Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127376
By Alan Cathcart Photos by Phil Masters he lon g-awaited rebirt h of Britai n 's h istoric Trium p h marque, mas terminded and underwritten by mi llion aire busin essm an j ohn Bloor to the tu ne of over $50 m ill io n,' has fina lly met its mo ment of tru th , with the delivery of the firs t examples o f the six-model ra nge (launched at the Co logne Show last autumn ) taking place at the beginning of March in German y. Th is, together wi th the Brit ish hom e ma rket , will form the focu s of Triumph 's immediate attention as they seek to establish the bornagain marque as a serio us contender ,o n the world stage, before turning their attent io n at an unspecified date in due co urse to Spain, Fra nce, Ho lland and other key European mar kets. Onl y the n will Triumph cons ider launchin g th ei r range in o ther, further-flung ' cou ntries, 'especially incl udi ng their biggest traditional market of yesteryear , the U.S.A. Judgin g by my day's ' ride o n an exam p le of the firs t new T riu mp h model to come o n stream, the fourcylinder Trophy 1200 spons to urer, T riumph fans in those countries no t yet on the com pany's hi t list ha ve a treat in store, for which the wa iting will be well worthwhi le - so lo ng as it's not too long! I suppose it sho uldn 't co me as a surprise that the new bike is so good, give n the seven years spent on planni ng and executing its develop ment, the hu ge expenditure o n sta te o f th e an ' co m p u ter-co nt ro ll ed mach ine tool s, the lavish attention to q ua lity co n trol and the count less mil es of testing aimed at refini ng the basic produ ct a n d ens u ri n g re lia bili ty, whi ch ha ve go ne into producing the models now go ing o n sale - but even so, it 's hard for even the most dedi cated Union j ack-waver to accep t that the Briti sh motor cycle indus try is capa ble of producing a Iour-cyl inder, th oroughly mod ern motorcycle that is am ongst the best in th e world in its chosen category, and for its assured success will o we nothing to mi sty-eyed nostal gia freak s longing for a two wh eeled version of th e Morgan Plus T 8. 16 Instead. . since we're talking fourwh eeled metaphor s here, I'd compare the 1200Trophy to that British success story par excelle nce, the Ranger Rover, and with a pri ce tag of 6800-po u nds (ap p ro xi ma tely $ 11,900) in Britain including a cu mula tive 26.5%local tax conte nt , it occu p ies a similar sort of step o n the motorcycling price ladder. But any first few mil es o n the Trophy will reveal tha t th is is money well spent; the bike sim ply exudes quality - of manufacture, of rid e and especiaIIy of eng ine characteristics and perfo rma nce - yet at the same tim e in spi te of havin g the UjM transverse in-line four-cylinder form at , it al so exudes perso na lity. Whatever you may have heard, Triumph ha s not produced a Euro-c1one o f a mid-80s Kawa sak i, but a meaty , modern , multicylinder motorcycle that has a character and feel all its o wn . This could nev er be tak en for a silky-smoo th japanese sewing ma chine on two wheels, in sp ite of the gear-driven . co u ruerba la n ce r whi ch effectively eradicates vibration at all revs and rnakes .a 150-mile h ig h-speed hop about as tiring as a run up the road to the shops. Instead, the Triumph has that indefinable ingredient that cannot seemingly be designed-in without leading to quirkiness: individuality. It also has an extremely comfortable riding position for someone of my sixfoot stature, with the flat , relatively