Triumph Trophy SE Custom Seat 2 hour ride report

The Trophy got a new seat this last Friday. This is a custom seat made by Seth Laam at Laam's Custom Motorcycle Seats.

I had long ago determined that I wasn't going to mess around with seating as I did with my K1200LT, After years of research I had determined that the Russel Day Long saddle was what I was going to get.

 

A post on the LD Rider forum caused me to look at Laam. I guess since he is getting started and building his business his prices are EXTREMELY low. I figured at 40% of the cost of the Russel I'd take a chance on Seth's seat. So far I am very pleased. It will take some 1000 mile days to determine if this was a good gamble.

From the time of my initial order until I got the seat was a bit lengthy but this was mostly due to some communication problems. Seth was out of town for a bit and then I was. Once we got this sorted out Seth put me at the top of the list and did my seat in one day. I talked with him on Tuesday AM and my seat was in hand on Friday.

Seth is new to the business but after talking with him I was comfortable with his experience (worked for another well known vendor) and his knowledge of the needs of a long distance motorcyclist.

The seat is very attractive with some nice stitching. It has wings made of firm foam with softer foam in the center of the seat.

With the stock seat on the TT I kept sliding forward. Seth's seat keeps me in position. Per my request he moved me back on the seat as far as possible. The seat is higher than stock but this is not a bad thing. For the US market the stock TT seat is 1.2 inches lower than the Euro version. I think this was a mistake since the footpegs will need to be lowered for most riders. With my 32" inseam I had no problems getting both feet on the ground. I didn't notice that I had to scooch forward at a stop.

I took it out Saturday for a good ride. Over 2 hours I had both freeway, city streets, and stop/go traffic. I wasn't rigged for a long ride, just jeans and regular underwear (no LD Comfort shorts). As such, I was getting a little sweaty and hot on the butt. I attribute this mostly to my riding gear and the weather, not the seat.

I was pleased with how it sat and felt. In my short test ride on this bike at the time of purchase my butt was hurting on the stock seat. This is definitely an improvement.

I'll update as I get more saddle time.

New Ride 2013 Triumph Trophy SE

I got a new bike about a month ago, a 2013 Triumph Trophy SE.

This is a new bike out this year to compete with BMWs R1200RT. The RT was on my short list but when I found this very slightly used (2000 miles) bike at the same price as what I would have had to pay for a more used BMW. It seemed to be a no brainer.

I didn't get much opportunity to ride it the first 3 weeks, I was busy with other things and needed to get my "farkles" on it. I made a mount for one GPS  (more pix here)
 
and a shelf to mount my other GPS and electronics stuff. (more pix here)

The wiring was quick and dirty because I was off on a short 500 mile trip to Sacramento, CA to help out at the 2nd checkpoint of the 2013 Iron Butt Rally.

This was the first real ride on the bike and here are my first impressions.

Triumph Trophy SE First Impressions

I finally got a chance to put some miles on the TT SE. I left San Diego Saturday AM to head up to the Iron Butt Rally checkpoint in Sacramento, Ca. These are my impressions of the new scoot. They are in random order as I think of them.

NOTE: You’ll need to temper my commentary with the knowledge that I am coming off of a BMW K1200LT (LT means Luxury Touring not Light Truck) and moving to a standard sport touring bike.

