Triumph TT600 2000

You see it is well within living memory that Triumph - and the Brit bike industry as a whole - succumbed to the pressure of a Japanese industry which first copied, then surpassed, its product. Now the Hinckley mob seems bent on having at least a smidgen of revenge.

According to factory export bloke Ross Clifford, the firm plans to develop a "full range of motorcycles" and launch two major models per year for the foreseeable future. Which sounds like a declaration of war to me. Even if it is from a modest total production platform of 25,000 units per year.

The early T300 series of triples and fours were nice enough things - solid and reliable, though hardly cutting edge. Among them was an instant classic thanks to styling with attitude: the Speed Triple.

Move up to early 1999 and the local launch of the Sprint ST. This took on the likes of Honda's VFR750/800 series and, in my opinion, won.

Now we have the TT600, pitched at the peculiarly vicious market segment that encompasses serious sports kit such as CBR600, ZX-6R, GSX-R600, R6 and so-on. I won't declare it a winner, but will express some surprise that it's definitely in the hotrod melee and holding its own. A big effort for a first attempt.

WOT IS IT THEN?

The irony comes in when you look at the TT's spec sheets. There goes my entry on the Christmas card list, but it's a classic case of selling coal to Newcastle - or should that be selling rice to Tokyo? Yep, it's more or less like all the others in the class, thus backing up the theory that imitation is the highest form of praise. It seems like a few favours from decades past are now being returned ...

That's a roundabout way of saying that the TT specs read somewhere in the middle of the rest of the 600 supersport class. It has a liquid-cooled four-cylinder powerplant revving to 14 grand, six-speed box, weighing a claimed 170 kilos (dry) and with a claimed 110 horses at the crank. A spec sheet that would have won grands prix when the old Trumpet Meriden works was in full flight. There are some distinctive aspects to the Triumph design, such as a much-developed variation on the fuel injection fitted to the T955 sport flagship.

On the service front, the injection allows the workshop to diagnose most of the bike's engine ills with the aid of a hand-held workshop diagnostic tool, which will download updates to the electronic tuning 'map' in a few minutes for nix. You can also fit the works race can and download its tuning map in about 20 minutes. That last lot is worth a couple of horses, according to Clifford.

As for the chassis, there's a twin-spar alloy frame, conventional Kayaba suspension (with full preload, rebound and compression adjustment) at both ends. Then there's the front brakes, using the excellent four-piston calipers off the T955 working smaller diameter discs, and a minimalist single-caliper working the rear rotor.

Triumph reckons it put most of its performance development into the chassis, rather than the powerplant. The reasoning (in part) is that if you throw some extra money at the suspension and keeping the unsprung weight down to a minimum, it will be worth more in real terms than an extra few horses at the crank. We've been saying something similar (fix the chassis then the engine) to would-be hot-up merchants in AMT's Spannerman column for years and therefore can't argue with the logic.

ON-BOARD

Assorted media reptiles spent a couple of days galloping around some entertaining backroads in Victoria's Gippsland district, and around the Phillip Island GP circuit in the company of AMT columnist Steve Brouggy.

Stability and comfort are the general themes when it comes to road riding, despite encountering highways cleverly disguised as The Queen's Goat Tracks. I blame the state of the roads on John Howard - but that's another story. The TT is a very predictable and trustworthy thing - it knows when it's out and behaves accordingly. The only gripe is with the 250-like performance at anything under 4000rpm. Once you learn to keep the powerplant busy, you discover another 8000rpm-plus of "omigod-is-that-the-corner-already?" urge on tap.

The gearbox is by far Triumph's sweetest effort to date. Easy-shifting and very positive.

Stock suspension settings work very well on the road, while the steering is light, precise, and stable even through a mid-corner set of craters.

When we got to the track, the Triumph folk upped the rebound and compression settings at both ends, which seemed to work - though some tailoring for individual tastes and sizes (like XXL fat bastards such as your correspondent) would improve matters. Brouggy, who runs a couple of TTs for his Australian Superbike School, has pulled the forks on his toy up through the clamps by around 10mm to improve front-end grip in extreme use.

As a track animal, the TT is in the proverbial 44-gallon drum of acceptable performance. It is entirely predictable and very quick. The question of whether it is a few tenths of a sec quicker or slower around Phillip Island than its direct opposition will have to wait for a direct comparison.

ALL-UP

As an all-up proposition, the TT600 comes in as an impressive gadget. The ride position will suit medium to taller people best - shorter folk should plonk their butts in the saddle before making a decision.

It is possibly the most comfortable bike of the 600 supersports class (for the rider - we didn't try the pillion set-up), and gives every impression of being user-friendly.

Triumph has launched it with a big range of accessories, such as alternative mufflers (with suitable tuning ready to be downloaded), paddock stand, pillion grab rail (should be stock), pillion seat hump and ... (drumroll) ... customised soft luggage. It's a serious player in this market and a very impressive first attempt.

Specs

Engine type: in-line liquid-cooled four-cylinder four-stroke DOHC with 16 valves;
Displacement: 599cc;
Bore x stroke: 68 x 41.3mm;
Compression ratio: 12.5:1;
Max power: 110ps (82kW) at 12,750rpm;
Max torque: 68Nm at 11,000rpm;
Primary drive type: gear;
Clutch type: wet;
Clutch actuation: cable;
Gears: 6;
Final drive type: chain;
Lubrication: wet sump;
Oil capacity: 4.2 litres;
Fuel capacity: 18 litres;
Carburetion: sequential injection;
Frame type: twin-spar alloy;
Front/rear suspension type: Kayaba conventional fork/monoshock;
Front/rear suspension travel: 120mm;
Front/rear suspension adjustment: preload, compression, rebound;
Front brakes: twin four-piston calipers on 310mm discs;
Rear brake: single-piston caliper on 220mm disc;
Front/rear tyre sizes: 120/70-17, 180/55--17;
Frame type: twin-spar aluminium;
Wheelbase: 1395mm;
Seat height: 810mm;
Castor: 24 degrees;
Trail: 82mm;
Dry weight: 170kg.