Quick Ride
Quick Ride
TRIUMPH DAYTONA 650 Bigger does make better
CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL A little sorry for owners of Triumph’s Daytona 600, as the new stroked and massaged Daytona 650 is far better than its additional 47cc of engine displacement might suggest. Parking the new bike alongside last year’s machine offers no visual hint as to the level of refinement experienced when riding the two machines back-to-back, as we did at the press launch held last November at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The boys at Hinckley have been hard at work addressing a short list of issues that kept this two-year-old middleweight from realizing its true potential. As we’ve pointed out in the past, the Daytona’s chassis-with its twin-spar aluminum frame, fully adjustable cartridge fork and reser-
voir shock, rolling on grippy Pirelli Diablo radials-has always been on par with its class peers. The bike’s shortcomings were compromised ridability caused by poor throttle response, a grabby clutch and cobby shift action.
Just as Kawasaki’s 636cc ZX-6R serves up a bonus helping of low-to-midrange torque so, too, does the 646cc, liquid-cooled inline-Four powering the new Daytona. With the Richard Petty Driving Experience lapping the speedway oval, we were confined to riding the nineturn, 1.5-mile infield road course, which is mostly made
up of secondand third-gear corners. Leaving the 650 in top gear for an entire lap offered a good test of its enhanced torque and seamless delivery. Repeating this while aboard the old 600 really put the improvement into perspective. The 599cc engine struggled to clear its throat and even slowed at times as the throttle was rolled open! Now that’s no way for an advanced fuelinjection system to behave, particularly when equipped with computer-controlled secondary throttle valves as featured on both Daytonas.
Triumph engineers credit the additional 3.1mm of stroke-with its altered fuel requirement-for helping smooth throttle response and power delivery. I can also attest to the 650’s silkysmooth clutch engagement and slick shift action. The improved gear changes are credited to a new linkagetype shifter, while refinement in clutch feel comes from a revised actuator that now pulls, rather than pushes, on the clutch pressure plate. The addition of a backlash-eliminator gear-not to be confused with backtorque-limiter clutch-has helped reduce noise emissions from the drivetrain. True refinement comes from such details.
While our time thus far aboard the $7999 Daytona 650 amounts to a single day on the track, we’re confident the work that’s gone into the bike will translate quite favorably to the street, particularly when riding in stop-n-go city traffic. Even though the Daytona 650 can’t chase a 600cc Supersport title, it may well win the hearts of riders as a favorite track bike/commuter/ weekend-blaster.
Don Canet
