Triumph Tiger Sport 660

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 looks nothing like any Tiger-branded motorcycle in the current lineup of Triumph. While the Tigers are known for their rugged designs and tall stance, the Tiger Sport 660 is a semi-faired sport tourer, which has a much sportier bodywork, which is based on the naked Trident 660 roadster.

At the front, the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 welcomes you with its wide and angularly designed semi-fairing. This sporty looking cowl has sleek looking and angularly placed full-LED headlamps, which are styled in a V-shaped theme. In the middle of the fairing, there is a blacked-out Y-shaped pattern, above which it gets a tall and transparent windscreen. This complete fascia gives the Tiger 660 Sport a very sporty appearance, which is topped off with LED turn indicators at the bottom corners.

The edgy looking semi-fairing of the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 blends well with the large fuel tank, which has sleek and angular knee recesses to make even taller riders feel comfortable, especially on longer rides. There are additional V-shaped cowls on the sides of the radiator, just below the lower edges of the fuel tank. The three-into-one exhaust pipes, which end up in a stubby exhaust can, do not get any underbody protection or engine cowl, which we feel is a miss.

From here on towards the rear, the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 looks the same as its naked counterpart, the Trident 660. It has a floating tail section, which has a single-piece long seat, split pillion grab rails beside the pillion seat and U-shaped LED tail lamp. Instead of a traditional rear fender, the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 gets a rear tyre hugger, on which the license plate and turn indicators are mounted.

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 also shares its two-part digital instrument console with the Trident 660, which includes two separate LCD housings for the console. The upper housing has a digital tachometer, fuel gauge and speedometer, while the lower housing is a TFT screen that gets a gear indicator, clock and array of warning lamps. Even the handlebar and switchgear are taken from the Trident 660, though the former is positioned slightly higher than the Trident 660 to make it a more comfortable tourer with an upright seating posture.

Apart from the engine, much of the rest of the chassis of the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 is shared with the Trident 660. The motorcycle sits on a tubular steel trellis frame and gets a suspension unit comprising of 41mm upside-down separate functioning cartridge forks at the front and mono-shock with remote hydraulic preload adjustment at the rear. Both these suspension units offer 150mm travel and are sourced from Showa. With softer compound tyres measuring 120/70 ZR17 at front and 180/55 ZR17 at rear, the Tiger Sport 660’s abilities are limited to on-road riding, which might not appeal to traditional Tiger fanboys. For braking, the Tiger Sport 660 gets dual 310mm discs at the front and a single 255mm disc at the rear.

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 gets the same four-stroke, liquid-cooled, inline-three, 660cc engine that powers the Trident 660 as well. It now ranks as the smallest three-cylinder engine from Triumph and produces 81 PS of maximum power and 64 Nm of maximum torque output. The transmission duty for this powertrain is a 6-speed unit.

The decently long list of riding aids in the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 includes dual-channel ABS, slip and assist clutch, switchable traction control and two riding modes – road and rain. For a middleweight motorcycle like the Tiger Sport 660, this list could have been longer.

The Triumph Tiger Sport 660 is not your traditional Tiger-branded adventure tourer. What it offers instead is a more sedate long-distance touring experience at both lower and higher speeds. It offers the flexibility and riding experience of a proper sports tourer, which does make it a perfect option for those who are looking to upgrade to a friendlier middleweight motorcycle from a smaller 250-300cc motorcycle.