SMALL BUT MIGHTY: TRIUMPH TIGER SPORT 660

We all love an underdog, right? Well, that's what I kept telling myself as I lashed my soft luggage on the Tiger Sport 660, trying pretty hard to ignore the smug looks on Dave's and Rich's faces.

- DANGEROUS

Sure, they'd bagged the bigger bore, more powerful, and undoubtedly more comfortable options for this 1000-mile blast, but I was quite excited at the prospect of the Trumpet, which looked so much better than its rivals, if nothing else. Well, assuming you didn't look at the dash, that is. As with the last-generation 660 and the more recently released Tiger Sport 800, the clocks on the bike look as archaic as a 1980s Casio, only they're much harder to ignore. The irony is that there's a nice amount of tech on the Triumph, especially on this new version kitted with an IMU, so cornering ABS, cruise control, traction control and sport rider mode have joined the mix. The rest of the bike is largely the same as the inaugural model, which isn't such a bad thing because the last package worked well.

I'd only ever ridden one once, but wheelies, burnouts, and every other such antic from my adolescent box of tricks were extracted on that occasion, planting a big, cheesy smile on my face and leaving a lasting positive experience. The thing is, that joyride had been for about 80 miles, so as for comfort, economy, or whether the manually adjustable screen would be effective enough to protect the four hairs on my pre-pubescent chin, I simply hadn't a clue. The one thing I was sure of was that there wasn't a hope in hell I'd find myself moaning to the others about what they considered the runt of this litter; I'd bagged the best... and even if I hadn't, I was on a mission to make them believe that was the case.