Triumph Trophy Update

I've been pretty busy and haven't posted in a while. Here's an update on the Trophy.

Coming back from Gerlachfest on 9/30 the bike just shut down. So here I am on the side of a desolate 2 lane road in Nevada and it won't start. Cranks fine but won't catch. After a while it started up and ran fine. I thought I might have gotten some bad gas so I filled up and got on home without issue.

The bike was due for the 10,000 mile service (and the parts had finally come in for the gas tank recall) so when I took it in they read the codes and said something about "fuel system" and that it should reset after 3 minutes. I really didn't give it much more thought since I was more concerned about the oil that leaked out of the final drive. Turns out that there is a bad seal and Triumph doesn't have that part. They are going to replace the entire final drive. I leave the bike with them.

Now here's where things get interesting with Triumph warranty work. This warranty process goes like this: the dealer has to submit substantiating documentation (I get the impression this consists of 8x10 color glossies with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining each one). This is an iterative process, back and forth between California and the UK. Given the time differential it can take a week or longer. Once approved the parts can be ordered. So far, everything I've needed is in the UK. Best case delivery is about a week but I'm seeing 10 to 14 days.

Early November I need to make a quick trip to Las Vegas for a friends wedding. I had to pick the bike up from the dealer where it was still awaiting final drive parts. On my trip home from Las Vegas it shut down. 3 times. The first shut down, on the isolated road, was concerning but not dangerous. Naturally, it acted up on the I-15 in Riverside, during rush hour traffic. Sudden loss of power on a crowded 6 lane freeway IS dangerous!

The remainder of November and all of December was pretty hectic. I had jobs to finish, vacation, and holidays. The bike lanquished until I took it out for a local ride with my son. Two shutdowns!

Finally, the parts came in for the final drive repair so I took it in and really whined about the shutdown and said they needed to get it fixed. A week later I check in and they were waiting on more final drive parts! I finally did what I should have done months before--checked the Trophy Forum. There I discovered that the shutdown problem was the TPS (throttle position sensor). Also, there were rumblings of an ECU recall. I reported this to the dealer. They ordered up the parts for the TPS and the waiting game commences. I'm pretty sure I dropped the bike off before I left for a 2 week cruise so they would have plenty of time to work on it.

I was building a tank for the TT for a client and had to have the bike back no later than 1/30 to finish up that job. The dealer wasn't finished but they put it back together so I could take it home for the work I needed. I was leaving town again for a week so I dropped the bike back at the dealer on 2/4 so they would have 8 full days to work on it. Imagine my surprise when I call them on 2/14 and find out that it's not ready! The parts were in and installed but they had to consult with the factory to get the ECU programmed. Naturally, the time differential made this longer than normal.

Well I finally got it 2/15. I can't say I've missed any long distance riding because I've been busy building tanks but I know there were several beautiful SoCal days that I would have liked to have been riding.

I don't hate the bike, yet, but time will tell. I have a big riding season planned so we will see how this bike can withstand the demands of an LD rider making a few circuits of the United States.