2026 Triumph Daytona 660 Announced Everything You Need To Know

Welcome back everybody to another Motobob video where today we've got news of a 2026 update to Triumph's Daytona 660. On reflection after scripting this one I'd say it's a little bit of a mixed bag and so in this video we'll go through all of the details with everything that you need to know about it. You see I have to acknowledge up front that perhaps some of you'll be a little bit disappointed about this one with Triumph posting a teaser a week or two back that certainly caught a few people's attention. I got a few comments on YouTube, I got a few DMs on Instagram as well where people had sort of figured out that it was a Daytona update but wanted to know from me whether it was a 765 Daytona built on the current Street Triple, maybe a Daytona 800 based upon the Trident 800 and Tiger Sport engine and even a couple of questions about whether it might be a 1200 based upon the Speed Triple. Now you know we've been under embargo about this particular update so I couldn't reply unfortunately but yeah it is confirmed today that it's basically just a fairly mild update to the existing Daytona 660. Now this bike I don't think had the easiest start to life let's say I think a lot of people felt like it was watered down versus previous Daytonas, a bit too affordable, a bit too beginner friendly and didn't really seem worthy of the name to some people versus stuff like the 675 which is fair to say is like an iconic sports bike. I will say though perhaps give it a chance and give this video a watch, we rode it around Cornwall around this route called the Southwest 660, we did the Daytona, the Trident, the Tiger Sport 660 so a three-day trip, there was three of us, we got a day on each and I will say I had a very very very good day on the Daytona 660. It's a really nicely balanced road bike, a little bit sporty, a little bit fun and also relatively affordable certainly in the grand scheme of things in the sports bike market. So what about these 2026 updates, have they actually managed to make it better? Well on the engine front we've got the same 660 inline triple, I think we're looking at the exact same performance figures as well so 95 PS or 94 horsepower at 11,250 rpm and 69 newton meters of peak torque at 8,250. To be fair you know I think that's fair enough anyway it's got to be limited to 94 horsepower anyway in order to be able to restrict it down to a2 and it was already one of the more powerful bikes in this particular part of the market so there isn't necessarily a huge need to change it and yeah in my experience a nice mid-range, enough at the top to be a bit of fun certainly at road speeds anyway and also you've got that typical beautiful triple soundtrack that you almost always get with the Triumph triples. So yeah basically identical this engine, no particularly significant tweaks just the euro plus emissions regulations compliance which is done by fitting another o2 sensor after the catalytic converter so there's one before already one after and they can use that to monitor the health of the catalyzer. Pretty exciting stuff but maybe a change that we can more so get excited about is the fact that the Daytona 660 now comes fitted as standard with their up and down quickshifter that they call Triumph shift assist. Previously it would have cost you a couple of hundred quid I would say as an accessory so it's definitely nice to get it bundled in and I will say of all the 660 bikes you know this is the one that probably most suits a quickshifter so it's something that I probably would have specced up anyway so you can consider that perhaps a little bit of extra cash in your pocket if you're buying one to maybe spend on something else like a new lid. I will say though with the rest of the tech I was a little bit surprised about this one because it doesn't seem quite up to spec with the Tiger Sport and the Trident. Normally with these platform bikes where they share a lot of the same you know engine chassis components tech all that sort of stuff well you'd assume it's kind of most economical to make them as consistent as possible and only change the stuff that's going to give them a different identity like the handling being more sporty or the visuals and here's the thing like both the Trident 660 and Tiger Sport 660 were recently updated with a massive suite of standard fit tech that really does make them you know they're not the cheapest bikes in their categories but they're certainly one of the best value for money and one of the best well specced if you don't want to you know delve into the accessories catalog. Three riding modes an IMU inertial measurement unit for lean sensitive traction control and ABS and they get the connectivity module fitted as standard so you can control calls media turn by turn nav but yeah for some reason they haven't taken a consistent approach with the Daytona 660 which is missing out on a couple of these things. As far as I can gather from this particular press release and I've asked the question over email as well I don't believe it gets the IMU so it's not cornering sensitive in terms of those rider aids also I don't believe the connectivity is fitted as standard so if you do want to hook up your phone to the dash you'll have to pay extra to do that and so yeah it's not a badly specced bike in this regard it still gets the three riding modes for example uh traction control switchable which is handy for a sports bike but it just doesn't look quite as good value when you stack it up against its siblings. Now maybe the margins aren't quite as good on a Daytona versus something like a Trident and so they can't take the hit on fitting some of that stuff as standard and of course being a little bit more niche it probably won't sell in as big volumes either but yeah whatever the rationale I mean if you ask Triumph they probably give you a very PR friendly line like we focus grouped it and nobody said they wanted it but realistically it just feels like they've had to cheap out a little bit on the tech. Still there are some improvements to the rest of the bike the fork for example they've been a little more generous it's still a 41 millimeter upside down big piston separate function fork but previously it was completely non-adjustable which did seem a little bit at odds with the sports bike identity and also the fact that you are paying