Daytona 600
CW RIDING IMPRESSION
DAYTONA 600
Does Triump's late middleweight have what it takes?
MARK HOYER
TRIUMPH IS COMPLETELY off its nut, 100 percent whacked. Non-Japanese factories just don't take on the Big Four head to-bead. Ducati doesn't do it, Aprilia doesn't do it, BMW doesn't do it, nobody does it. And yet, here is Triumiph, the restarted upstart that's been rebuilding the. British brand since John Bloor put the marque back on the market in 1991 lining up and squaring off against the giants in segment after segment. It's one thing to build niche bikes with alternative engine layouts such as inlineTriples, or to retread traditional British territory with a parallelTwin, but to build a 600cc supersport bike, and to choose to make it an inline-Four, is absolutely Crazy for a smaller-volume manufacturer.
But here Triumph is, stepping up to the plate with its new $8699 Daytona 600, a bike based upon the old TT600. but iith top-to-bottom tweaks cen t~ed on making it competitive in w~t is uick1y changing, aiway ó1ving class. The i~ked a tough year to go super-supersporty, with everybody save Suzuki introducing new bikes, all of which are more track-focused than ever. But not only is Triumph hanging tough, it’s making progress.
DAYTONA 600
How so? This Daytona works. After a half-day on the tight-and-technical Cartagena track in southern Spain with the other half spent on the road, it’s clear that Triumph has exorcised many of the demons that haunted the old TT.
One thing that didn’t haunt the old TT was handling. In fact, it was one sweet-turning package. The Daytona carries this tradition forward, but with a frame redone to be lighter. Chassis geometry-24.6-degrees rake/3.5-inches trail-is identical to that of the TT, although the wheelbase has been shortened by .2 inch to 54.7 inches. The fork now features all-aluminum internals, for a weight loss of more than 2 pounds. Further, the bodywork is molded at Triumph so that they can control the thinness of the panels, and weightreduction has taken place here, as well. Triumph puts the claimed weight at 363 pounds dry, 11 less than the TT.
Some of this also came from the engine. The crankshaft has shed weight, the starter is lighter, a magnesium cam cover is fitted and the exhaust exhausts the same way but with fewer pounds.
First item of note when saddling up is that the riding position is more aggressive. Next is the fact that the engine is greatly improved. The cylinder head is new, with CNCmachined combustion chambers and ports for improved airflow and combustion. Dual-butterfly Keihin fuel-injection is used, which through the use of secondary, computer-controlled butterflies, helps maintain optimal intake-air velocity. This system is similar to those used by the Big Four.
The ol’ butt dyno suspects around 95 horses at the rear wheel, and Triumph’s claim of 110 horses at the crank (up 2 bhp from the TT) suggests this is a good guess. It definitely feels spicier than the Honda CBR600F4Í we had in our recent 600cc comparison, but not as sizzling as the Yamaha YZF-R6 or CBR600RR, and certainly nowhere near the big-bluey Kawasaki 636 in terms of torque.
The best thing about the Daytona engine, though, is that the great cave in the midrange the early TT600s exhibited, and even the later “fixed” versions still displayed somewhat, has been nicely filled in. Delivery wasn’t without its problems, however. Both the bikes we used on the track-fitted with louder accessory slip-on cans-and the stockers we rode on the street, were hard to start when warm. Also, throttle response was soft off the bottom. This, combined with somewhat abrupt clutch engagement at the end of lever travel, put the motor flat on its face frequently during leisurely getaways. That’s the only real delivery problem other than occasional hiccups from trailing throttle to on the gas. Shift quality was a little notchy, but about on par with our last Ducati 749. As it is with middleweights, there isn’t much happening below 8000 rpm anyway, but the
DAYTONA 600
Daytona pulls cleanly and deliberately from 6K until the power comes in, which is especially nice in street riding. It pulls hard to the 14K-plus redline-so well, in fact, that during early laps the soft rev-limiter was frequently visited.
Out on our brief street ride, suspension compliance was excellent. Stability and feedback were pretty much faultless at a brisk street pace. This on some seriously bumpy roads, fraught with hazards: Renaults in our lane on blind corners, mule-drawn wagons, herds of sheep and little girls riding pink bicycles toward traffic. There is little resistance to turning while braking, and trailing it in deep while on the track didn’t induce fear of the lowside. I’d also like to add that the damping through the gravely whoop section outside of Turn 1 was quite adequate, with excellent resistance to bottoming...
It is difficult to take a supersport bike such as the Triumph Daytona 600 entirely seriously without an attendant race effort. Which is one reason Triumph took the Daytona 600 launch as an opportunity to introduce the press to the two riders-Isle of Man TT legend Jim Moodie and British up-and-comer Craig Jones-who are spearheading Triumph’s official return to racing. Established Brit squad ValMoto is handling the bike mods for the 600cc British Championship with the Triumph factory lending support. Early results have been good, with both riders finishing in the top 10 at the second round. Triumph America is mum about a possible stateside racing effort, but you can’t help but think they’re going to take the plunge soon.
Of course, they’d be insane to do it, but there is a certain beauty to the madness that has bred this Daytona 600. It’s more of an alternative than ever, although it still isn’t truly all the way there. But fettle the fuel-injection, squeeze out a few more bhp, and one day we might be referring to the Big Five. Nuts, ain’t it?
