I suggest taking a look at the Daytona 1200. It is a big and heavy bike that is great in sweepers and straights, wonderful acceletation (stronger than the 675), but can be a handful in tight curves. Still, once I put Race Tech forks and Gold Seals on the front end and a Hagon shock on the rear, the handling improved considerably. Then a simple Dynajet kit, K&N filter and debafflement of the stock mufflers likely gave me another 15hp to the stock 147hp. I'm 6'4 1/2 and the D12 is a very comfortable fit for me. The build quality is excellent and the engine is very strong - does like gas however. Finally, there are good quality machines on the market that have been well taken care of. The owners tend to be older than the rice rocket kids and hense the bikes are given more responsible care. I bought mine three years ago with only 828 miles on it - just barely broken in! Now I'm a little over 4,000 miles. Finally, if you like an exclusive bike that you will not see on every block, and still gets stares of appreciation, then the D12 is for you.
The "99 Special Edition have the 6 pot brakes, but these can be put on any of the earlier years.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is to sure you like what you are buying and expect to keep it for a while. I say that because they can be difficult to sell. I think it is because most of the kids ride one of the Big Four Japanese brands and kids buy what their friends have. Kids really are not independent thinkers in that regard. So this affects the market for the Triumph.
If you want to check out a possibility, there was a clean '96 D12 for sale with 11,830 miles (not much on this engine) on Ebay two weeks ago. It did not sell, but you can still view the ad and photos by going to the web site and entering in the following Item #: 200216960578. I'm sure the owner would still like to sell and your negotiating position is good after a failed auction.
Good luck in finding a Triumph for you
