Triumphrat

Kilibreaux

A triple displacing 675cc is going to be "torquier" than a 600cc "four"--especially a Yamaha due to their ultra-short stroke configuration. However, horsepower is a function of rpmxtorque, and an engine that spins faster will rule in the horsepower arena...though what that means in the real world is pretty irrelevant.
On the track, the "right answer" has already been proven...rpm rules...horsepower rules. Look at WHO dominates racing...and who is competitive only in "brand" racing--Ducati. Ducati is married to the notion of 90 degree twins--torque motors to be sure, but well behind the likes of Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki in terms of horsepower, and it shows when they race together. Ducati's "compensation" is a superior chassis with excellent handling, which, on twisty courses with short straights allows it to be competitive, relying on torque down low to pull hard off the turns while the rpm bikes can't maximize their ultimate acceleration advantage.
The best example of this was a comparison--one which should have embaressed Ducati (but probably didn't), where they ran a $30K 999 against an $11K Suzuki GSX1000R on the track. While the reviewers blathered about how refined and nifty the Duck was, and how it "seemed" faster out of the corners than the gixxer, the FULL story was revealed by the entire TRACK TIMES with the 1/3 priced gixxer literally eating the Duck's LUNCH to the tune of several seconds--several entire SECONDS is a LONG way apart in real life.

The GSX is cranking out a lot more horsepower than the 999...and horsepower is best thought of as "the ability to go fast--FASTER".

So Triumph has upped the ante for STREET bikes--because there is no racing class for the 675, and the extra 75 or so cc's, distributed across one less lung, WILL make a "better" street-fighter, and since Triumph spins the triple "fast enough" to make competitive horsepower--with the smaller 600s, it will also be equal at the top-end, and thus a pretty good all-arounder. However, let's think about this a minute...where does this ultimately end. Kawasaki has THEIR version of a "street" 600...two actually, the ZX-6R "636", and the new K650 twin...not even intended to be horsepower competitive, but "torquey". So next year out comes what? A "new" 700? Then a "new" 750...and so on until the 600s have disappeared completely--morphing into....LITERBIKES! Wow! What a concept...with a full liter displacement, the former 600 class bikes would be REALLY powerful...wait, hasn't that already been done?

The fact is, RACING is the true test of metal (and man)...by going above 600cc displacement, Triumph has chosen to vie for the street market, while avoiding the cost of fielding, or factory supporting a racing program such as the other manufacturers do, but this comes with a price...loss of a certain credibility gained by competing and WINNING in a class deliberately DESIGNED to create competition. While Triumph devotees will "pooh pooh" this as being irrelevant, even an "unfair" suggestion because they LIKE what Triumph has done--as do I, the fact remains, Yamaha, and the rest RACE, and for many people, the old addage "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" represents a certain street legitimacy. These guys will by an R6, or a GSX600R, or even pony up more for a ZX-6RR over the 636 because THEY are "real racing bikes", embued with the special "magic" gained from being seen blasting out of corners, accelerating hard down the straights...even thought the 675 may well be the BEST STREET "six-hundred something" bike in the world, nobody will see that name jockeying for position at Laguna Seca. Nobody will ever see Valentino Rossi proudly sitting atop a Triumph fresh off his latest win, and ultimately, nobody will ever see as much PRINT from the motorcycle press cooing over the capabilities of the D675...instead we'll continue to see the usual comparisons of "real" (or imagined) "racing bikes".
For those who will say Triumph can't compete in the racing arena because it's not as big as the others I must point out, THEY weren't always giants...they got where they are by investing in racing...transplanting what they learned and developed into the street, and thus have achieved something that cannot simply be purchased by advertising dollars.
So with all that said...regardless of how great the 675 is, comparisons will always come across feeling a bit "empty"...so what if the 675 shades the R6 a bit...it's still not a REAL racing bike, only an over-hyped STREET pretender...not how I personally feel mind you, but how the general performance motorcycling world thinks. Personally, I MIGHT buy one if it weren't priced just under some totally fabulous, race-proven LITER bikes, which will handle just as well or better, and can eat it alive ANYWHERE, ANYTIME.