Triumph Daytona 675 wins International Bike of the Year

Triumph’s Daytona 675 triple has taken out the ultimate accolade with victory in the prestigious International Bike of the Year (IBOTY) award. The 2006 poll, voted on by 15 of the world’s leading motorcycle magazines, saw the Daytona 675 win by a huge margin, scoring 26 votes, well ahead of Yamaha’s YZF-R6 (11) and the Kawasaki ZX-14 (9). The Triumph seems a particularly deserving winner this year, having also taken out victory in the Supersport class at the world’s biggest sportsbike shootout, Masterbike, (with 27 votes to the second-placed GSXR750R which scored 7 votes) and being awarded maximum votes (three) in IBOTY by six magazines – Australian Motorcycle News, Motorwereld (out of Belgium), Cycle Canada, KicXstart (Holland), Moto Motorcycle Magazine (Russia) and Cycle World (USA). The triple has also taken out numerous national magazine awards, winning, for example, the Two Wheels BOTY award from Australia’s highest circulation monthly magazine, plus the BOTY awards from Solo Moto (Spain), Moto Jornal (Portugal) 0300 (Greece), Moto! (Brazil), Moto 73 (Holland) and Moto Sport (Switzerland), none of whom were included in the above elite list of 15 journals. From a company that has teetered on the edge of extinction several times in the not-too-distant past, Triumph is to be recognised for its remarkable turn around.

In all, 10 of the 15 periodicals gave the Daytona 675 at least one vote, indicating they perceived it as one of the best three new motorcycles of the year. It is Triumph’s first victory in IBOTY, which commenced way back in 1985, after Triumph’s first glorious era had ended.

Here’s what Cycle Canada had to say about the Daytona 675: “It is…a jewel of a motorcycle, with performance that matches the top middleweight Supersport machines, a rich melodious growl from its inline triple-cylinder engine, and a slender, distinctive design that captures the essence of the term ‘exotic’, with without an exotic price.”

Other magazines complimented the Daytona 675 on its speed, character, user-friendliness, looks, brakes, price, superb handling, and

IBOTY final standings

1 Triumph Daytona 675 26 votes

2 Yamaha YZF-R6 11

3 Kawasaki ZX-14 9

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