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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. |
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IBOTY final standings
1 Triumph Daytona 675 26 votes
2 Yamaha YZF-R6 11
3 Kawasaki ZX-14 9
4 Suzuki GSX-R750 6
5 Kawasaki ZX-10R 5
6 BMW F800S/ST 4
7 Yamaha YZF-R1 4
8 Suzuki GSX-R1000 3
9 Moto Morini Corsaro 3
10 KTM 990 Adventure 3
11 BMW HP2 3
12 Yamaha FZ6 3 |