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First Rides of the Triumph Trophy
The initial first rides of the new Triumph Trophy, which is the replacement for the Sprint ST, are starting to come in. Both Cycle World and Ultimate Motorcycling have published their first ride reviews this weekend. In both cases the reviewers liked the bike, and both felt very happy with the handling.
As always with a big bike, and Triumph’s claimed 662 lbs make it a big bike, one always worries about handling capability, especially when the road gets twisty. But, Triumph takes a certain amount of pride in making bikes that handle well, and they seem to have lavished the Trophy with some attention in that area.
Ultimate Motorcycling declares:
Get into tighter turns and the Trophy SE defies its size. Much more agile than you’d expect from a 662 pound bike (claimed wet, but no panniers), it handles direction changes controllably and predictably, even when the road surprises the rider.
Similarly, Cycle World’s tester says:
But by the time you’ve ridden the bike a few blocks and snapped it around a couple of simple corners, that perception starts to change. You quickly forget about the shape of the plastic in front of you and marvel at how light and agile the big Triumph feels when it’s moving…The overall effect is that you feel as though you are riding a bike that is at least a hundred pounds lighter than what its manufacturer claims.
Will it give you the rocket-like acceleration of, the Concors14 or K1600GT? Probably not. But it seems pretty good, and at 135HP with 89 torques, it’s probably not boring:
The bike isn’t exceptionally fast by today’s performance standards, but that strong, linear torque output allows it to accelerate crisply and steadily in any gear, at any rpm and at any speed. Just give the throttle a twist and the Trophy moves forward, never pinning your eyeballs to the back of your skull but always rushing the bike down the road with enough authority to be satisfying.
It should be hitting the shores of North America by the end of the year. But, I wouldn’t expect getting a test ride will be easy.
A little Photoblogging
Chris and I went downtown to take some pictures. This time, instead of lugging around an SLR, I took my new Panasonic Lumix FZ200. It’s a 12.1 megapixel bridge camera, with a 28mm-600mm superzoom lens. I wanted to see how it would do as a walking-around camera. I think the answer is, "very well."
The Star Of India, docked in downtown San Diego.
Old advertisements
Mall corridor, Horton Plaza
San Diego County Jail
A little bird
This odd building looks like an optical illusion
Chairs in a residential courtyard
A homeless man’s dog, downtown San Diego
LED marquee at the Balboa Theater
Trains at Union Station
Architectural detail of Union Station
Window reflections
Skyscraper courtyard
Architectural detail of a restored Victorian-era building
The Gaslamp District
Architectural detail, Ulysses S. Grant Hotel
Lobby, Sempra Energy building
Mosaic Wall, Horton Plaza
Park and skyline
Each window of this building has a screen that can be lowered to cover the glass
Architectural detail, Sempra Energy building
Restored Victorian-era building in the Gaslamp District
The Moon and Venus
And finally, to show you how powerful the zoom and video capabilities of this little camera are, I give you The Dog Walker.