So Dave's been hounding me to write a review of my '98 Daytona since I bought it. Truth is, I don't feel right about writing a review of this bike, since i don't think i really have anything to compare it to, or the knowledge/vocabulary necessary to convey my thoughts on this bike. So while this is a bit more rambling about my experiences with my T595, I hope you get something out of it along the lines of a review.
I'm a fairly new rider. I bought my T595 Daytona after a 6-month stint with an 81 Suzuki GS850GLT. Needless to say, these 2 bikes cannot be compared in any ways other than the fact that they both have 2 wheels, an engine, and a seat.
A local friend of mine, Brad (Ref: Yellowstone 2002) had been giving me grief about not having a sportbike... but my finances were minimal. "When are you just going to give in and get an sv650? You know you'd be so much happier". That's all I ever heard from him. And I must say even from the first time I saw an sv650, I was interested. But not having a great source of income left me with just the GS. Then, one day, I came into a good deal of cash. The responsible thing, I told myself, was to do something long term with it: pay off my student loans, 401K, etc. But then I looked back at the six months I had been riding my GS. I had done almost 10K miles in six months, made tons of new friends, seen amazing places, and generally had an amazing time. I had learned a lot about the way motors work from the constant service on that GS. It taught me countless things, both about the mechanics of bikes and the world in general. I decided that while it may not be the most responsible thing I could do, it was definitely the best way to spend this money: I was going to buy an sv650.
I called Brad to tell him he had won; I was buying an SV. Then he started to argue with me, telling me I didn't want an SV. I was utterly confused. He told me I wanted a Triumph Daytona. Now, this friend is a proficient rider with a couple of gorgeous bikes, and he really 
knows his stuff... so I let him explain. His friend had bought this bike to tool around town with his wife! Now this is definitely not a point A to point B type bike. Especially when you're over six feet tall and riding with your wife. He soon realized the same thing and put it on the market for something more comfortable.
I arrived at the owner's house and knocked. Brad was waiting inside and waved at me to go wait by the garage door. He hit the door opener, and I just stood there mouth agape. The bike was beautiful. It looked better than most bikes on dealer floors. I was pretty sure I wanted it right then, but when he started it, I knew for sure it had to be mine. I convinced the owner to wait a couple days to get my finances together.
I picked the bike up at a dealership where he had purchased and picked up his new Valkylrie. NO sooner was I on the bike, when Brad immediately dragged me up a severely twisty canyon with my new sportbike. I am pretty sure I never exceeded 30mph on that thing except on the highway. It frightened me to death. But as I rode I became more comfortable with the radically different riding position, throttle response, suspension, brakes and handling. To this day, every turn I take, every twist of the wrist, and every time I pull the brake lever, I fall more and more in love with this bike.
When I got it home, I realized that everything was just about perfect on this bike. I had been so used to wrenching on my dilapidated GS before and after every ride to keep it running, it kind of freaked me out to only have to wash it. I found myself staring at the bike trying to decide how to make it more mine . I decided the best course of action was just to cut the horrid factory fender down to something sportier. I got the dremel and some wrenches out, and went to work. About half way I was worried I had made a horrible mistake, but when I finished I couldn't have been happier. Dave really seemed to like it too. So much, he made me do it to his bike. (you'll soon notice he gets onboard with all my good ideas). [ read how he did this in the work shop ]
I can't tell you why this bike is the best ever made, but I can tell you why I love it so much. Everything seems just right. The suspension works very well (after beefing up the fork springs), it corners amazingly. The triple motor has a lot of low and mid range pull, and a predictable top end rush. The brakes work just as well as the engine to make sure I slow down in plenty of time. It has a very 
unique look, and the Single Sided Swing
Arm with my high mount can make the whole right side of the bike seem like something Akira would have ridden.
Being the newest CanyonChaser, I've gotten the chance to ride this thing hundreds of miles in a sitting. Again, I have nothing to compare it to, but I found it to be decently comfortable with my SkyKing clip-on risers and a new pair of handgrips. I wish it had hard bags and a rear box, but it did just fine with a duffle bag and some bungee cords.
I'm currently experimenting with turning my Daytona into an S3 conversion. After seeing a beautiful picture of a conversion in the UK, I fell in love with the slanty headlights under a pixie hat, as well as the lack of body work to expose my beautiful motor and frame.
Now while I couldn't imagine owning another bike, I have had some small setbacks with it; nothing to really make me want to get rid of it, but just enough to rip out a little hair. My biggest hurdle was with my electrical system. I blew a fuse installing an accessory relay for my tank bag power (GPS, cell phone, MP3 player). Suddenly I couldn't keep
my battery charged. I even went and bought a new battery! Turns out triumph decided that something marked "main fuse" wasn't really so main that the bike shouldn't start. The main fuse is responsible for, amongst other things, the charging system and I had been riding around without one. I was very worried about it being my rectifier/alternator, but it
turned out to be a 12-cent fuse. Whew.
I also had some problems with my rear cowl attaching to the bike, but Dave found a nice way to shim it with a few washers so it plays nice. Also, the seat bolts on, so it's a big pain to get to the battery. Once again, a little ingenuity solved this problem. I flipped the bolts over, installed them from the bottom, drilled a couple of holes and installed cotter pins on some mountain bike cable.
My headset has a tendency to loosen every 4-6000 miles, but this winter some blue lock-tight should take care of me. The air box is a huge pain to remove/replace, but you shouldn't have to do this very often. I hear rumors all over the Internet that the fuel fittings that attach to the tank have a tendency to crack, but I've been very careful with mine and have had no problems. I'll probably replace them with metal when I get some cash in my pocket. See, nothing too major.
As for future upgrades, the list is short but sweet. I plan on getting a hold of an aftermarket seat. I don't really have any problem with the OEM seat, but everyone just raves about their Corbin, so I have to have one too. It's currently being converted to S3. I'll see how things turn out, it may go back to Daytona or it may stay S3. I have a small wish list of accessories: Rear hugger, radar detector, some custom cutting for 
the front fender, a new spring for the rear shock, maybe some hard bags. I'm also toying with the idea of putting some turn signals into the stock mirrors, but that'll only happen if I turn it back to a Daytona.
I really, truly love my triumph Daytona. A test ride of an Aprilia Tuono proved that to me last spring. I can't imaging not having it, though I may eventually have to get something a little more sport-touring oriented to augment it *cough Goldwing cough*. I mean if you have to get something to tour on, why go halfway! :) But for the time being, it's great to run the canyons for 100 miles and it does me just fine sport touring. The only ingredient needed for utopian existence is to have a friend's taillight in front of me to follow through corner after corner. Though it does pretty darn well solo thru a canyon.
In May of 2007 the t595 Daytona came to an early demise with the number one cylinder found its way out of the motor. The bike had all of its maintenance done, but still catastrophically failed at 34k miles.
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