Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

matched bags wi th as much stu ff as they wo uld carry, threw a pa ssenger on the back of the bike and headed north out of Los A nge les fo r a m e and erin g r id e through the San ta Ynez Valley's wi negrowing region and on past Sa n Luis Obispo. Fu lly loaded , the triple labo rs a bit at low revs, and definit ely does n't snap off the li ne . Once u n d er way, though , things are good, even two- up. Wh at suffe rs the mos t under heavyload conditions is braki ng. Tho ug h eviden tly unch anged fro m last year, the fro nt brakes don ' t wo rk as well as they did on th e Tro p hy 4. Riding so lo, the binders we re adequa te on the 900, but wi th a passen ger and lug gage bo th lever tra v el a n d s q ueezi ng effor t b e came excess ive. Ind eed, wearing thick w inter gloves, I trapped my fingers against the grip more than once und er heavy braking, eve n with the lever ad justed to the wi d est of its four positions. Upon returning the Trophy after our test, I spoke with Ron Schmit, the man re sponsible for p rep ping th e mach ines for testing. He said an overa bu ndance of tra vel was a com mo n problem and proceed ed to squeez e the lever down to the gri p several ti m es . Lev er tr av el w a s ba ck to normal. "Do th a t every 1000 miles and it' s fine." Okay, bu t they still work too hard two-up. Th e le ver o n th e le ft, in co n trast, o ffe r ed a li ght p ull a nd opera t es a n ex ce llen t clu tch . Coupl e th a t w ith a smoo th- shifting gearbox th at feat u res six well-spaced ratios and, despite the broad torque curve, you' ll find you rself shifti ng freq uently . Perfect rev-mat ched downshifts come wi th ease. So as you come to the entrance of a corner, bang a co u p le o f quick d own shifts, and rat her than flicking into th e co rner, yo u sort of fliiiiiiiiccck int o it . Thou gh certainly not sluggis h, handling fro m the fu lly load ed Tro phy is, shall we say, stable. We mu st admit tha t ve hicle d ynamics were somewha t hampered by the fact that we had n' t adjusted the rea r-sp ring preload to compensate for ' the extra weig ht of passenger and lugg age . But th at w as on ly bec a u se w e cou ldn 't. While las t year's Tro phy featured both re m ot e spring- preload an d rebound-dam ping ad jus tme n t, this year tha t 's all cha n ged . Reb ound is no w altered by means of an adjus ter on the bottom of the sh ock. An d pre load? Just bust out your special wrench and adjus t a w a y - you' ll b e on th e ro ad in no time.... Need less to say , this is not the ideal setu p on what is billed as a sporttouring machine. BMW has it right on the RllOORT - a big knob that you can ad just by hand . Easy and sim ple, as it sho uld be. Having neither the tim e nor the tools to handle this operation in th e garage, we set ou t on ou r jou rney without th e benefit of the upper two-thir d s of suspens ion travel. Stabili ty w asn't affected too badly in smooth co rners, but rid e quality suffe red most everywhere. For so meone rid ing solo, the shock is im proved over last yea r, yield ing be tter control u n d er a lmost all co n di tions . High-speed sweepi ng turns are the Trophy' s fo r te, a nd there the chassis is unflappable. Low -speed man euverability a lso good . Con serv ative 27-degree head angl e and 105mm trail form th e b a sis for t h e stea dy h a n d lin g , a n d thou gh the stee l-backbone chassis isn' t the latest d esign, it 'Yorks well. The Tro phy stays w he re you put it, and once yo u find yo u r line the bars don' t need any fiddling to keep it ther e. Aside fro m somewha t excessive d ive, th e 43 m m n on-ad ju s tabl e fork per formed well, offering a sup ple an d cont rolled ride. Sho rt of a Gold Wing, this has to be one of the most comfortable motorcycles we've thro wn a leg over. Wit h the modified ergo nomics that put the han d lebars higher and closer to the rider, as well as moving the footpegs, seating position is now well-n igh perfect. And the rescul ptured sea t never unduly assert ed itself over ou r consciou sness, eve n after a 500mile day. This is goo d because d oing a d ay like tha t is easy, with th e bi g 6.6ga llon tank lettin g yo u pus h 250 mil es befo re it' s tim e to fuel aga in. Ignore the low-fuel light. It comes on prem aturely, but a lways right w he n the gas gauge read s at the beginning of the red zo ne. We ju st