Tiger Sport 660

Very late to the party, but many congratulations… the new steed looks lovely.

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Good luck with your retirement Joe, nothing better. You will be amazed where you found the time to work. I hope you are enjoying the Trident. :slightly_smiling_face:

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wessa.
Thanks mate. Yes i think i will like the bike. Only done around a hundred miles so far to and from work. Still getting used to the controls and gadgets. I find it a petty aggressive machine at present seems to rev quite high on start up and gear changing. Maybe as it has to run in for another 500 miles and at present only does 4000 revs before it all starts flashing. How are you getting on with your Tiger. I did consider the Tiger but spotted the Trident and was sold straight away. Nice to talk mate do take care of your self .
Joe.

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Hi Joe, I have done 584 miles and my bike is in for first service this Friday. Yes my bike was setup at 4000rmp, which like you say is a little on the slow side, well for me running in. So I went into the setup menu and raised this to 4400rmp. This improved the running in speed and the time In between gear changes. A massive difference in the enjoyment and ride for the bike and hopefully no impact on the engine or running in process.

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Wessa.
That’s great mate. You will have to tell me how to do that as i am going to use the bike for a week to north Wales from the fourth and i still have 400 odd miles to do. I take it you are enjoying the the tiger. How are you with health and bits now. See i do thing of you every now and then.
Joe.

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Hi Joe, you can set the revs in the main menu. Tab down and select Display Setup. The next option is User Defined. You will see this display.

Using your select buttons move over the numbers at the top. Then using the left button move the cursor until you see the delete button. Delete the rpm numbers showing. Now using the right button move across until you get to the number of rpm you want (say 5) and press the select button. Then using the left button move to the zero and select it. You should see 5000 rpm in the middle section.

Press the down button to highlight Enter and press the select button. You can then press the left button until you have exited back to the main menu. Job done :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks Joe for asking about my health issues.
My knee is still playing up. I’m back into see the consultant at the end of May. I’m going to agree to the replacement knee operation this time, which I bottled on the last time I seen him. lol

The cortisone injection in my foot is still working, so not giving me to many problems at the moment. :heart:

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Wessa.
I did my trip to Wales and the bike just stopped objecting to revs so i just used it carefully. I am 900 miles over the service. But Bulldog can’t fit it in till June 16th. Glad you trip is going well. I have a friend who’s wife just had both knees done and she wishes she had done it earlier as she can now walk for miles and enjoy her trips.
Joe.

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So once you get your first service done you will be able to really give the bike some beans. Have you done 1500 miles now, and what sort of mileage do you estimate before the 16th June?
Good to know about your mates wife and her knees. :grinning:

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Yes by the time it goes for service it will be over. But it doesn’t object to any revs at present.
Joe

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So having completed the running in of my 660 on my trip down to Poole for my France trip, I have now covered enough miles to be able to complete a ride review which includes my thoughts, likes and dislikes.

Summary.

I had thought coming off of the 1050 sport I would miss the performance of the larger capacity bike. In reality this has not been the case, well only slightly. The 660 engine is punchy and provides fantastic mid range grunt. Yes there is a significant difference in the two bikes, but if you take the real world riding at the national speed limits the 660 is a cracking all rounder that you can use for errands to the shops, a Sunday morning blast or longer rides/touring. During my trip to France I covered circa 1600 miles on motorways and main roads and many back roads and the bike was brilliant. I really like this bike.

General.
The general all round appearance of the bike, with its crisp lines imo is very pleasant to look at. It is light and easy to manage in the garage or when out and about when parking. The luggage is functional and is easy to mount on the bike and they look good. A full face helmet fits in the right panniers, with two fitting in the top box.

The Engine and Gear Box.
As I have said it provides sufficient power to enable overtakes with confidence. Cruising at the national speed limit+ on motorways is effortless and there is no noticeable vibration back through frame, foot pegs or handle bars. The gear box is super smooth, with no significant clunk when selecting 1st gear that you can get on some bikes. The gear box between first and second is quite short, but acceleration is easy and trouble free when using the rev range up to 7 or 8000 rpm. Fuel consumption is circa 60mpg, which is a brilliant return. Did I mention the roar of the triple engine; oh! my it stirs my soul.

