A short history lesson on... Triumph Daytona

To be honest with all of you, I was fairly surprised about the amount of different bikes of the Daytona Series. Although i am aware that there were Daytonas produced before 1990 under the company "Triumph Engineering Co Ltd" -Triumph as we now know it is named "Triumph Motorcycles Limited"- yet I won't include those before 1990.

Due to the Daytona 675 only having 2 predecessor, I decided to give a general overview of the complete Daytona Series (aside from the 2 Daytonas pre 1990).

But lets get right into it! There will be some fairly interesting Models, that you might not have heard of.

Triumph Daytona 750

Let's start the list off with a rather rare bike, the Daytona 750. It was only produced from 1990 to 1992 and there were also only 240 Units sold, making it a very rare and collectable bike.

Originally aimed at the super sport market, the Daytona 750 ended up being rather a sports tourer than a sportbike.

Powered was this rare, early Daytona by a liquid cooled, short crank 748cc triple cylinder with a carburator for each cylinder, ending up producing 84 Horsepower at the rear wheel. The same engine ended up being used in the Trident 750!

Triumph Daytona 1000

Being the 1000cc big sister of the Daytona 750, the Daytona 1000 was also produced from 1990 up to 1992, other sources stating it was produced from 1991 to 1992. Just like the Daytona 750, the Daytona 1000 is quite a rare sight by now, making it important for collectors.

Powered was this 120 Horsepower Motorcycle by a 998cc 4 Cylinder, liquid cooled, short crank Engine, which was built to be absolutely bulletbroof. This meant that there was no oil leaking or anything. Of course no bike is perfect, meaning that the sprag clutch enjoyed giving you quite a handful of work.

Triumph Daytona 900

This little sport bike was produced from 1992 up to 1997, oder sources stating a different time from 1993 to 1996. It never really challenged the sport bikes of the day back then, due to simply being way too heavy and being too high, along with a high center of gravity. What used to be a sport bike is now a nice sport tourer with a bulletproof engine and power just where you need it.

Powered was this bike by the same engine as the Daytona 750, the only difference being that it had a longer crank, making it a 885cc liquid cooled engine that produced almost 100 Horsepower.

It never was made for easy riding, it was made to be ridden and not to glide along, challenging and rewarding for the experienced rider. Grab a bag, put in some clothes and go on a ride and enjoy your day. The only thing it dislikes are hot towns and cold starts where a lot of power is used instantly. Let it warm and your patience will be rewarded.

Triumph Daytona 900 Super 3

The Triumph Daytona 900 Super 3 was a special version of the Daytona 900. It was produced from 1994 to 1996 and had a modified Cosworth engine that produced claimed 115 Horsepower.

Dispite the desperate try of Triumph trying to eradicate the problems of the Daytona 900, the Super 3 was simply way too expensive for many riders, even if it was seginificantly better than the regular Daytona 900. Due to the high price, there were less than a 1000 sold Super 3, which are still getting sold at a fairly reasonable price on the used market.

Triumph Daytona 1200

Released in 1992, the Daytona 1200 was the best british Musclebike you could possibly get at the time. Even if the production ended in 1997, Triumph released a special version, consisting of 250 units, named the Daytona 1200s, featuring the 6 pot brake caliber if the Super 3.

The Daytona 1200 featured a modified version of the engine of the Trophy 1200. It was a 1180cc engine that produced 149 Horsepower and 84 ft-lbs of torque.

Triumph Daytona T595

The Triumph Daytona T595 was the first proper sportbike produced by Triumph and introduced in 1997.

It had a 955cc 3 Cylinder engine that produced 128 Horsepower at the rear wheel at 10,500 RPM. Interesting about this engine was, that it was produced in part by Lotus.

Eventually already a year later in 1999, the Triumph Daytona T595 was replaced by a different motorcycle, which was yet the same.

Triumph Daytona 955i

In 1999, Triumph made some updates to the old Daytona T595 and renamed it to Daytona 955i. The name was changed because many people thought that the T595 had a 595cc engine and not a 955cc one.

In 2001, there was a big rework of the Daytona 955i, including a new bodywork design by Gareth Davies along with a power increase up to 149 Horsepower due to an upgrade of the internal components. Other changes were that with 2001, the Daytona 955i got a double sided swing arm (DSSA), in opposition to the single sided one of the previous daytonas, later on the Daytona 955i did get a single sided swing arm again. Other changes was the addition of the more compact and more advanced MC1000 electronic engine management system.

Triumph Daytona 955i with DSSA

In 2002 there was both a Centennial Edition (CE) and a Special Edition (SE), which were both produced as limited editions.

Triumph Daytona 955i CE

The most noteworth differences between the non-CE version of the Daytona 955i CE were:

-One colour option of Aston (British Racing) Green, which was offered only on the 2002 955i Centennial Edition.

-Carbon fibre infill panels between the fuel tank and tail fairing.

-Carbon fibre infill panels between the fuel tank and front fairing.

-Single-sided swing arm (like the previous and later Daytona 955i).

The SE version on the other hand was the same as the CE version, the only difference being that the SE version had red bodywork and no continental stickers.

After that there were only minor body work changes like the deletion of the Union Jack in 2004 and a new headlamp in 2006 until the production eventually ended in 2006.

Triumph Daytona 600

This motorcycle can be easily confused and i know for a fact, that if you look it you, you will find an older one fron the 80s. Why is that? There was an old Daytona 600 back in 1983 which was still produced under the old Triumph company. The one we will talk about now it the Sportbike produced by the new Triumph company from 2002 to 2004.

The new Daytona 600 had a 599cc 4 Cylinder inline engine that produced about 110 Horsepower at 12,700 RPM.

With the beginning of 2005, the Daytona 600 recieved a successor.

Triumph Daytona 650

In 2005, and only for 2005, the Daytona 650 was produced. It basically had an upgraded Daytona 600 engine, where the bore was increased to 646cc and the power increased to 114 Horsepower.

In 2006, the Daytona 650 was replaced by the 3 Cylinder Daytona 675.

Triumph Daytona 675

In 2006, Triumph released the Daytona 675, which was the smallest of all Triumph Triples. It proved very quickly to be very competetive in the 600cc class with other japanese sport bikes, due to being light, nimble and powerful. Eventually in 2016 the production stopped, yet the R model being produced a year longer from 2011 to 2017.

The regular Daytona 675 (last model) and the R Model weighed 184 Kilograms wet and had a power output of 128 Horsepower.

Lately there have been rumors about a new sport bike by Triumph, featuring the new 765cc engine.