• The TT SE is about 150 pounds lighter than the LT with an extra 35 horsepower so it’s performance is somewhat of a shocker. At one point I was stopped along the highway so had a good opportunity to “wrap it out” a bit. I was easily at merging speed before reaching redline in 3^rd gear. There is no way one can do full throttle roll on through more than 3^rd gear and not be exceeding any posted limit in the USA. Traffic was too heavy for me to give it a good test. I’ll have to wait for some lonely stretch of Nevada highway for that.
• I’d prefer higher gearing. The horsepower to weight ratio of this bike is such that there is no lack of power available for 90+% of street/highway driving conditions. Based on my limited riding, I’d prefer 3500 RPM at 80 MPH instead of 4500 RPM.
• Even though this bike is only 22% lighter than the LT it feels more like 50%. The turning radius is much less. Parking lot maneuvers and low speed U-turns aren’t nearly the scary proposition they are with the LT.
• I rode out of San Diego and made a nature stop 80 miles down the road. I got off the bike and my fingers in both hands were numb from the vibration. There is definitely more vibration from the triple at cruising RPM (4500ish) than with the K bike 4 banger but it isn’t bad. I can’t explain the tingling numbness in my hands but it never occurred again so I can only attribute it to me getting some “break in” period.
• I’m struggling with the handlebar controls but that would be true of any new bike. With the TT SE everything I’m used to is in a different location. Plus I’m having to relearn the turn signal controls.
• Wind protection is excellent. Buffeting is minimal. The adjustable windscreen allows you to get as much or as little wind as you prefer.
• The mirror placement is very good, much better than the LT. I didn’t have any difficulty seeing traffic to the rear and most importantly, with convex mirrors, I didn’t have any problem judging distances.
• I don’t know if it’s suspension or tires but grooves in the pavement and those nasty Bots Dots were barely noticeable. With the LT I hated driving over the Bots Dots since it would rattle my teeth.
• The instrumentation is easy to read and there is LOTS of information: TPMS, DTE, Gallons TE, Gallons Used. Trip mileage, and more. There are two trip displays and you can customize what is shown all the time. All info is available in a center display that can be scrolled.
• I never thought I’d like linked brakes but they are great.
• The seat sucks but don’t all stock seats suck? I have my spare seat pan out for a rework and should get it back by this weekend.
• Foot pegs definitely need to be lowered.
• Engine heat is well managed but I did notice when the temps went over 105 that there is no way to take your foot off of the footpeg without getting a blast of scorching hot air. When it cooled off I didn’t notice excess heat so I can’t say if the engine heat was combining with the ambient air or not. If you are riding in 100+ temps you need to keep your feet on the pegs.
• The radio system is EXCELLENT!. Built in XM, AM, FM, WX, and Bluetooth. There is a USB port for I-phone/I-pod interface. I bought a Bluetooth receiver, connected it to my MixIt2 and got all the bike stuff connected with all my electronics. It was nice having all the bands available again. The stubby antenna is cute, works well with FM but did show some fading with AM.
• The cruise control works well but not quite as well as the BMW. Engagement was sometimes tricky but once set it holds the speed very well. What I don’t like about the CC is that it will only engage in 4^th gear and won’t engage below 30MPH. On the surface this seems quite rational but where I have found CC to be most valuable is in low speed zones. It’s hard to keep most bikes at 25MPH and if you are velocitized it’s even harder. With the BMW I could set the CC at 26mph and then rest assured that I could through the small towns and school zones ticket free. I’ll miss that and be looking for a software hack. I was able to get the CC set to 100MPH but I can’t say if it would hold it there (obviously).
• Speedometer reads about 4 MPH fast across the scale. Odometer is fast by about 1.5%.
• All this horsepower and acceleration didn’t seem to cost much in fuel consumption. Here are my stats:

Date	Time	GPS Dist.	ODO Dist.	ODO Error	ODO Error %	Gallons	GPS MPG	ODO MPG
6-Jul	1340	248	244.5	3.5	1.41%	5.488	45.19	44.55
6-Jul	1700	226	223	3	1.33%	4.879	46.32	45.71
8-Jul	1333	244	242	2	0.82%	5.12	47.66	47.27
8-Jul	1819	264.5	260.5	4	1.51%	5.756	45.95	45.26
summary
		982.5	970	12.5	1.27%	21.243	46.25	45.66

I guess it's about time to update this blog. It's been a while since the last post. The last post referenced a auxiliary cell for a K1200LT. Wow! I sure have come a long way in my design and fabrication abilities. 

I have a web site now that shows most of my work Farkles by MaPLE. 

Three of my products will be in this year's Iron Butt Rally. 

Of course, this has come at a cost. I haven't ridden my motorcycle for over 6 months. My Spotwalla account was suspended for inactivity.  That will soon be corrected I have several rides planned. Hopefully, on a new motorcycle. I've decided that the LT is too big for me nowadays. 

Let me know what you think and I'll try to do a better job of updating.

