+ Click to Enlarge STING LIKE A BEE: And buzz like a 600 - which the Triumph TT is. Pix: DAVE ABRAHAMS

July 17, 2000
By Dave Abrahams

TEST DATE: July 2000

When one of the oldest names in Britain was resurrected in 1990 with a range of quirky mix-and-match triples and fours the products were regarded as a niche marque, albeit a worthy one.

When Triumph had the temerity to pitch its Sprint ST against the Honda VFR800, acknowledged as the world's best all-rounder, it gained significant credibility with mainstream bikers. Now the Leicestershire factory has really jumped in at the deep end by entering the most hotly contested class in motorcycling.

In most countries 600-class race replicas are best-selling sports bikes - in some places 600cc sports fours are THE best-selling motorcycles, period. There is 600 production-based racing all over the world and the pace of development in this segment of the market is intense. The public is being offered street-legal bikes that are lighter, more nimble and distinctly more powerful than the GP tackle of two decades ago as the top four manufacturers vie to produce the hottest 600 road-burners while knowing they will have to prove themselves on the track.

If you want to make the grade in 600s you're going to come up with a twin-cam 16-valve transverse four because that's what works. In that respect the Triumph TT600 is entirely conventional, although at 68x41.3mm it has the shortest stroke in the class and revs to a dizzy 14000 with its maximum power output of 82kW at 12500. To lessen the strain on the reciprocating parts the forged (not cast) pistons weigh in at an anorexic 145g each, run in Nikasil-plated bores and are cooled by jets of oil on their undersides.

All of which is fed by Sagem fuel injection. Having gained much real-world experience from four years of fuel-injected big triples, Triumph felt it could get the technology to work on the TT600, making this the first production 600 with spritzers.

The digital ignition is also from French electronics wizards Sagem, with the coils fashionably incorporated in the spark plug caps: a simple way to eliminate spark intensity losses while sensors all over the engine and exhaust constantly adjust changing conditions and loads. This is also the first Triumph with ram-air induction; once again, it's nearly impossible to build a competitive 600 without it. The two round pipes jutting out of the fairing (reminding me vaguely of a character from Star Wars) feed into a respectably large (8.5 litre) air box hunched over the bank of four throttle bodies. Triumph claims a boost of around 3kW over 200km/h.

The whole set-up is tuned for top end. Below 4000rpm it fluffs and woofles as if running a little rich; above that it will pull cleanly if lazily to around nine, at which point it comes on very strong indeed, pulling hard right up to the rev limiter somewhere above 14000. Provided you keep it spinning it matches anything in its class and is better than most, but the midrange is a little lacking when serious acceleration is called for.

In typical spritzer fashion the revs rise and fall very quickly. This ensures sparkling performance while the motor is in the power band but by the same token the motor all too easily falls out of that band to leave you jabbing at the gear lever while the slower but gruntier V-twins leave you behind.

The motor runs turbine-smooth throughout its rev range, except for a slight high-frequency tingle between 6000 and 8000 that, predictably, falls in the 120-140km/h band in top gear. The fuel-injection system has one odd quirk: it runs a little rich on overrun instead of shutting off the fuel supply altogether as does the Bosch version. This causes a little mild popping and banging in the pipe under engine braking, not dangerous to bike or rider but it's very disconcerting the first time you hear it.

The multiplate wet clutch is light and very smooth, takes up without the slightest juddering or grabbing, but is a little vague in feel. It isn't easy to tell exactly where the take-up point is and a couple of times I found myself with either too much or too little clutch slip dialled in, which is embarrassing. The six-speed gearbox is very positive - you can feel exactly what's happening and the first-second change is a little vocal at low revs but up at the business end of the tacho the changes are as crisp - with or without the clutch, either direction.

Mid-range, we found it advisable to use the left hand when changing ratios as the throttle is as typically oversensitive as most spritzer systems. The gear lever, unusually for a bike with sports ergonomics, faces rearwards directly off the end of the shiftshaft without any intermediate links or levers. With no joints to work loose, it will remain crisp and positive for the life of the motorcycle.

The drive line is commendably taut, aside from a little lash in the clutch hub. I was able to ride the TT600 down to less than 2000rpm, with a light hand on the twistgrip, in third gear in traffic without complaints from either motor or transmission. However, when acceleration was demanded, all I got was rude noises.

Like the engine, the all-alloy perimeter frame is par for the course - in fact it looks very like the original Honda Fireblades - not a bad thing. The Blade has a very sturdy chassis. In the TT's case, it's been powder-coated in a textured black to remove the need for labour-intensive fettling and polishing and to fit in with the overall black and yellow colour scheme. The cast steering head and engine plates look pretty chunky but the castings have deep hollows on their insides and the extruded beams have interior walls to make them stiffer without adding unnecessary mass.

Light weight is as crucial as engine power in the 600 stakes. This frame scales just 12.6kg, including the detachable square-tubing rear subframe. The swing-arm is also made of extruded alloy, like everything else in the class. It's worth noting that not one of the 600cc race replicas has a single-sided swing-arm; they are actually heavier, despite what the Ducatisti will tell you.

The 43mm Kayaba upside-downies have also come in for the weight-watcher's treatment, getting alloy dampers and valving, while sporting adjustments for compression, rebound, and preload. They work straight out of the box. We took delivery of the TT600 with everything set to the factory's "median" standards and left it like that for the duration of our time with the bike, including a memorable 340km blast over some of our favourite twisties.

