Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

dual-compound Bridgies wilJ deliver and only the lower right side of the fairing grounded out early, even under normaJ road conditions. There's nothing behind it to stop them tucking it in properly, so they should. Okay, beam me up, Scotty - except, just as on every 21st century machine, there's an established procedure for getting Starship Daytona into orbit. Which is, switch on ignition, pull in clutch lever (very important, even if it's already in neutral), use zero throttle, press button - and fire! Failure to observe any of these steps will impact negatively on your launch procedure '. Le., it won't start. Nor will if if both a gear is·engaged and the sidestand is down. Okay, okay - grandma-biking (Right) Worth the walt: The Daytona delivers worlcl-class handling from Its all-new ovaltube aluminum frame. Like the Ducati 916 and Honda CBR900RR Its suspension components are made byShowa. (Below) Though heavier than a conventional swingarm, the distinctive look 01 a single-sided unit was deemed important in the overall presentation of the Daytona. The gearbox has always been the only truly weak point of the Triumph range since 1990, but whereas before it could be justified by saying it was overengineered for reliability and robustness on models that were not leading-edge sportbikes, there are no more excuses with the Daytona's new cluster some 30 percent ligh ter than before. It's not so maybe, but at least you won't ride off with the stand down. And when it starts, boy is it worth waiting for. The built-in choke program on the Sagem EFI's fuel map mans the T595 settles down to a fast 3000 rpm idle until it's reached operating temperature. And at that speed there's already a healthy little burble from the optional carbon-wrap silencer fitted to the' bikes we were track testing with. Throttle action is precise, if not qwte as light as on other fuel-injection packages - but then, of course, there are three throttle bodies. As soon as you give it some gas to move off the mark, the burble changes beat and begins to boom. There's no question - the Daytona is one of the best-sounding bikes on the street today. It's as distinctive as a Ducati, as soulful as a single. Its muted howl sets your skin tingling as you catch yourself revving it just a little higher, changing gear is just a little later than strictly necessary - simply to overdose on that musical noise. Just wait until someone races one with a tuned exhaust... Back off the clouds, and crunch time for the Triumph. What's it really like to ride hard and fast? Engine first - it's a gem. It pulls cleanly away in top gear from as low as 2400 rpm without a glitch, takes full gas from 3000 up - but then hits an irritating flat spot right at 5000 revs that only clears up just over 1200 rpm later. Unfortunately, this is deliberate - it's designed in to help beat European noise laws, and almost every big-bore Japanese bike suffers from the same problem. Blame Brussels. The Italians? They have their own techniques - say no more? But all this does on the Triumph is encourage you to use the gearbox to keep the revs up - i.e., ride it like a proper sportbike instead of burbling along at 80 mph in top gear right in the middle of the flat spot. Well, you did choose the Daytona hyperbike, not the Trophy tourer, didn't you? 'when ridden like that, the payoff is intense. As soon as you hit the 6SOO-rpm power threshold, the Daytona motor takes off in a big way. There's simply no comparison with the old T300 Triumph engine, which even in tuned, racing form on the Saxon Triumph there was a real struggle to persuade it to run into five-figure mode. The T595 is a different breed - and generation - of triple. Power starts to build strongly but very smoothly from seven grand upward - and then the tach needle suddenly scoots around- the dial toward the redline as the combination of EFI/EMS mapping, valve timing and, above all, the much-reduced inertia inside the engine jointly deliver a passable imitation of a four-cylinder superbike. But this is a three-cylinder street bike. The Triumph's performance at high rpm is truly exceptional. It's got the grunt of a V-twin, but the appetite for revs of a four - truly the best of both worlds. It doesn't even start to tingle as the revs mount, though the engine's unique feel wouldn't let you believe you were riding anything but a triple. It also doesn't run out of breath up high. The power peaks at 10,200 rpm, but it keeps right on pulling until the soft rev-limiter cuts out one cylinder at 11,500 rpm, giving you a 5000 rpm performance powerband that makes the sixth speed in the . gearbox almost redundant. The gearbox is, however, the only real disappointment in the whole Daytona pack.age. J rode five different bikes at the launch and all had the same stiffaction gearshift that leaves a brwse on your toe after a hard day's ride. That's quite different from the slowness of the shift action, and the fact that you absolutely cannot upshift without the clutch - well, not if you want the gear to engage more than 50 percent of the time. bad that it spoils the bike, but it is a problem that needs to be addressed. The Honda VIRlOoos I rode in Japan recently had equally low mileages, but much crisper, smoother gear shifts. The clutch action on the Triumph is okay - much less stiff than any Ducati - but it's a pity the clutch lever isn't adjustable like the front brake. Development history: Turn of the pag-=--e_ _ R umor has it that the bike which inspired Triumph to create the new T595 Daytona's chassis package the way it is, is an 'unexpected one. In November of 1993, having decided in July of that year to start work on radical new models aimed at the hypersports and streetfighter classes, John Bloor went to the Birmingham Show m England and eyed the Over OV15A EuroTwin, with its ground-break: mg styling and, yes, trademark oval-tube chassis. According to factory insiders, Bloor was so impressed with the Yamaha-powered Over 1t tx:came the benchmark for Triumph's new-generation motorcycles. Ironical.ly, Kensel Sato, the boss of Over and a big Triumph fan himself (he races his own Miles Trident F750 classic racer in Japanese vintage races) had asked to purchase a new Daytona 900 motor to enable him to build an Over-Triumph - and was turned down. Maybe the fear that a future Triumph sportbike with a similar chassis format might be ~iewed as just a spinoff from a Japanese speci;ll is the reason - but in any ca:e, there s little. do~bt from lookmg at the new T595/T509 chassis package where Triumph got 1tS msprration. Ditto for the new alloy-framed Suzuki TLlOoo, a bike which also has heavy .Over influences in styling - something the Triumph at least does not. . Here's a look at the development of the new TSOO family of British triples: July 1993 - Triumph decides to undertake a major project to design, develop and produce two new sportbike~ to replace the existing 900 Daytona and Speed Tnple models. Code name for the project is assigned: TSOO (sorry, Suzuki). August 1993 - Harris builds the first prototype tubular-steel rolling chassis to Triw;nph specs, around an existing 900cc three-cylinder engine, in order to analyze geometry and frame stresses. November 1993 - First tests of the prototype bike. . Mardi 1994-- Designer John Mackett and his team, led by former 125cc Grand Prix racer Rod Scyvyer, start work on the styling of the bike. July 1994 - First styling sketches are presented, and work started on the first 3-D clay model. December 1994 - Chassis and engine in-house design work begins at Triumph's Hinckley factory. March 1995 - Mockett and his team complete their work and present the final styling model. August 1995 - Triumph's own prototype rolling chassis, with aluminum frame and single-sided swingarm, is completed, and used in tests to prove the chassis geometry selected. This prototype proves successful. Triumph engineers are able to reduce the head angle by 1.5 degrees compared to the original Harris-built chassis, and the trail by 15mm. The first prototype of the new engine is also completed, and tested in this frame. . Septe~ber.1995 - Prototype bikes are taken to the Bridgestone tire-proving facility m Arizona for testing under a variety of conditions, including the use of a high-speed, banked oval. October 1996 - T595 Daytona and T509 Speed Triple are launched at the IFMA Colo~e Show, exactly six years after the reborn TriUII\ph marque made its public debut at the same show. A page is turned in the history of the British company with the arrival of its leading-edge new models for the next millennium. 17

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