rod e u ntil we hit reserve an d starte d hunting for fuel after tha t. Av erage fuel u sage was 38.3 miles per gallon. Th e only co m p la in t with reg ard to accommodations has to do with air flow fro m the wi nds hield; the screen is at jus t the ri gh t h eight to make riding at 70 m p h abou t like being stu ck b etween cha nnels on an old TV - noisy. Shorter riders had no complaints. Am ong othe r accessories, there is an op tio na l taller screen available w hich offers the possibility of a fix, though it wasn't available at test tim e. An other accessory we could ha ve u s ed w a s th e rear mud gu a rd extension. With so man y of the Trophy'S mil es logged in foul weather, our poor passenger picked u p eno ug h di rt on her back to pl ant corn. Th e balance of the planned ancillary offerings are p annier bags (soft bags that go ins ide the hard ones ), an alarm, a top rack, fork protector s and a top -pl a te co nversion kit to mount a rea r hard bag that integrates a passenger backrest. All of these should be available by the middl e of Mar ch. Ot her gripes include wa rn ing light s that are much too di m to be see n in the su nligh t, a nd while the tw o lock able fairing compart ments are good to have, their lack of hin ges and the fact that yo u mus t u se th e ke y every time to open them makes them less conve nie nt to use. Wearing heavy gloves, the lid s are also easy to drop . On a p ositive note, things sto red insid e stay d ry . The sad d lebags were also wa tertight. . Despite stiff com pe tition in this niche o f th e m arke t fr o m bot h BMW a n d Honda, the Trophy should do well. Th e $11,595 asking price is right in line wit h th e non -ABS ST1100 and severa l thousa n d chea per th an eit her th e K- or Rseries Beemers . Bu t the real beauty of the Trophy 900 is its bea uty, and thro wing the soulful song of the triple in to the I'" mi x makes the mac hine a win ner. While Cy cle News believes tile foregoing test reliable, it is tileopinion of tile reviewers only and should not be relied upon in determining the performance orsafetyof thevehicle. The reader should make his or her own investigation. (Abov e) Remo ving th e saddlebags Is easy, and once they 're off the bike the mounting hardware is wellintegrated. (Right) While th e brakes were fine fo r a single rider wit hout luggage, f ull y loaded, the dua l d iscs felt overworked . = ... Ul ... .. .. 90 . ,, ... 80 II) ~ .. .. .. 70 ,, .. .. ... I- 50 ... ... 'C II) .. 40 , ,. ; 0 W « UJ .. 20 .. , 0 0 - 1 2 .... ... ; , ... I I : : 80 1- - · ... .. ... 70 ', . , ::: , .. , :: r , ": 'r _. _--1. 0 • ~ - .. .. I~ • • 1• , ... .. I .. • ., :, ..,,', .. ., -----, , ., .. .'. ... .. .. .. :0 - ;t. ... ... ... . .. . . . .... 'H , , , , II) 0 60 == c. II) ... 0 Ul 50 :J: ... ... 'C 40 II) CJ II) 30 0 20 I ... .. .. 4 90 ,. ,: - : 3 ... .. .. : .. : .. r; .. ... .. .. .' .. 10 . , , -: , ,. 0 ,. , : ... '. : J. • ~ • • ,. .. .. .. .. ...... ._.- "'-- -1 1 , '' - .,, " ~ .. 30 , ; ";"-(, CJ II) ,, ,, ,, :, .. .. - . . ., , .., . .... r:T 0 , ,, .... ... .. .. 60 , " .. . ~" . .. , .. .. .a , . ... .. ... 10 0 W « UJ 0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 RPM (x1000) 1996 TRiumph TRophy SpecHicalions Engine .. ...... . ... . •.. .. ......... .. ... .. . .Liquld-cooled. DOHC. In-line three cylinder Displacement : . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . .885cc Bore x stroke 76 x 65mm Compression ratio 10.6:1 Peak horsepower •. . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .87 hp @ 9300 rpm Peak torque .. ..... . .. . ... .... . ..... . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . • .54 Ib.·ft. @ 4550 rpm Carburetion (3) . . . . . .. . ... . . ... .. . ... . . . . .• .. . .. .. • . .. .36mm MiktJ fiat-shde CV ni Transmission 6-speed w/ wet multiplate clutch Rake/trail 27' / 105mm Claimed dry weight . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .•. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .469 Ibs. Suspension Front : .43mm fork with dual-rate springs. 5.9 in. travel Rear Monoshock with adjustable preload and rebound damping. 5.0 in. travel Brakes Front .Dual 31Omm floatinq discs with four-piston calipers Rear .Sinqle 255mm disc with two-piston caliper Tires Front 120/70ZR·17 Rear 170 /60ZR -17 Colors British racinq gree nl merlot red/ Pacific blue List price $1 1.595

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