Second chance: the 2004 Triumph Daytona 600. (Kickstarts: First Ride!).

Publication: Rider

Publication Date: 01-JUL-03

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Ehlert Publishing Group

Triumph's new Daytona 600 absolutely has to be right. The young British company put its reputation on the line three years ago when it introduced the TT600, the first four-cylinder supersport 600 in the world to take on the Japanese directly. And it failed. Poor low-rev throttle response from the first injection system ever fitted to a 600 four ensured also-ran status for the TT, already burdened with bland and bulbous styling.

Therefore the new Daytona is the Hinckley factory's second chance, and realistically its last chance, to prove it really can cut it with the big boys in the most hotly contested category in motorcycling.

The first signs are good, though, as the engine not only bursts into eager life, it feels like any other high-performance motorcycle engine, which might seem an odd thing to say, but the old TT600 didn't. It would splutter and hesitate until it was spinning hard and under load, but the Daytona's motor simply spins up (fast and hard) as you blip the throttle, exactly as it should.

Thanks for this are due to the state-of-the-art Keihin fuel-injection, featuring twin butterflies per cylinder (as debuted on the Suzuki GSX-R750). The first is controlled directly and conventionally by the twistgrip, the second, farther from the engine, by the electronic engine management. This...

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