Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

of the gears in success ion to get t he Yamaha to stop from that speed , with the 13.4: I compression o f the slant-b lock motor helping to brake consistently from the 200-meter board . Jurgen's Yamaha is very stable when sto pping hard, so you can pick a line when braking fro m high speed then really trus t the bike to hold to it - which, when you have a very narrow entry like at the first chicane, is really important. Yet in spite of that it flicks from side to side really easily , like in the second chicane or under power in the faster Ascari, where the reduced gyrosco pic effect of the Braking discs makes a nota ble difference to speeding up the steeri ng. It's also better at holding a line in a fast bend like Lesmo O ne, where tum speed is everyth ing and you nee d to really trust the front tire to maintain momen tum without chattering the front end. Jur gen 's pre ferred lower riding positio n aids stability around Monza's fast, bumpy sweepers, and the bike fee ls better balanced whe n stopping hard or under accel eratio n, thanks to the reduced weight tran sfer. The softer suspension sett ings Jurgen has chosen will allow the conventional forks fitted with trick WP internals and that beautifully made WP rear shock to eat up road rash as you keep up the turn speed before gett ing hard on th e gas again down to the next be nd. The Be lgarda Yamaha is a really satisfying, and above all predictable, bike to ride hard on - it conveys lots of confidence. The crisp pickup delivered by the Yamaha's EFI engine management system ECU sourced in Italy is enhanced by the very quick-action throttle Jurgen opts for, a function I guess of his 500 GP experience. Y feel the thro ttle movement conne cted ou to the rear w hee l in a way I haven't experienced before on other 600 Supersports, and that makes cont rolling a slide that much easier, as happened to me once the rear tire started to wear after IS laps or so, beca use you can respond to that more quickly with the throttle. And acce leration is even sharper, too , especially out of a slow chicane when you crack it wide open very quickly, and the sweet-spinning moto r just takes off. It rea lly pays to rev the R6 right out on a fast circuit like Monza, so wait 'til the row of red lightsabove the laptimer are all flashing red before you grab another gear, and even though the analog tacho will te ll you the engine's spinning at 16,700 rpm, it's lying, because rea lly the engine's revving 900 rpm lower, and by shifting there at the peak power mark, you'll find yourse lf back in the 14 grandplus fat powerband. Go by the lights - the tache's purely decorative! The Belgarda Yamaha R6 proved its worth this season , thanks to the underestimated talents of Jurge n van den Goorbergh as a four-stroke Supersport star. If he can just make better starts, Jurgen has to be a top contender for the wo rld title in 2004 with th is bike. TR IUMPH DAYTONA 600 The 2003 season was mome ntous for Triumph, the world's oldest and arguably most historic mot orcycle marque . Because for the first time since being rescued from the scrapheap of histo ry by John Bloor, Britain's best was back in racing with the factory-funded Valmoto tearn, winning the Junior TT on the Isle of Man against facto ry-backed oppos ition from three of the four Japanese makes and finishing on the rostrum in the hard -fought British Supersport series with a two man team of star teenager Craig Jones and veteran Jim Moodie. Hopping aboard the racing version of the Daytona, I found tha t by Supersport standards this is a comfy bike, if not particularly race-bred - it does seem more like a converted streetbike than a thinly disguised GP racer for the comm on man like the Belgarda R6 or the works Kawasaki ZX-6RR, even if the Triumph scales right on the I67kg [367.4lbs,] we ight limit without the need for carbon -fiber bodywork, though neither does it have to be ballasted with lead to meet the weight, as all its competitors except the overweight 170kg [374 Ibs.] Honda are. But, like the Kawasaki, the Daytona 600 has a measured power de livery and a wide sp rea d of power, which doesn't deliver the jump out of turn s or crack of acceleration that the leading bikes from the three ot her marques have. The Triumph pulls cleanly and smoo thly from as low as 6000 rpm out of the Y orkshire Croft circuit's tight last turn ultra user-friendly by Supers port standards . It builds powe r quite progressive ly once the ultrashort-stroke 16valvedohc engine starts to get serious above I I,500 revs - very nice for road circuits likethe Isle of Man, but nice guys come second in the hypercompetitive cauldron of 600 Supersport trac k action, and I'm sure when the chips are down, this must leave hard-nosed hooligans like Moodie and Jones fuming behind their faceshields as the Honda and Yamaha brigade grab that precious five-rneter advantage on them out of every slow tum, which the Triumph duo must try to claw back by exploiting the Daytona's excellent handling to the maximum. You must rev the heavily oversquare engine over 13,200 rpm to get competitive horsepower, even if the totally linear powe r delivery makes the Triumph a forgiving bike to ride - it builds smoothly and progressively to the 14,500 rpm peak, where 126 bhp is delivered to the back wheel. But to kee p with the competition, you have to rev the Daytona, and you must use the gearbox hard to keep the motor buzzing, making you apprec iate its crisp action and how well chosen the Hewland race gearbox ratios are, with the bottom four gears close together to maximize acceleration the n the top two more spaced out to kee p up momentum. But this isn't a forgiving engine to ride on the edge, if you're looking for those last ten ths of a second that make the difference between a third-r ow and a frontrow start in Supersport racing. The trick will be to get the missing jump out of turns, which the bike's lacking at present, especially compared to its existing Yamaha and Honda rivals. But the superb handling of the Daytona chassis helps redress this handicap, especially on high-speed comers - surely one reaso n it makes such a successful TT tool. With the Kayaba cartridge forks (replumbed with K-Tech internals) and reas- suringly comp liant Penske rear shock set up slightly softer for a bumpy circuit like Croft, the Triumph held a line brilliantly arou nd fast, sweeping bends without pushing the fro nt anywhere. It rides bumps we ll without sacrificing stability (anothe r important TT trait), hooked up the rear Pirelli Supe r Corsa very well out of the slower turns, and swapped from side to side really we ll thro ugh the fast fourth -gear S-bends out the back of the circuit. However, steeri ng is a little heavy at lower speeds , as in the last tight section or the first slow hairpin, and for sure the Daytona would benefit from wearing the Braking petal discs that have become de rigueur in World Supersport racing this seaso n: they reduce gyroscopic forces and speed up the handling without affecting braking performan ce as we ll as re ducing unsprung weight, thus giving the suspension an easier time. Retaining the road bike's stock 308mm Sunstar discs is very laudable, and the Triumph does indeed brake pretty well - but they 're heavier and bulkier tha n they need to be, with a negative input on the stee ring. The Triumph's handling didn't impress in the way it moved around under heavy braking, espe cially at the end of the Croft pit straight, wher e it repeated ly tried to back into the tum when I squeezed the lever hard. This is a problem the team's been chasing all season - bet a slipper clutch will help a lot here, as the new rules will allow the team to run in 2004. The Triumph

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