a little bit more for this bike versus something like a Trident. So yeah good news to see for 2026 it now does get compression and rebound damping and Triumph claim that that level of adjustability is something you'll struggle to find elsewhere at this sort of price point and I think I broadly agree maybe stuff like the CB650R from Honda don't think that's adjustable the Ninja 650 although you know shop around and stuff like an R7 if you're willing to pay a bit more an Aprilia 660 they do have quite a lot of adjustability in the suspension. The flip side though is that like I say it's a bit of a mixed update there isn't any more adjustability on the shock it's just preload adjustable it's a Showa monoshock as well and this is another area in which the Trident maybe looks like a little better value for money for 2026 this got a new shock as well with not only preload adjustability to compensate for a passenger but also rebound damping and so yeah I was a little surprised again to see they didn't go for a consistent approach across the lineup you don't get rebound on the new Daytona 660 and so it's just good news on the fork no improvement on the rear. Elsewhere on the chassis we've got the same braking setup which is decent in my opinion a pair of Triumph branded four piston radially mounted calipers on three 10mm discs the wheels are the same the cast aluminium 17 inches the same as last time out as well but they do say there's a little bit of an upgrade in terms of the tires with Metzeler's Sportec M9 RRs replacing the Michelin Power 6s that we had last time out now I think this is potentially you know either a good or a bad thing depending on what you intend on doing with the bike because when we did that trip around Cornwall on all three 660s well we really did get a mix of weather I think all three of us said because it rained on every single day and we tried every single bike that as soon as it started to drizzle it gets a little bit cold and even when it started to book it down of course that we'd all prefer to be on the Trident or the Tiger Sport because they I think were on the Michelin Road 5s or Road 6s which are more so built with like wet weather in mind the Power 6s just didn't inspire the same levels of confidence they didn't seem as grippy in the wet perhaps there's less in the way of grooves as well so you know like aquaplaning resistance and for me I think the Metzeler it's a great tire but perhaps it pushes it ever so slightly even more so in that sporty direction so what I will say is if you're treating this bike as like a Sunday best kind of job or maybe you know even an accessible track bike then yeah probably these new Metzeler's will do the job very nicely but if you're more so looking at it as like an affordable sports bike that you wouldn't mind getting a bit mucky if you commuted on it something a little bit comfortable as well then tires wise for all weather riding I'd probably be looking at swapping to something else a quick word on the dimensions though it's still 810 mil in the seat height it's still a little bit sporty but not too aggressive in the bars they haven't really changed the ergonomics and it still weighs in at 201 kilograms wet so no change there nor any weight penalty for a couple of little new features here and there like I say this isn't a tail up nose down super sport 600 weapon but yeah more so of a balanced riding position that's suitable for all day riding as well and that's probably one of the things that I liked most about it it felt fun and slightly aggressive but not too tiring if you do do a decent eight hour day perhaps the biggest change though for this one is the new styling with a new paint job that certainly stands out from the crowd especially when you look at the previous generation which came in I think white black or red specifically I will say I did like that red it's got a nice depth to it that particular triumph red but if you're looking for something that has a bit of that sporty image something a little more exciting then maybe you'll prefer one of these 2026 models so there's a silver with red black and gray accents a yellow with red black and gray accents I think they've possibly put the same sticker pack on the two bikes but with a different base paint job and then a black which I guess will be the cheapest without any sort of graphical elements certainly it does look a little more vivid a little bit more sporty the yellow as well it's very Daytona you've got to say that is something that's popped up a few times in its heritage but I did like the sort of classy look of the red last time around without any busyness on the fairings as always though you know it's totally subjective so let me know what you think down in the comments below as for the price well for 2026 it now starts at £8,995 which I assume will be for the black one you'll probably pay a few hundred quid more for one of the others and I believe if my research serves me correctly that that's about 400 quid up on last time out now on the one hand we're used to bikes creeping up at the moment especially with generally you know the cost of living going up and the cost of manufacturing stuff but I think to pay £400 more I'm not that bothered about the finish the fork upgrade's good perhaps the new tyres as well if you are saving it for dry weather but I would like to have seen a couple of those other little techie things that they've managed to fit to the other 660s without necessarily you know massively inflating the price if you prefer a naked anyway then I think the Trident looks like a much better deal now at £8,095 so you can save yourself the best part of a grand and also they updated the looks a little bit and I think it's made the Trident look a fair bit more desirable in the image stakes so yeah that's the last I 29 bikes that Triumph are announcing for 2026 they've gone out with a bit of a I don't know a bit of a meh rather than going out with a bang but as always I'd love to know what you think of this update down in the comments below of course I'll leave that road trip on the screen now in case you want to catch up if you didn't see it it was a very fun video to make and brilliant bikes as well so do give it a watch hit subscribe for more of the latest motorcycle news and reviews like this right here on Motobob a massive thanks for watching today and we'll see you in the next video