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
Tickets At Participating Yamaha Dealers
degree head a ng le a nd 105m m trail,
co u pled with 1490m m whe elbase, the
Triumph is no RC30 in the tight stuff,
but then wh y shou ld it be? This is a
motorcycle for real-world riding, not
making lik e Wayne, Eddie or Kevin,
a nd th e Trophy's plent y nimbl e
enoug h for town work or twi sting
co u ntr y lan es , with out o ffe r i ng
twitchy racer-rep lica handlin g.
But on e area where it co uld do with
some race-proven technol ogy is definitel y also the on e seri ou s cri ticism I
have a bo u t th e bik e: th e br akes .
Frankly. ithes e ar en 't up to the job of
sto pp ing an BOO-p ound load o nce
yo u' ve add ed necessary fluids a nd a
rider, let alone a 1000-pound-p lus on e
with a passenger and the luggage
which the well-sited clip-on points
permi t you to carry: fitted lu ggage will
be a lat er option. On a bi ke which had
less than 5000 mi les under its wheels,
onl y 1000-odd since being servi ced at
the factory , and had not been to a race
trac k since then (if ever ), the brakes
performed poorly, lacking in itial bite
a nd uttering the odd squeal if really
leaned on for. extra panic sto pp ing
power of the 'Sorry, I never saw you'
type. Also bel ieved to be so urced in
j apa n (Nissin?), the four-piston calipers looked to be undersized in terms
of bra kin g surface a rea, whi le the
296mm d iscs wo uld perhaps benefit
from a change in materia l specification
to something offering more immediate
response under all co nditio ns. Ha te to
say it, bu t if AP-Lo ckh eedj ust 30 m iles
down the road from th e T rium p h
factory can't meet the o ther tha n ks to
their chronic and notorious supply
difficulty, I know a place in Ita ly where
they make pretty good bra kes these
days which also look sma rt and work
well , , . It 's a shame, because the lack
of sensitivi ty brake-wise really impacts
on your overall pl easure of riding the
Triumph - but not by much!
Because the pleasure is there awai ting you every tim e you th row a leg
over this vastly impressive mot orcycle,
whi ch will surely have BMW 's management in particul ar extreme ly concerned for the future viability of their
three- and four-cylinder model line also in th e German home market they
have traditionall y rega rded as their
own. But even with onl y 4000
machines scheduled for producti on
this year in the Hinckl ey factory as it
starts to gear up to its eventual 15,000
per ann um manufacturing level, Triumph still has th e ab ility to make
inroads in to the japanese makes '
market share wi th a motorcycle as good
and as competi tively priced as th is,
john Bloor has alway s dism issed the
notion that he might be aiming to
stack Triumph up aga ins t th e Big
Four, bu t on the basi s of the 1200
Trophy, tha t' s certa in ly what he's
going to find himself doing in his
chose n market sector s, whether he lik es
it or not. The fam ou s Big D Trium p h
logo of the ti ny bu t brave Tri um p h
mouse flashing a defiant fin ger at th e
huge Yam azuki-Kaw ah onda vult ure
hovering gr eedil y over i t is abo u t to
achieve reality, how ever much th e
born-again Triumph co mpany ma y
downplay such a co nfrontation. If th e
ini tial promise of th is su perb motorcycle is upheld in lon g-term lise, a nd
japanese-sty le re liability ca n be
obtained to match th e u n do u bted
appeal of the 1200 Trop hy a nd its
sisters, then not only have we witnessed
the Lazarus-like rebirth of o ne of the
most famo us marques in mot or cycle
h istory, we've a lso seen a new player
join the two -wh eeled card game at the
highest level, a new seventh force in
world manufacture. And for john
Bloo r, though he'd be the first to deny
it, that's a personal triumph.
OJ
YAMAHA
Laguna Seca USGP.
April 19·20·21, 1991
A
J((lJ YAMAHA
J
00
~w....~"
Ticket Price:
$30.00 SUNDAY General Admission
$40.00 SATURDAY. SUNDAY General Adm ission
$50.00 FRIDAY. SATURDAY. SUNDAY General Admission
Includ es Special Edition Hat And Special Parking Privlegesl
See Participating Dealer for Details.
For Tickets Call or Visit one of these Participating YAMAHA Dealers.
Cucamonga
Yamaha 01 CUc:amonao
Cucamonaa. CA 91730
714-987·2411
AIIIZONA
Mesa
Valley MoIorcyde&
Me5a. AZ 85201
602-962-4406
EJ Centre
c:.w~
=
ALJbum
~IVal~~l:enIo<
~1~:if?a
~ 95603
Escond