If you can't appreciate the Daytona for its looks or high tech design, you'll be won over once you ride the bike. Great big gobs of steaming power all the way from low revs to the top. It goes, it steers, it acts just like a real live sportbike should -- no excuses. Everytime I get back on one of these things I am quickly reminded of how much I like this bike. It is absolutely one of my top five favorite bikes, period.

The Daytona's efi operates without fault or glitch providing instant response at every rpm and it responds immediately to every change in throttle position. For '98 the Daytona's efi mapping was altered in addition to a change in the bike's cam timing. Both of these changes make the bike even stronger in the low revs than it was in '97. But if you have a '97 Daytona don't despair. Just stop by your dealer and have it remapped. That's another one of the joys of Triumph's fuel injection system.

The Daytona's handling is as spot on as its injection system. It takes about 2 seconds to adjust to this bike and from there on it's all joy. Maybe it is a little long by today's standards but if you're not in contention for a national championship you'll never complain about it. And don't get me wrong, it's a little long by today's standards but it's short for yesterday's. The T595 steers as quickly as most everything in its class and it's not truck-like or heavy in its handling in the least. It's confidence inspiring, comfortable, and different. A couple editors I've heard mention they didn't really like the clip-on position but I puzzled over why. For me, everything fit just right.

This bike's brakes are spot-on too, which might be due to the fact that Triumph is one of a very few number of manufacturers that uses steel braided brake lines on its production bikes. The calipers are only four piston units but the grip and feel is at the very top. Some of the reason could also be attributed to the rotor material. There are many different kinds of iron.

Common looking four piston calipers provide uncommon braking. Maybe those braided brake lines help.

The Daytona is about as good as it gets. Sure it comes up short in acceleration against the open class machines available today, but since this bike is only a 900cc triple that comparison isn't fair. Additionally, when I've ridden the Daytona on the same day that I rode the biggest and the best, I've never been let down by this bike. The Daytona doesn't have the blinding, big punch of those motorcycles but it does everything overall so well it can hold its head up high in that tough company. And one thing the Daytona has over most of those bikes is character, which is easily the toughest feature to engineer into a motorcycle. Additionally, as we near the Triumph Daytona's third year of production there are now all sorts of aftermarket parts available to hone its character that much more.

Peter Jones