Triumph Daytona 675 set-up & gearing

[RoyHefner]

I'm setting up a Daytona 675 to race next season and am looking for any input from those of you who have experience with this bike.  My main concern at this point is suspension/geometry set-up, as I hear that the Daytona is particularly sensitive to this.

I will be replacing the stock rear shock and fork internals, and am thinking about using Penske and Race Tech components, respectively.  I have also read that many pro teams use either an adjustable-offset triple clamp and/or adjustable swingarm pivot to get the geometry into the proper range for racing.  Does anyone have experience with these?  Keep in mind that I will be a first year expert next season, having raced amateur lightweight this year.  I don't expect to be out there winning races, just want to get the bike to handle reasonably well on the track and focus on improving my riding skills.  I've had it out for a couple track days this year, and it's a bit of a handful right now, especially on rough tracks.

At this point, I'm not planning on doing much as far as engine mods, but I would like to know what kind of gearing works well for Midwest region tracks.  For those of you middleweight riders who don't ride Triumphs (i.e. almost everyone!), if you could tell me the kind of top speeds you're hitting on those tracks (especially BHF), I can do the math for the gearing.  Also, do you use all six gears at BHF?

I'd appreciate any advice that anyone cares to offer on setting up a Daytona.  Thanks!

[danch]

Hey, Roy.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. When reading this, bear in mind that I'm not the quickest guy out there (.18s at BHF) - I expect you'll have a slightly different experience once you get used to the bike.

Chassis-wise, the big thing is dropping the forks down the triple trees. I'm running the bottom of the caps at the top of the triple, a lot of people run them flush. If you don't do that it's tucky as hell. I've read Dave Moss' stuff about making inserts to get the swingarm angle right and all that, but I'm not noticing a big issue (doesn't spin up, doesn't push on the exit). For that matter, some of that is down to the tires you run, too. Running a 190 rear or switching to brands with different diameters could change things up a lot. I've never run anything but pirellis.

Replacing the shock and getting the forks revalved is a Good Thing - the stock Showa stuff is to stiff in high speed movement (or so I was told in '06 by Ed K.)

I run +2 in the rear most places. Other people do -1 front or other variations. I've run both stock and +2 at road america. +2 tops out on the straights, stock doesn't come off the bend quite as well.

[ldub143]

I ride an 06 zx6 im not the fastest guy either last year was my first i dropped my times into .17's. I was running one down in the front in terms of gearing and on the front straight i didnt use 6th gear. Never really paid attention to my top speed so i wont be to much help there. i wanna say right around 135mph but im  sure one of the more experienced guys could tell you exactly.

[RoyHefner]

Thanks for the input, guys.

The Daytona is coming along.  I had 4 and 6 Racing set up the geometry for me.  They installed offset steering head bearings to adjust the trail.  Previously, I had been running the forks with the caps about halfway down in the upper triple clamp.  Now, the top of the fork caps are about 4mm below the top of the upper triple.  That's using shorter top-out springs than stock, which make the forks about 4mm longer when fully extended.  Otherwise, they'd still be 8mm below the top of the triple.  I've re-sprung and re-valved the forks and I have a Penske triple-clicker in the back.

As for gearing, I'm thinking I'll try 15/48 for BHF.  That's pretty short, and will probably require all six gears, but I think I'll try it.  For Road America, I'm thinking 16/46.  I was running stock (16/47) up there at a track day a while back, and with the bike in street form, I was still getting right up against redline with a tail wind on the front straight.  Plus, the 675 runs out of steam as you get close to 14,000 rpm.  I've still got to think about what I'll use for Heartland.

Thanks again for the comments.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Other than top end tracks like Daytona and Road America where you need the gearing, I would gear your bike more for places you personally feel are better shifting spots around the track. You don't really have to worry so much about squeezing 6th all the way out at a track like Blackhawk if you don't need to, you may find not having to shift so much by using gearing that has you only using 5th on the straight will prove more beneficial to your lap times. As far as Heartland Park goes I would imagine your gearing won't be too different from Blackhawk. 

[honda60071]

nice little article in RRW about set ups for 675's just my 2bits, good luck. March issue.

[RoyHefner]

Yeah, I ran long gearing on my SV650 at Blackhawk last year to minimize shifting and found it to work a little better than gearing short and using 6th gear.  Maybe that's the way to go with the Daytona, as well, but I thought I'd give it a try with shorter gearing and see how I like it.  I do have a quick shifter and slipper clutch on the Daytona, neither of which I had on the SV, and I thought they'd somewhat minimize the penalty of the extra shifts, but I guess I'll just have to try it and see.

Also, just got the latest RRW in the mail.  I'll check out the Daytona 675 article.

[Chris G.]

Roy,

If it helps, contact ASRA pro Mike Himmelsbach at Penske suspension directly here in Reading, Pa.- it may help if you told him I sent you-for advice/setup, etc. since it's not sale related.

If Mike can take the 675 back in it's maiden year of 06, and finish the year behind Wood on the Arclight GSXR6....he may, just may....have some solid info for you and save you a lot of time and wasted money..and he works for Penske now.......yeahhhh.

[RoyHefner]

Thanks, Chris.

That's probably not a bad idea.  I did actually by my shock directly from Penske last fall, but I didn't talk to Mike at that time.  I did one track day last year with the shock installed, but I've made a few other suspension changes since then.

[Super Dave]

Roy, I'll agree with the Triumph chassis needing trail.  I've been on two.  Generally, we've always moved the forks so that the front end sat higher.  Those offset bearings should help with that.


The one we really worked the set up, and found that the dampening wasn't really right even with a rebuild.  So, back to Mike Himmelsbach at Penske...I think the early Penske's might not be as right as they could be.  Hard to say what yours is from, but it might be worth looking into.

Additionally, Penske is going to have some replacement cartridges that are about as expensive as Race Tech valves installed.  Scotty Ryan and Mike at Penske would be good resources for that.

[Fast4fun]

Ask Lil Thorny. He's the fastest guy in the midwest on a 675. Last time I spoke with him he had alot to say about the chassis setup. You and I have spoken before but I'm +2t in the rear and that works well for both BHF and HPT. I only get to fifth gear. I believe thorny was geared much more aggressively. Looking forward to seeing you out there.

[RoyHefner]

Dave, I remember talking with you about the Penske shock issue.  I asked them about that when I ordered the shock last October, and they said that they had gotten that sorted out.  I've only ridden the bike once with that shock, and that was before I revalved/resprung the forks and had the offset head bearings installed, so I still have a lot of sorting out to do.  I'm looking forward to getting her back out on the track.  I'm also curious to see what the Penske contingency is going to be, although I don't think that's going to be too much of a factor for me this season!

Tim, thanks for the info.  I'm looking forward to racing with you this season.  Will you be a HPT in April?  Does Lil Thorny race in CCS, or somewhere else? Is there anyone else running Triumphs in CCS this year?