Versus (Part 2): Ducati 848 vs. Daytona 675

No offense to my friends from England, but beauty is limited in English exports. Women, clothes, cars, bikes- you don’t think beautiful right away if its English made, not like you would with a “made in Italy” stamp.

But then, what is English and looks good ends up looking really really good, like all the beauty is concentrated in a few select examples. The Austin Martin DB9. Elizabeth Hurley. Paul Smith suits. You understand.

And so it is with the Triumph Daytona 675. Face and body, its a beaut of a bike with substance to match. It put the Hinckley milled company back on the minds of middleweight riders looking for an alternative to a Japanese four cylinder 600. Solid build quality, a howling engine, compact and nimble, and it looks sweet. No surprise it has won multiple awards since first debuting.

Is it fair to pit the Daytona 675 against the Ducati 848? Are the bikes in the same league? Sure, why not? Two outcasts, too much displacement for some race classes, too little for others. Atypical engine designs. European. Similar measurements. It would be a good fight, on paper at least. Let the battle begin.

Let’s pretend for a minute that money isn’t an issue… who am I kidding, actually? We all want bang for buck, and the Daytona’s got that in spades. For nine thou you get a lot of motorcycle, a machine churning out a claimed 120 horsepower at 12,000 revs. The torque value isn’t too bad either- almost 50 lb/ft  at 9750 rpm. Those figures alone make the bike a solid value versus the 848: it takes four thousand more to get you 134 hp and 70 lb/ft with the Ducati.

But a bike’s merit isn’t measured on power figures alone. When it comes to stopping power, the Duc trumps the Daytona. Big 320mm rotors are chomped by four piston Brembos. Bike magazine actually said the Ducati 1098’s brakes were almost “too powerful”, a trait I imagine it’s little brother will inherit. The Triumph has smaller 308s- still solid, but the bike reportedly outweighs the Ducati by twenty pounds.

Twenty pounds lighter and more powerful going and stopping? Oh my yes. But at a serious premium. For less dough you still get the exclusivity with the Triumph, you get to ride something most people are unfamiliar with, something different, a bike that’s unique, a machine that looks great- same as you would with a Ducati. Plus, if you took the difference in cost between the two bikes and reinvested it into the less expensive machine, you’d have something super wicked fast. Four thousand would buy you larger rotors, a lighter exhaust set up, more horsepower. Its almost a toss up, in that respect.

But not for me. After all, I have a friggin’ website devoted to the 848, so I’m a bit biased. Four thousand gets you way more out of the box with the Ducati, in figures measurable and otherwise. More power, more prestige, a bike that will look better in a few years (the Daytona has too much of an Asian quality in design, lending itself to poor aging in my opinion), a bike with a higher resale value. The Ducati brings it in photos and on paper.

Beauty and power, style and performance. Whether its bikes, boots or babes, its easy to think that when I see something is “made in Italy”.