Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

left who LIKES to hassle with a kick starter. The other problem, while we're on the problem subject, is the up.swept pipe. The machine is so beautiful for the street and road that it would be well if there were a street model with under-hung pipe. If one is to ride with the upswept pipe there needs to be a full length shield instead of the tmy grid that covers the muffler. (On the test model this grid has a very sharp corner that rips up the back of a boot and would do something awful to a hare leg.) The pipe which rests centimeters from the ankle is hot, very hot. This makes it almost a necessity to wear boots and ladies don't always want to wear boots. The bike can be started with ordinary shoes but the unshielded pipe makes dress a problem. I ride a motorcycle to lunch, or meetings or shopping and its looks pretty silly to go to such places dressed for an enduro. The shift pattern, like the other Triumphs is on the right, one down, three uP. Neutral is easy to find. The shift is quite clean and positive. All pegs fold UP. Both on the right side are very close to the starter and must be folded out of the way when starting. The light is adequate for night riding although I would like to see a headlight configuration which idenfifies a motorcycle and cannot be confused with a one-eyed car. There is no tachometer, which I miss very mUCh. Since the adven t of small machines, many more women ride than formerly. Consequently Dany i,eorle think of small By Barbara Adams Dahms If you think I am going to say that Triumph is only a "man's machine", guess again. Triumphs are great bikes and great bikes are great for women riders too. But even the "litUe" Triumph is a big machine. It has the dependability and handling of the big machines and the problems as well. The Trophy 250 is the new addition at the smaller end of the Triumph line. (The big one ts, of course, the new Trident 750 triple.) The Trophy follows In the tiretreads of the Tiger Cub 200 but there is a big difference. Its characteristics are much closer to the Bonneville. Only the cc' s and the single cylinder are obviously less. To the eye there is no size difference although specs list 3" shorter wheelbase and a hundred pounds less weight than the '68 Bonneville. Saddle height is the same and the fancy housing over the oil tank and tool kit makes ground reach yet longer. The Trophy 250 comes in a street-dirt configuration with upswept pipe (of which we will say more later.) Like all Triumphs it has a solid, comfortable feel in the dirt. But it is neat in the street and fast on the freeway. It is not as fast as the bigger ones but it is fast enough and it has good ride-out torque. It cruises at freeway speeds without tiring and although a single like the 250 cannot be quite as smooth as a twin or triple, it has little enough vibration to make a 150mile freeway ride comfortable. It bandles beautifully at slow speeds too. The test model will putt smoothly at under 5 mph and it NEVER dies.at idle. This goes a long way toward making up for the one real problem a Triumph has for the woman rider. No matter how many men say they're easy to start, there's an 8.5 compression in that cylinder and you're lucky if you can start it gracefully .most of the time. It's true there are a dozen good machines that are harder to start, but two dozen that are easier. Still, if you want to ride Triumph you can come to terms with the starter ••.and everything else about Triumph makes it worth while to do so. The test model always starts. sOmetimes on the first kick, sometimes on the twentieth. Before it could be started at all (by me) it required the modification - the addition of a big Bonneville-type side stand. There is no center stand stock on the model and the stock side-stand is prone to folding up unexpectedly. There is an answer to the starting problem, of course .•.an electric starter. Ann-Margret rides a Triumph twin. She had an electric starter added to hers. This is a complicated and expensive modification, but it is important to a woman. Whether it is strength or confidence that is lacking I don't know, but most men can start a motorcycle easier than most women. And even men are coming to appreciate the ease of electric starting. When the president of the Hell's Angels says of an electric starter, "It's so bandy!" you know that there's nobody The Little Red TriuDlph Only a man's machine? Barbara Dahms praves it ain't necessarily so. machines as the only cycles for a woman to ride. There is definitely a place for this kind of riding. However if one wants to tour or even ride considerable local distances one needs a big machine. The only direct way to get to many places in the U.S. and especially in California is by freeway. Besides the horsepower requirements in California and some other states, the small machines are not always equal to the demands of the freeways. Sustained high speeds are more than many smaller motors can take and the winds that a freeway sets up are a match for the stability of the biggest machines at times. In all of these things the Trophy 250 qualifies as a big bike. Its claimed brake horsepower is 22 at 8,250 rpm, well above the California freeway requirement of 15. It cruises at 65 to 70 mph indefinitely. (I'd like afifth gear but it isn't really necessary.) And while less stable than the Bonneville, it is adequate for strong winds • The Trophy 250 is a machine-and-ahalf for a 250. The big ones may go faster and longer and feel heavier but the 250 delivers what most women and many men want from a cycle and does it at a lot less cost. Listed at $695, it's just awfully hard to beat. And once you start it you will never want to stoP. It'sa funny thing about the little red Triumph, while you're kicking it and cursing it you think all kinds of abandoning thoughts, but as soon as it fires there's the whole world out there and you'd like to ride over every inch of it. Won't it be great when they ice the cake with an electric starter? TRIUMPH nard to get models ready for quid< dehvery SkiPFORDYCE ~see "'O'O_C'''I UN'I' Astride her little red Tri umph, Barbara watches hillclimbers at Bay Mare. 14th & MAIN, RIVERSIDE, CAL. t-. : a.. fI) ~ ~ r.:a ..:I U G

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