on, get on with and have a good time.
The problem is when you start to get faster, you will start to enjoy the Road 5s which
are to me India's best all round road tyre, you will enjoy them more but then the suspension
again will come and interrupt you, because if you have bumps in the corner, if you have
crests in the corner, if you're going to try to correct your line, if you're going to have
to hit the brakes in the middle of the corner, all of that bothers this motorcycle quite
a bit and after a while hard cornering on the motorcycle, which the frame will handle,
the suspension would not.
At moderate speeds the Tiger Sport will comfort and encourage new riders to ride better and
discover more of motorcycling's many pleasures.
The issue is that over bumpy roads and at faster speeds it's not quite as supportive.
There are other smaller niggles too, like the screen adjustment mechanism isn't very
easy to use and it rattles quite often.
Finish levels aren't up to the usual Triumph standard either.
The length of the rider's seat is very generous but it makes the pillion's pad a little too
small for my liking.
For once, Triumph who are usually excellent at hiding cost efficiency measures have led
the curtain slip a bit.
That said the TS 660 does have traction control and two riding modes so the basic spec is complete.
Triumph also offers a full suite of accessories as usual, including original fitment plastic
panniers, and I'm a huge fan of this luggage format.
On our test bikes, we had the up and down quickshifter which works well, the MyTriumph
connectivity suite as well as the belly pan all of which are optional.
And that means we should not talk about the price at Rs. 8.90 lakh ex-showroom, the Tiger
Sports 660 is not an inexpensive purchase, so let's address the elephant in the room.
You've got two motorcycles that compete with this, one of them has amazing suspension,
it's Rs. 2 lakh less, the other one, it goes off-road, roughtly the same price as this.
So what should we do next?
I think we should do two things.
First, you leave us a comment and tell us what you thought of the Tiger Sport 660 and
in the meantime, we'll try and get this motorcycle back to Pune, the headquarters, get the V-Strom,
get the Versys, put them together and see what's what.
Until then, please do give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed this video, share this video
with your friends and for the comparison test, all you have to do is hit two more buttons
for it, completely free, the subscribe button and the bell notification icon so you get notified.
Thank you so much for watching, that's the Tiger Sport 660, this is PowerDrift.