Triumph Trident 660 Review

Personal experience of a mid-experience casual rider of the new Triumph Trident 660 after six months of riding over 3500 miles (March 2021 onwards). A few things about myself:

• Riding experience: 5 years
• Age: Early-40s
• Previous (first) bike: Kawasaki Vulcan Cafe Racer (660 cc, 47 hp) - rode it for 4 years... excellent, confidence building, starter bike with enough power to ride on highways. 
• First sporty upgrade: Triumph Trident 660 - MATT JET BLACK AND SILVER ICE with accessories:
• Triumph engine guards
• Triumph wheel rear wheel bobbins (front ones are not available!)
• Triumph Connectivity module
• TEC parts brake and clutch levers to replace the originals
• Personal gear:
• iPhone 11 running the latest iOS
• Sena SMH10D-10 Motorcycle Bluetooth Headset/Intercom mounted on a white SHOEI RF-1200 helmet.
• Dainese leather jacket
• Aerostitch pants or Dainese jeans
• Helite Turtle 2 airvest (hi-viz)

Overall

• Just a whole lot of fun, the sound, the styling and the power.
• Perfect upgrade for my first serious mid-end bike. 
• etc: Their marketing and research is spot on for the target customer... plus I like their product managers in all the interviews I've seen... they know their stuff. I'll definitely consider a Triumph for a future upgrade if the Triple does not look so bug-eyed Transformer-like. 
• My other option was the new 2022 Indian FTR or the new Ducati Monster but both weren't going to be available for a few more months and I got tired of waiting. I know they are not in the same range as the Trident... but that's how much I liked it. 

Pros

• Sound - Super sexy sound of the triple engine.
• Peppy pickup in gears 1-4, 5 for highway cruising. Don't know what to do with the 6th.
• Moves like a fun beast as my first juicy upgrade from my Kawi
• Confidence inspiring engine
• Update: Gear 1 seems too low... but guess that's for the nice pickup. Riding in mid-20 mph is always a bit annoying when 2nd gear is too high and 3rd doesn't quite like it. 
• Riding geometry is excellent
• Perfectly aligned footpegs, handlebars
• Easy to straddle and maneuver around the seat,  comfortable to move back-n-forth on long rides. 
• Can nicely hug the moto to feel one with the machine especially on curves
• Nifty electronics
• Clear TFT display works well in the California sun
• Relevant info always visible with the left-side toggle switches
• Triumph Connectivity module (with a few glitches, see Cons) is decent.  
• play music, audiobooks etc from your phone or 
• to take that rare phone call if you really want/need to
• get directions (text and arrows) via the Triumph app on your mobile since Apple does NOT recommend/support mounting the phone on "high-powered" motorcycles. 
• Promise of low maintenance costs
• I dabble a bit on small fixes but am not a gearhead so a low maintenance would be nice to avoid the crazy dealership costs
• Tires - 
• Looks - Looks different and brings a solid roadster beauty
• Seat height
• The 805 height and narrow setup near the tank allows me (5' 7", 1.68m) to easily reach one foot flat foot, or paws on both sides. And I'm experienced enough to not have problems with this. 

Cons

• Triumph Connectivity module needs bug fixes/updates
• Crazy total cost: unit cost $250-ish + dealer install of $300 = $550!!! You can't install it yourself as they need to update software/firmware and activate it. Blech!
• Can't control volume up/down.
• Sometimes (every 2-4 weeks) loses connectivity with my Sena SMH10D-10 helmet set... dunno who's fault it is... probably the Sena since it will shutdown randomly after a few weeks and needs a reset via the pinhole in the back.  
• Despite this, I love having the controls on the handle bar and not having to touch the helmet controls of the Sena. 
• Traffic directions will occasionally get stuck... freeze and stop updating next set of directions. A restart of the moto usually solves it, but pretty annoying. 
• UPDATED review here.
• Clutch levers
• Just plain weird in terms of reach and pull (got finger cramps after every ride), even with all the clutch adjustments and the silver/steel color looks odd. 
• Ended up buying sleek black machined brake & clutch levers from TEC.
• Fuel tank - wish it was a full 4 gallons instead of the 3.6.
• Suspension sometimes feels a bit wonky, sometimes a bit too soft.
• Storage
• Storage options are limited to small stuff... I guess they meant it only to be an urban/suburban roadster for 150 miles max range (see fuel tank). So no panniers and not easy to mount any decently priced third-party accessories. 
• Oil level monitor
• Really wish they had a directly visible glass level thingy... having to pull out a black colored dipstick, wiping it and rechecking is so 1970s. 

Odds & Ends

• Sometimes do get problems going from 1st to 2nd and do land in neutral... have to make sure to give it a bit of a stiff pull up sometimes.
• Took me 3+ months to get used to the positioning of the left-side controls for the Triumph Connectivity module. The 4 way buttons are too close to the other button. 
• I love that the high beam and dipper are one button... easy to reach and switch with one flick.