1996 Triumph Trophy 1200 (owned)

 1996 Triumph Trophy 1200 (owned)

This is my return to motorcycling after a 17 year hiatus raising a family in which I sold my beloved 1983 Gold Wing Standard (non-Interstate) in 1992 to buy wedding rings...or as I joke...I traded one passion for another 😀.

I opted to import a US bike from Boise Idaho which turned the event into a grand adventure in celebration of my 50th B-Day that involved a bus ride to Seattle, then a flight to Boise & an overnight stay with the seller. If this bike was not to my liking I had 2nd Green 1998 Trophy 1200 lined up in California...always good to have a back-up plan😎.

My blue Trophy & I had a rocky start with the bike displaying the well documented fuel starvation & erratic idle a few times due to a kinked fuel line under the tightly packed tank a few times....but I knew it was an easy fix & nursed it home.  The route home was through mostly familiar roads up the mtns west of Snake River Canyon, then west along the Columbia River to Portland & I5 home.  

Triumph put together a nice Sport Touring package of compact & light design that handled well, at 518 lbs dry was lighter than most of it's rivals with a strong 1180 cc 4 cyl motor sporting 108 hp & 77 ft lbs output, 43 mm forks w/triple rate springs & compression/rebound/preload adjustment, monoshock rear w/rebound/preload adjustment, 310 mm 4 piston front brakes & 255 mm 2 piston rear brake, 25 L fuel capacity & wind coverage from the full fairing, nicely integrated bags & top box + a Corbin seat & custom hwy pegs mounted directly through the side panels to the motor (the bike features a moncoque oversized central steel tube design with the motor mounted as a stressed member - no frame tubes)...a turn key tourer that could lift it's skirt & dance when asked...a modern, avant garde motorcycle for the day & a lot of bike w/21k miles & mostly pristine condition for $3,300 US!

I did not know what to expect at the border during importation, but all went smoothly as I had followed all the procedures & forward the documentation prior to arrival. BC & Canadian vehicle safety certification entailed a young Canadian Tire employee walking around the bike with a check list ensuring all lights & horn worked...voila sign here & Ottawa will send you a new VIN sticker in a few weeks.

 

Other than service being overly complicated, because of the tight packaging that required removal of most of the tupper ware, removal of the air box for a filter change, replacement of many of the hoses & carb gaskets & refurbishment of various components due to the age & the omni present high pitched gear wine at hwy speeds (a by-product of Triumph's use of straight cut gears), she was a fun bike. I went with a 1 tooth larger front sprocket in an attempt to push the gear wine out of my hwy speed zone, but to little avail. Triumph also made a 33lb lighter 900 triple version.