Latest Fuel Cell

This is my latest iteration of a two up fuel cell for a K1200LT. This is an early look so don't mind the fact that the aluminum is not polished.

Here are some of the features that have been incorporated (some original some borrowed):

• retains pillion seat for 2 up riding
  
• 5.15 gallons (just under Iron Butt Rally maximum for the K1200LT)
• fully baffled
• mounting system and platform are separate entities from the fuel cell
• customizable platform both in size and configuration for any type of case or luggage system desired
• bar on side of mounting system allows for bungee cord or velcro attachment point

I welcome opinions, feedback, and suggestions.

BMW K1200LT Powered Hydration System

I rigged this hydration system up without power for the 2007 Iron Butt Rally and found out that having to suck water from down by my foot got very tiresome. I converted it to a powered system using a automotive windshield washer pump. Wow, what a difference! I found out that there were many other benefits besides getting a drink without sucking my brains out: (there may be more but this is to date):

• can pump water into my jacket and helmet
• can get water to wash my hands, face, etc.
• can water my windshield for washing
• can spray water at cagers that are following too closely
  
  More detailed pictures can be found on my web album.

Hello all,

It's been a long time since I've posted or updated my blog. I guess it's time to get back into it.

Here is a quick summary of events since my last post:

• 9/2009--Rode the 2009 Iron Butt Rally unsuccessfully. I didn't acquire enough bonus points to be a finisher. Lots of contributing factors but perhaps the biggest was that I am too competitive and bit off more than I could chew. I vow to get back to a "have fun" mode.
• 9/2009--Moved to San Diego (the IBR was my cross-country trip (on steriods)).
• 10/2009--Bought a house and moved in.
• 10/2009--Hauled the moving trash to the dump and fell off the truck incurring a back, neck, and hand injury--this put a major cramp in my riding.
• 12/2009--Attended the midnight Ride-to-Eat at Pink's in Los Angeles. That was my first ride since the injury and it was a killer (~200 miles round trip).
• 2/2010--tore down the bike and replaced the clutch.
• 4/2010--rode the LowCal250 in San Diego to get back into the swing of riding (hand and neck are getting better). It was a lot of fun and my son (his 1st rally) took 1st place--some detail is here.
• 6/2010--needed an update on my MSF endorsement to get a base sticker so I enrolled in the Military Sport Bike Riders Course. The fastest enrollment was at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, only 250 miles away. Up on Friday, attended course on Saturday and came home. This is a GREAT course, they are teaching real world riding. If you ever get chance to get this course I highly recommend it. That 500 miles over 2 days really took it out of me and I had to spend more time in the saddle.
• Mike Kneebone sent a request for volunteer for the Redmond 1000 ride-in to the annual BMW MOA International Rally. Since I'd never attended one of these rallies, and since it was only 960 miles away, I jumped at the chance. It was a great weekend and I really enjoyed the rally, sites, and scenery of the Redmond, OR area. This was my proximate location in the IBR that my stamina gave out and I bailed on trying to get more points. It was a bit of a homecoming albeit with some not-so-great memories of last summer. On the trip back I rode to San Jose to visit with a nephew and get some rest. U.S. 1 was the route home. Don't ever take this road on a nice summer Sunday! Traffic was horrible.

This brings me up-to-date on the history. I am off next week to ride in the 2-day version of the Spank Rally. This will be my first big dog rally since last August. I fully plan to enjoy the trip and not be so competitive. The rally ends at the IBA National Meet this year in Denver, CO. I am looking forward to visiting all my IBA buddies and then taking a sightseeing trip home.

Stay tuned in for more, I promise to not be so quiet. :-)

IBR check in is completed, rally packs have been distributed and the game is on.

There were a couple of final rules and regulations that come out.

First off is that my SPoT tracking page has been made private. What that means is that it is not public and you need a password to view it. You can post a message here requesting access (include your email) and, if my wife approves, she will provide you with the password.

Second, is that this blog will not be updated during the rally. The rationale will be explained after the rally but for now we will have to be silent.

Again, you can post questions here and Patty may or may not reply privately.

Thank you for your understanding,

IBPete