It goes without saying that the 600cc super sport class is one of the most hotly contested in the motorcycle world. For over a decade now, a war has waged for the blisteringly quick featherweights from Japan to grow more powerful, while at the same time shedding weight. Somehow, they are also supposed to remain civilized, comfortable and affordable while attaining these lofty goals. Amazingly, year after year, they keep managing this, and the net results are some of the sharpest focus road bikes on the market today.

With the “big four” having a complete strangle hold on this class, it was a brave move by Triumph Motorcycles when they became the first European manufacturer to produce a 600cc four-cylinder super sport machine, the TT600, just three short years ago. It was and is a nice bike. It did everything it is supposed to and more, but when it entered the market with some fuel injection problems, the press killed it.

While it was a stunning handler, it was a little heavy and slightly down on horsepower, and to be quiet honest, it was no Prom Queen in the looks department. Fuel injection re-maps fixed the running problems, but the TT was branded and the stigma remained. I had one on long term test recently and, when you get away from all the hype about fractions of a second in the quarter, lap times and top speeds, it is a great everyday machine; more than capable enough for the majority of riders. But, we are constantly fed on a diet of better, faster, and lighter, so Triumph went back to the drawing board, and in early April this year, along with the world’s press, I got to sample the fruits of their labours: the Daytona 600.

Triumph’s new sport bike had already been making the rounds at various shows, and I saw one in the flesh for the first time at Bike Week in Florida earlier this year. I was immediately drawn to the familiar look it shares with its big brother bearing the same name, the 955i Daytona. It is a very clean and functional machine and its purpose is clearly stated. While the TT looked more sport tourer than hard edge sport bike, new Daytona looks all sport. From the sharp angular fairing, to the removable solo tailpiece and colour matched rear hugger, there is no mistaking the Daytona’s intended purpose. And, while manufacturers sometimes adorn their particular models with wild graphics and designs, the new Daytona comes subtly understated in Racing Yellow or Aluminium Silver.

So is it a warmed over TT, or is it a new bike? Well, the answer to this question came from Triumph’s Ross Clifford as he gave myself and the other assembled journalists a tech briefing on a golden, sun filled Spanish morning at the Cartagena racetrack.

The new Daytona 600 uses the TT600 for a base and is really an evolution of the former model. The satin-aluminium twin spar frame appears identical, which it is in looks, but not in construction. Where the TT’s frame was a four-cell construction, the new Daytona is now a three-cell affair that is not only stronger, but also 700 grams lighter. The rear sub-frame is also new and is now made out of lighter 2mm box section aluminium. It has a certain amount of flex engineered in to keep unwanted forces generated by the rider from being transmitted into the main frame, and is upswept for the more sporty looking tail section.

Also looking very similar, but receiving numerous internal changes, is the 43mm Kayaba cartridge fork. In an attempt to take as much unsprung weight out of the suspension for quicker steering and more precise handling, Triumph engineers made the internals from aluminium, which saved around a kilogram. The forks now use single-rate springs and remain fully adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping. Out back, the remote-reservoir rear shock has undergone some surgery in the shape of a complete re-valve. It retains its full adjustability also.

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