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/127718
1995 Triumph Trophy 4 By Kit Pa lmer Photos by Randy Ph illips -----'--tha t a Trium ph?" I heard the words but cou ld n't see wh e re they w e re co mi ng from after having jus t rolled up to a sto p in my d riveway. "That do esn 't look like a Triumph." Ilooked aro und and sa w my neigh bor peering at me th ro ugh the bushes that se pa rate m y driv e w a y fro m h is front porch. Now this struck me as kind of od d becau se, while I've s poke n to h im often, h e has n ev e r b e fo re ex pressed m u ch interest in any of the motor cycles he has see n me ride nearly every day. One time he did mention that he used to ride motorcycles a long time ago, but that was abo ut it. Since we've bee n neighbors, I've ridden home from work on a wide variety of street machines and not once had he struck up a conversation over anyone them, until, th at is, I rode up on the new Triumph Trophy 4. This bike caught his attention. "I used to have a Triumph," he said. "But that doesn't look like any Triumph I've seen before. I though t they q uit maki ng them." I explai ned to m y 40-year-old-pl us n eighbor th at Triu m p h resumed p rodu cti on five yea rs ago and this is the fi r s t yea r si nce th en th at T ri u m ph mo torcycles have been im po rte d to the "IS u.s. - " Loo ks lik e one of th ose Japan ese bikes," he said seeming ly disappointed . I had to agr ee. He we nt on and on abou t his old Triumph - how it leaked oil, had electrical problems and vib rated like blender full of rocks, but he loved the thing anyway. I didn't mind listening to him as he told me all abo u t Triu m ph mot orcycl es. In fact, it was fun just seei ng him ge t all excited about the Troph y 4, but I could on ly ta ke so much. Long af ter I ha d retired to my couch, m y neighbor was still outside staring the Triumph d ow n like it was an alien from ou ter space. In all h onesty , I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about ge tt ing a chance to ride the Trophy 4 as this guy was just lo ok ing a t it, but th at was perha ps because I had never ridden a Tri um ph mot orcycle befor e, except for one of our ad salesman's '67 Trackmaster Trium ph, so basically I ha d no sentimental att achment to the Triumph nam e. After all, the British com pany closed its doors in the early '80s not long after I had gotten my driver's license . St ill , I kn e w tha t the Trophy 4 (as well as the other 10 models) was like no other Triu m ph seen before in the u.s. First of all, this bike isn' t powered by a par allel-tw in, four-stroke motor like so many Triumphs of the past. Instead, the Trophy 4 is prop elled by a big, 1180cc, This is the first year since the early 'BO s that Triumph motorcycles have been imported Into the U.S.; one of these is the 1200cc Triumph Trophy 4, a bike long on 1__ .... ""....... _ . . " . _ ..............