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A flag-to-flag winner—not green to checkered but rather in the multi-national colors of the world's moto-press—Triumph has swept the globe with its all-new 675, winning supersport shootouts like there's no tomorrow. As you can read in our August issue, it also represented well at the big MasterBike track shootout. Now meet David Lopez, the man responsible for riding the Daytona 675 into the shape that has wowed journalists everywhere.
Following a successful racing career in the Spanish and European Superbike and Supersport championships and a fare share of World Endurance experience, the Spaniard took a job at Triumph in 2003 as a test rider.
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| Fast family: Triumph development rider David Lopez (left) and his brother Felipe, a Dunlop tire tester, talk shop at MasterBike 2006. |
“As a company, Triumph's structure is so small, communication is direct and improvements are made immediately. We are very different from Japanese companies that have many test riders giving input—that way the bike ends up in the middle,” says Lopez. “With input from a single direction, from a single rider, you get a bike that is either really wrong or one that stands out as being very right.”
Obviously, Lopez got the 675 very right; ironic as it's the only middleweight supersport with no factory roadracing aspirations. He told me that after a year and a half of testing to zero-in their adjustable test mule's geometry, Triumph produced a frame within 10 days. The engine had already been running for a year and was ready to drop right in. Short and sweet, Triumph achieved a great deal in just 18 months' time.
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