Triumph Daytona

The Daytona has been with us pretty much since the new Triumph company started selling us bikes. This version of it, however, shares little beyond the name with the original. Constant updates have seen it evolve into something far more sporty than its rather touring-biased heritage.

Think sporty, think uncomfortable? Not with the Daytona. This isn’t going to be getting down and cutting hard with the likes of the new Honda FireBlade on a track day, but in the real world it’s going to be right there with it.

There’s big power that hits with a smooth, long-lasting shove rather than a punch, and the airbox growl around 8000revs will keep you coming back for more.

With a comfy riding position that’s sporty enough, but not too extreme, and a super-stable chassis, this bike can travel at three figure speeds for as long as you can on cross-country roads. It wouldn’t be best at home on tight, twisty lanes, though it’ll cope well enough. But get it on fast, sweeping A-roads and it’ll happily lead the rest of the pack for mile after mile. There’s a surety to the way it turns and holds its line that makes it feel utterly dependable.

And motorways? If you have to take them, then the Daytona will make them disappear in the mirrors as quickly as you want. Just a shame it can’t pay the speeding fines for you as well.

It feels like a real-world road bike as that’s exactly where it’s developed. Triumph goes large on putting serious pre-production road miles on it’s machines and the Daytona is no exception. Much of its development has been carried out on public roads and you appreciate that in the resulting smooth ride.

Triumph may want to have another look at security, though. We accidentally tried to start the Daytona with the key for the Speed Triple…and it did. Which is a bit worrying.