In a surprise discovery by Team-bhp, it’s been noticed that Triumph India has apparently reduced the peak power and torque outputs of some of its motorcycles! However, the company has not done it for the entire range, and it’s only the Daytona, Street and Speed Triples, and Bonneville that have seen the change. But these are the very models that constitute the majority of Triumph sales in India!
Interestingly though, the Thruxton, which carries the same engine as the Bonneville, has not been detuned and the Indian site still states 69 PS and 69 Nm as Thruxton’s peak power and torque figures, respectively. Oh yes, the Triumph UK site prefers ‘bhp’ over ‘PS’ and it mentions 69 bhp for the Thruxton (and 69 Nm).
We have mentioned the power, torque, and rpm figures in the table below for the bikes which seem to have been detuned by Triumph India. Take a look:
Triumph Motorcycles | Power and Torque figures on Indian Website | Power and Torque figures on UK Website |
Bonneville | 61 PS @7,500 rpm / 61 Nm @5,550 rpm | 68 bhp @7,500 rpm / 68 Nm @5,800 rpm |
Street Triple | 79 PS @11,050 rpm / 57 Nm @8,375 rpm | 105 bhp @11,850 rpm / 68 Nm @9,750 rpm |
Daytona | 118 PS @12,300 rpm / 70 Nm @9,900 rpm | 126 bhp at 12,500 rpm/ 74 Nm @11,900 rpm |
Speed Triple | 127 PS @9,300 rpm / 105 Nm @7,800 rpm | 133 bhp @9,400 rpm / 111 Nm @7,750 rpm |
Even at a glance you’ll notice that it’s the Street Triple that has taken the worst hit; its peak power has gone down by around 25 bhp, and that’s a lot! Keeping in mind the power output of some of the best 200-250 cc bikes in India, such as the Duke 200/CBR 250R, it’s like subtracting a whole 200-250 cc from the Street Triple’s 675 cc engine!
That, coupled with a drop of 11 Nm in the peak torque output, would certainly affect the throttle response across the rpm range, and that’s sad news indeed for the bike’s potential customers. The Kawasaki Z800 will benefit from this the most and so will the smaller 650 cc Kawasakis, the Ninja 650 and the ER-6n.
We just tested the Bonneville (review coming soon) and let me tell you that we did not find the power lacking in that one. Of course, I can’t say for sure whether it was a 68 PS version or a 61 PS one, but in either case its power and torque certainly did meet my expectations. Let’s hope we can say the same about the Street Triple too, as and when we review it.
But the bigger question is what is this happening and why are the Brits doing this to their Indian range? We await an answer from Triumph clearing the issue.
Related: ER-6N vs Street 750 vs GT650N vs Bonneville: Spec & Price COMPARO