Instruments.
The dashboard is clear and easy on the eye with a small TFT screen which provides various displays that you can pan through, providing the usual trip and fuel consumption read outs, with a clock, temperature gauge and a large gear indicator position. Above the TFT is a digital rev counter and numeric speedo, a smaller gear select indicator, fuel gauge and various warning lights (ABS etc). I particularly like the first screen which shows the date, time and a large number gear indicator.

The switches on the left handle bar includes the indicator switch, horn, heated grips, main beam switch, a four way selection pad for selecting options on the TFT, and a button to select either of the two riding modes (rain or road). I’ve not used the rain mode, but can see that this would be useful for new riders. The switches are light and easy to use with gloves on. On the right handle bar is the start/kill switch and hazard warning button.

The ride.
The ride is extremely good with the suspension providing a smooth ride over the bumps and rough roads in the UK and France. Whilst the front forks don’t have any adjustment, with the road pilot 5’s there is a good feel and confidence provided in the corners. The rear shock is adjustable and I have played with this but have not noticed any real difference with it wound in or out during riding.

The screen is adjustable and can be moved up and down whilst riding. I have tried this on the move and whilst it can be achieved, I have concluded that if I want to change it I would wait until I have stopped. It provides reasonable protection from the wind, but I do find a little buffeting around my head/helmet at higher speeds. Not a big issues, just an observation.

The bike is comfortable even with the low seat. It is light which makes it very flickable in the twisties, making it a great fun ride. The budget suspension does show its self wanting when you do push on, but again you have to really ride the bike hard for this to happen and is not a problem for normal every day riding.

So what do I like about this bike. I think it looks really good, it sounds brilliant and it is comfortable to ride. It definitely does all that I can ask of it.

Things that I’m not so keen on include no cruise control (I really miss this as I had it on the bikes big brother) and no centre stand. I bought some paddock stands and a rear wheel roller for chain maintenance when touring, so neither are deal breakers. I do think Triumph could have included these as optional extras.

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Great review.
Triumph appear to have got this bike completely sorted. A bike that suits a lot of riders, young and old. It looks great and yours is a lovely example. Glad it is fitting in so well with what you purchased it for.
Enjoy it.!

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Sounds like you got yourself a keeper Steve :grinning:

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I would imagine that at some point somebody will produce a mainstand for it.

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Thanks guy’s, yes Andyc1 I think that having reach 70 I will not be looking to change the Thruxton or the baby Tiger.

An after market centre stand would be really useful Andy (pandy). :grinning:

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Good write up Steve, glad to hear you are happy with it after a good testing!
Ridiculous that Triumph don’t offer a centre stand as an option. Paddock stands are fine but a mainstand is so convenient.
How did it compare to Andy’s Tracer?
(Bet it’s faster :joy:)

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Thanks Steve. If you go by the performance stats, yes it would be faster, but not by much. And to be honest on the road I don’t think there was anything in it :grinning: Andy may have a view.

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Well mines red so obviously faster but in real life you can’t tell. Actually I tell a lie, Steve was always far in front while we were in France. At one point, he was sat on his bike, engine running, all set to go. I was sat in a comfy chair, in the back garden, soaking up the sun, sipping my orange juice only to be rudely interrupted by a phone call from Steve, “WHERE THE F$£” ARE YOU ???"

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Nice story Andy. Truth be told we had agreed to go for a ride, but Andy’s dementia kicked in as he forgot all about it and went sat in the back garden :slightly_frowning_face:

Even the guy from the gite asked where the feck is he :grinning:

My phone call brought him around lol

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Hi Steve, nice real world review. :+1:
Am I right in thinking you’ve been riding solo and I guess panniers fairly lightly loaded? How do you think it would cope with a 9st pillion and fully loaded luggage?
Personally I think Triumph have a gap in their range that needs filling since the demise of the 1050 Sport, I so wish they’d bring out a 1200 version of your 660.
I’ve recently bought a BMW S1000XR, reasons are I need something capable of 2-up touring that is “sport” rather than so called “adventure”, not keen on Japanese styling, and the BMW dealer is 20mins away whereas Triumph (& Ducati - not that I’d go there again) is an hour and a half away.
But if Triumph did a1200 Sport much the same as your 660 I might be tempted (I’d much rather a triple to the four)

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