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/128372
Triumph Daytona 6S[] MOTOR KEY FEATURES: • 646cc motor .12.85:1 .compression ratio • Redesigned transmission • Twin·~utterfly. multipoint sequential ER Triumph is steadily chipping away at the competition in an effort to steal away some of the middleweight market share. To be fair, the company has made incredible strides in the past couple of years. Triumph's biggest problem is that the four Japanese companies are in the midst of an allout war in the class. They also have vastly more resources to wage this war than the smaller company from Hinckley, England. Yet, with its latest offering, the Daytona 650, Triumph may have stumbled onto the right route to take. Why try to beat the Japanese at their own game when you can create a category of your own? That's what we think the Daytona 650 has accomplished. Triumph has taken another route and decided to make an appealing, unique street bike. Not a race bike with lights or homologation special, but an excellent street-oriented sportbike. "Hell, the Triumph 650 would win the Most Improved Bike award if such a thing existed," Montano said. At the heart of it all is the 646cc inline four-cylinder motor. To get the power that the engineers wanted, they decided to hot-rod the motor with a longer stroke and lots of compression. Riding the bike back to back with the Daytona 600 proves that the modifications were a huge improvement. It must, however, frustrate Triumph to no end that they are always two-steps behind the Japanese. On the track the Triumph is a capable machine, but even those 6460c can't make up the deficit to the other bikes, as it turned the slowest lap times of the group (a I :28.35). On the track, testers commented that the bike was slow revving but had good midrange power. The problem is that the motor peters out a bit too early up top. It's also a bit buzzy compared to some of the others, with noticeable vibration through the bars. The area that Triumph has improved the most is the fuel injection. The early Fl systems on the TT600 were clearly behind the level of the competition. It's amazing how much better the fuel injection is than last year's 600. It just keeps getting better and better. The transmission is also vastly improved over earlier Triumphs, but it still isn't on par with the best of the Japanese bikes. Where this bike excelled was on the street, where the motor is much more in its element. CHASSIS/HANDLING KEY FEATURES: • Braided stainless-steel brake lines • Pirelli Diablo tires • Fully adjustable fork • Fully adjustable shock The Daytona 650, like the Daytona 600 and TT600 before it, is a good-handling bike. The bike has front-end geom- etry numbers designed to make this bike carve up the corners. With 24.6-degrees of rake and 89.10101 of trail, getting through the corners either on the street or track should be fairly easy. But testers commented that the bike requires a bit more input at the handlebars to initiate a tum, though once there, the bike felt really stable. Part of the bike's handling deficiencies could be due to the fact that the bike is the heaviest of the four-cylinder bikes; it weighs almost the same as the Honda did last year at 443 pounds. The Daytona is far better suited for street duty than track duty, but that shouldn't be held against it, because it makes a great street bike; it's only when the going gets hectic that the Daytona suffers. The Daytona is the only bike in this test that still has a standard noninverted fork. This definitely can be felt in the form of flex under heavy braking. Many testers also commented ' that the spring rates from the fork are a little too soft on the track but that they were just fine on the street. As for the rear shock, the same can be said of it. On the track, it a little on the soft side, but once again, on the street it was just fine. Though the Daytona 650 turned the slowest lap time at the track, in reality, it isn't that far off of some of the other bikes. Besides, it's the least expensive bike in the shootout. The brakes on the Daytona are good but require more effort than some of the others in the test despite the stainless-steel brake lines. The problem may be the bike's smallish rotors, but it is also the only bike without radial-mount calipers. "Too bad it still has 3-year old brake and suspension components," Montano added. "We all agreed on the major progress Triumph has made. I just wish they had done a little more with the suspension and brakes, and then they could be a valid contender." ...-._._..---_.. ~._-- ; j ['.rp.m. i .m. 14 Positives - Unique styling - Good midrange power - Good midcorner stability 16 Negatives - Dated suspension - Buzzy motor - A little too porky CYCLE NEWS • APRIL 6,2005 23