This included the infamous Bain's Kloof, a long, narrow, twisty, bumpy mountain pass some 100km north of Cape Town. I found myself pedalling the gear lever like I was on a bicycle, looking for drive on the slow corners, but the baby Triumph went exactly where I pointed it all the time. The bike can be flicked from side to side on the brakes without losing composure and turns in like a hound after a fox. The bike won't even shake its head on upshifts unless the front wheel is actually off the deck - which isn't difficult.

The rear monoshock is from the same maker and at first felt a little bumpy on the baseline settings. Once out of the traffic and on the open road, however, it's stiff enough to keep more than 75kW firmly under control without imprinting every wrinkle in the tarmac on your coccyx. It can be tuned for damping in both directions but the owner's manual pointedly insists that any preload adjustment must be done by the dealer, which surprised me as that's normally the simplest to set.

There's no steering damper and one is not needed, which is to the bike's credit - somehow I feel that it's an admission of failure on a street bike. That said, the steering is very light indeed at traffic speeds and the bike occasionally feels a little nervous weaving through the rush-hour - hardly its preferred habitat, I would say, but the TT handled it well.

The four-pot brakes, supplied by Nissin despite their loud Triumph logos, were a revelation and well up to the best of the European tackle. Two fingers are enough to make the front tyre complain but with all the feel and feedback you could wish for. They refused to fade, even when abused down the back end of Bain's, and lend not a little to the overall feeling of confidence I felt in the front end. Even the rear brake is more usable than the norm for this class of bike and I was quite at ease riding the Triumph on streaming wet roads, which says a lot for a pure sports machine.

The bike's seating is a little odd. The alloy clip-ons are above the upper triple clamp, somewhat higher than the forward-leaning posture favoured by the genre. The saddle, at 810mm, is by no means the highest in the class but it feels tall, particularly when paddling the bike around in car parks, partly because it's wide and well-padded by 600cc standards. This allows the neat little rubber-faced footpegs to be placed well above the axis line (the line drawn between the two axles), endowing the TT with impressive ground clearance without cramping the rider's legs even on long runs. Although it's very short-coupled indeed, with a wheelbase of just 1395mm, and you sit on, not in, the Triumph. It shares with Kawasaki's ZX6R the honours for most comfortable 600 sports bike.

The bike's styling is perhaps its weakest feature. It's not ugly but the straightforward yellow over black colour scheme is very plain in a class that sparkles with superbly crafted graphics. Although commendably narrow across the flanks the TT looks a little blobby and the fairing's corners are poorly defined. All the ancillaries are devoid of styling detail - the upper triple clamp, for instance, is so plain that if it weren't powder-coated black it would look unfinished. Earlier Triumphs were even plainer but in general their crisp lines have saved them from blandness. I'd like to see this bike with a more adventurous, perhaps metallic, paint job.

Nevertheless, fit and finish throughout are well up to industry standards and build quality, as always with Hinckley products, superlative. A huge amount of thought has gone into the detail engineering, if not into the styling: the wheels are hollow spun-cast items, polished for lightness, the cockpit frame is alloy - the first I've seen other than on a Ducati - and the headlamp lens is polycarbonate rather than glass.

Even the fascia came under the scrutiny of the Weight Police - all you get is a little plastic housing with a small white-faced rev-counter, four idiot lights and a digital speedo - Triumph reckons it's nearly a kilogram lighter than a pair of conventional clocks.

All of which adds up to a hefty-looking bike that is actually the second lightest 600 on the road. At 170kg dry, it's just a half-brick heavier than Yamaha's R6, which is noticeably smaller and not nearly so comfortable.

The TT600 has given Triumph entry to the most competitive class in motorcycling - and what an entry! Best of all is the chassis; despite the high-up sitting position, it handles better than everything bar the R6 (and it has a better front end), it has by far the best brakes, it's as roomy as the Kawasaki and it does everything better than the Honda. To put that into perspective, bear in mind that Honda has been producing the CBR600 in various editions for longer than the Hinckley factory has existed.

What a pity, then, that the one feature that makes the Trumpet stand out from the crowd should turn out to be its Achilles' heel. The Sagem fuel injection is great at the top end, but less than perfect mid-range and a little woolly under four. Were it not for that, the TT would be the class of the class; as it is, it's a strong contender. It also competes successfully on price: at R70188 it's pitched between the R64969 Suzuki and the Honda at R71819. Thanks to Johann van Blerck of Le Cap Motorcycles in Cape Town for the test bike.

SPECIFICATIONS

Motor: Liquid-cooled four-stroke transverse four.
Capacity: 599cc.
Bore x stroke: 68 x 41.3mm.
Valvegear: DOHC with four overhead valves per cylinder.
Compression ratio: 12:1.
Power: 82kW @ 12750rpm.
Torque: 63Nm @ 11000rpm.
Induction: Sagem electronic fuel injection.
Ignition: Sagem digital electronic.
Starting: Electric.
Clutch: Cable-operated wet multi-plate clutch.
Transmission: Six-speed with final drive by 525 chain.
Suspension: 43mm upside-down cartridge forks adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping at front, Kayaba monoshock, adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping at rear.
Brakes: Twin 310mm discs with four-pot Nissin opposed piston callipers at front, 220mm disc with twin-pot opposed-piston Nissin calliper at rear.
Tyres: Front: 120/70-ZR17 tubeless. Rear: 180/55-ZR17 tubeless.
Wheelbase: 1395mm.
Seat height: 810mm.
Dry weight: 170kg.
Fuel capacity: 18 litres.