Gentleman’s Express: 1998 Triumph Daytona 1200 SE for Sale

1998 Triumph Daytona 1200 SE
Miles: 54,299
Second Owner
Clean Title
Bid at post: $2,125 Reserve Not Met
Auction ends: March 22nd, 2024

When real estate baron John Bloor attempted to revitalize the moribund Triumph in the 1990s, he faced an uphill battle. The company’s bikes had been hopelessly out of date when the company folded, and they needed to start from scratch and design a whole new range on a limited budget. The solution was to build bikes around a common spine frame and a pair of engines, a triple and an inline four, to create a range of sportbikes, cruisers, tourers, and retros. The Daytona 1200 SE represents a reborn Triumph’s stab at creating a sportbike to rival the fastest two-wheeled machines from Japan like the Suzuki GSX-R1100 and the Kawasaki ZX-11. But it sacrificed top speed for midrange acceleration and offered more comfortable ergonomics, along with better build quality. It was powered by an 1180cc inline four with twin balance shafts that produced 147hp and was capable of a 160mph top speed. Kayaba suspension kept things under control, while six-piston brakes provided awesome stopping power for the time.

By the early 1990s, Japan had locked up two critical vehicle markets, small cars and fast production motorcycles in North America. It was imported from the UK in 2022 and is now on a clean and clear Missouri title.

British motorcycle firm Triumph was determined to change that with the Daytona 1200 SE, the company’s fastest and most powerful bike by 1993. They took the Trophy 1200’s water-cooled, 16-valve engine and applied it to the new bike. Five years later, the company decided to celebrate its success in this market with the Dayton and made 250 examples.

This is the 248th such bike out of that run and is believed to be the only Triumph SE in the United States. Made in Hinckley, England, this bike’s black paint and gold trim are in overall very good order. The bodywork is straight and solid. This bike has had only one previous owner.

The Daytona range uses a modular liquid-cooled double overhead camshaft (DOHC) engine design in a steel frame with a large-diameter backbone design.

This bike has dual horns and it rolls on Michelin radials, size 120/70ZR17 on both wheels with cross-drilled rotors. It has a 6.6-gallon fuel tank, rides a 59-inch wheelbase and a dry weight of 470 pounds.

Powering this bike is a 1.2L, water-cooled, 16-valve four-cylinder engine with dual exhausts. Backing the motor is a six-speed manual transmission.

The bike seats two people, has a curved windshield, dual handgrips and key start. If you’re looking for a rare European motorcycle that’s not a BMW, you should check out this Triumph two-wheeler. Stop by MotoeXotica Classic Cars today and try this Triumph for yourself!

This motorcycle is currently located at our facility in St. Louis, Missouri. Current mileage on the odometer shows 54,299 miles. It is sold as is, where is, on a clean and clear, mileage exempt title.

With 54,299 miles on it, this obviously isn’t a low-mileage example, the paint needs a bit of work, and there’s the corrosion and surface rust you might expect on a nearly 30 year old motorcycle. But it looks very complete and is certainly rare here in the US. The Daytona 1200 is more of a GT bike than an out-and-out sportbike; it’s not nimble but it is very fast and relatively comfortable, embodying Jaguar’s “grace, space, pace” mantra, only with two wheels. Recent examples featured on our site with lower mileage and in better condition were being offered in the $5,000-$6,000 range. Bidding on this one is up to a bit north of $2,000 with about a week left on the auction.

-tad