Triumph Daytona 955i CE (Centennial Edition)

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I recently got back from a England - France - Spain bike trip with 7 other Triumph riders and *shock-horror* I really found myself looking the new Sprint ST - I rode Brin's and it really is the doggies bollocks.

So, I know my 2002 CE is Slicker, Sexier and Silver but I am seriously considering exchanging it for a sports tourer? Am I mad? Convince me that I shouldn't sell the Daytona CE and buy a pipe-smoking slipper and cardy wearing Sprint... Please? Otherwise I'm going to waste hours trawling through EBay ads...

Do I wait until next year? Do I even want to sell it? decisions.. decisions...

At first glance this may look like any other Triumph Daytona 955i CE... but look a little closer and the differences quickly stand out:

It's not Aston Green it's Factory Silver!

Single Sided rear Swing arm

Carbon Fibre Panel in fills

Fatter (190) section rear tyre

Colour matched rear seat hump

Slightly sharper Rake 22.8 degrees and 81mm of trail

Slightly longer wheelbase at 1426mm

Additional 3Kg of weight (because of strengthened SSSA)

and of course the Centenary Edition badge on the fuel tank.

The Daytona 955i CE is simply the best bike I have owned to date. My previous bike was a Kawasaki ZX9R, in comparison the Daytona is a completely different beast to ride. It's all about the small subtle changes... it turns in quicker and seems to dip deeper in corners, the brakes are excellent in comparison and the engine noise is... well... incredible! The air box is positioned under the tank and as the revs increase the noise of the engine takes on a kind of howl as the air is sucked in and processed. Simply awesome. It adds to the whole riding experience.

It seemed a shame to cover up that gorgeous swing arm with the standard Triumph Can, so I installed the Wolf Under seat exhaust system. It was the easiest way of shedding a few kilo's of ugly weight (short of giving up beer and late night curries in favour of a strict cabbage soup diet). The other obvious side effects are improved performance especially once I had loaded the 'triumph race tune' to the bikes engine management computer and brilliant sounds from the new twin titanium end cans. A short video of the bike at tick over can be seen here

Only when you lay on the power do you really start to appreciate the Daytona. The digital fuel injection is smooth and delivers steadily increasing power while the engine, exhaust and air box fill in the all the necessary audio components that make every biker grin.

OK - it isn't as frantic and hard accelerating as some bikes that I've ridden. Instead it delivers a completely useable power range. The front end gets a little light under heavy acceleration, but never enough to worry me. Maybe it needs a steering damper? More likely, it needs the suspension setting more to suit my size/weight. I always get the feeling that I am more in control of the bike than the bike being in control of me.