Triumph has confirmed it will indeed be resurrecting the Daytona name for a razor-sharp new sportsbike based on the 765cc engine now used to power the entire Moto2 class. The British company will be pulling out all the stops, calling it "the closest you can get to a genuine Moto2 factory ride for the road."
Ever since Triumph took over from Honda as the sole engine supplier for Moto2 back in 2017 – and canned its Daytona 675 supersport bike in 2018 – it has seemed obvious that a new Daytona was on the way. Why win on Sunday if you can't sell on Monday, after all, with the 765cc three-cylinder engine only seeing road-going action in a nakedbike form as the new Street Triple?
And now, the company has confirmed that a Daytona 765 is indeed on the way, tricked up to the eyeballs and presumably targeted squarely at track junkies. Details are scant, we'll know more in a month, but it will rock "the highest ever Daytona power and torque," beating out not only the 675, but the old 955i triples as well. It'll also use the "championship-winning Daytona chassis" – not the Kalex frame that has dominated Moto2, then, but the 675 chassis that won four British Supersport championships between 2008 and 2015. Something more like the Moto2 development prototype below.
Triumph will be pulling the covers off the Daytona Moto2 765 Limited Edition at the Silverstone MotoGP round on the 23rd of August. And yes, it's a very limited edition: only 765 are planned, with pricing TBA.
Will there be a cheaper, lower-spec version for the masses? Maybe, but don't be surprised if it doesn't happen. The motorcycle industry in general is struggling, and the supersport segment in particular has been on life-support for years. With advanced rider aids and the ability to select chilled-out throttle maps making the full-fat literbikes more practical and approachable than ever, 600s have been a hard sell to road riders. And while several players still have middleweight irons in the fire, and the segment is beloved by track junkies, it simply might not make sense for Triumph to mass produce a standard Daytona 765, even if the brand is sorely lacking a racetrack flagship to take advantage of its Moto2 engine sponsorship.
It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Source: Triumph