Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128354
Triumph rewrites the middleweight rulebook By BLAKE CONNER PHOTO S BY TOM RILES e Daytona 650 has one of the most distinctive noses in the business. The e xhaust sile ncer has b een blacked-out for 2005. The shift leve r is now actuated by a link e d design. puts a premium on handling, braking and grunt all the comers. On the short course, there really isn't a chance to stretch a bike's legs, but the inner straightaway is good for the top of fourth gear. The trac k's characteristics played into the Daytona 650's favor big time. That extra 50ces of displacement may not sound like much, but it pays big dividends where the street rider needs it the most : in the midrange . Increasing the stroke fro m 41.3 to 44.5mm has increased the engine's displacement from 599 to 646cc; bore remains the same at 68mm . Additionally the compression ratio was , increased from 12.5: I to 12.85: I. Triumph claims that power output is now I 12 hp at 12,500 rpm at the gearbox. The improvements to the motor are easily noticeable on the trac k, especially coming 011 the corners. I had the opportunity to ride the new 650 back to back with last year 's 600, and the difference is amazing. The 650 pulls so much harder across the rev range that it isn't even fair to compare the two . No longer does the motor wheeze out of the corners waiting for the tach needle to swing past 10,000 rpm to make ser ious power; things start getting serious much lower in the rev range now. Although I didn't get the opportunity to ride the bike on the street, I did ride a couple of laps leaving it in fourth gear, just to get an idea of the available to rque. This little exercise didn't even faze the 650; maybe I should have done it in sixth to make it work a little harder. Leavingthe pit lane required very little in the way of clutch slippingto get the bike under way because of the low-e nd power and torque; the same can't be said of last year's 600. Another area that is improved drama tically on the new 650 is the fuel-injection system's response. Not only is the fuel delivery smoother, but also the combina- www.cyclenEWS.com tion of the new mapping and displacemen t increase has smoothed out the power and torque curves dramatically. The previous bike had all sorts of peaks and valleys in the power curve, making it much harder to ride not only on the track, but on the stree t as we ll. O ne of the biggest issues I had with the old Daytona 600 was the bike's cob by transm ission. Triumph addressed this problem on the new 650 by changing the shifter from a lever directly 011 of the shift shaft to a remote linkage des ign, which moves the gear in the same direct ion as the shift motion . The clutch now has seven instead of nine plates and also has a spring-loaded backlash eliminator gear to improve shifting action. On the track the transmission felt considerab ly better; no longer does it feel like it's going to false neutral or shift clunky. It allows you to ride withou t worrying about the previous bike's shifting issues. It' s true that the Vegas infield track CYCLE NEWS • DECEMBER 15,2004 21