Triumph Trophy at Gerlachfest

In preparation for my trip to Gerlach, NV I did some more farkling of the Trophy:

• R&G Adventure Bars since it looks like a parking lot tip over would cause $1000s' in damage.
  
• A new hydration system since I'd lost the last one. This one is securely attached this time. This is the Geigerrig 3L pressure hydration pack. There are two hoses, one to pump pressure in the bladder and one for drinking. It's not as nice as the powered system I had on the BMW but it works satisfactorily.

• A cup holder cuz' I gotta have my coffee and caffeinated soda's. 

• Some daytime running lights to improve visibility. I saw this  BMW Motorrad Daytime Running Lights video a while back and it was interesting to say the least. On a recent trip I was on my BMW and my son was following on the Trophy, several times I looked in the mirror and couldn't see the headlight. These modern lights have excellent reflectors and the cutoff is such that they don't provide good daytime visibility. These lights were cheap and easy to install and I hope they show my presence to oncoming traffic. I just went out and shot a video of these lights--no joy I need to get something a LOT brighter.

I left out of Chula Vista at 0430 headed the 670 miles to Gerlach, NV for this year's festivities. The temperature was mid-50ish so I put on my heated jacket liner. I figured when the sun came up and I headed towards the California central valley it would warm up. It was another strange weather day. Throughout the  trip the temperatures never went over 60 (at Gerlach) and were as low as 43! Too bad the heated grips aren't installed on the Trophy. I can get by without the heated seat but the grips sure are nice. I had to don my heated gloves. The trip up was uneventful and I made good time, covering the distance in 11 hours.
We had our Friday night buffet along with a significant amount of alcohol.

On Saturday we gather to begin the day's activities. One of the mandatory stops is a visit to the Iron Butt Memorial on Guru lane.

Our friends, acquaintances, and riding com padres are remembered at this site. We pause for a moment of reflection to recall the memories of those we knew, and those that we wish we would have known.

Saturday we met on the playa for some festivities. This is a perfect social! Motorcycles, friends, good food, alcohol, guns, costumes, and a few crazy people (well maybe a lot of crazy people). What more can you ask for?

Reno John took a nice shot of the Trophy out on the playa.

Saturday afternoon was shooting on the playa. I didn't get to partake. I knew the rear tire on the TT was getting close to replacement time but I misjudged by the amount of miles to get me home. Cord was showing so I had to make a 230 mile round trip to Reno, NV to get a new tire.

I got back in time for the dinner, drinking, and fireside memorial festivities. After the sun goes down we are again on the playa for a bonfire. First timers are required to walk through the fire. Veterans usually do it as well to show how it's done.

We gather 'round the fire and reflect on the folks that are no longer with us. Ardys Kellerman was fondly remembered by all of us. Some rider's had carried small vials of her ashes and spread them into the Gerlach bonfire to always be a part of the playa and our memories. [thanks to Mark Johnson for photo]

Triumph Trophy SE Accessory Shelf Update

I'm experimenting with the shelf. I moved both GPS's up on to it. I'm heading out the Gerlachfest tomorrow to give it a good test. I've made up a second prototype and sent it to an evaluator. If his testing goes well, I'll be in production soon.

Here is a shot showing the mount configuration. Valentine V1 is tucked in between the Zumo and the 2820. Spot moved to the triple tree Ram mount.

Somebody asked, "How do you see over all that stuff?". This picture is with me sitting on the bike, camera held at eye level and pointed to my highway speed focal point.

Tank with Gas Saver Vent

The project got finished up and shipped today.  Some folks had asked to see the finished job so here are some pictures.

There was some discussion about whether this 1 quart overflow tank could be filled with gas during a fill up. This would effectively increase the capacity of the tank. Since several organizations limit the total combined capacity to 11-1/2 gallons this catch tank might be considered part of the tank capacity.

While it is theoretically possible to fill this tank, it seems impractical. You'll notice that the overflow tube is very small. I blew into the vent line and the air flow was pretty slow. Fuel flow would be even less. Since there is very little "freeboard" (distance between the top of the vent tube and the top of the filler neck) it would seem that trying to fill this tank would take a VERY long time.

That being said there are cheaters in any sport and somebody might try it. Personally, I'd say "let them". The time penalty for filling this catch tank would far exceed any benefit gained by an extra quart of fuel. :-)

This is an overall shot of the tank.

The client is going to fabricate the mount to the bike. You see two plates bolted to the base of the tank. These can be removed so his mounts can be bolted to them.

This is a close shot of the vent fitting coming out of the bottom of the tank.

Here you can see the overflow tube just poking into the filler neck.

The lighting is a little weak but you can see the catch tank just below the filler neck.

Thanks for looking. Feedback and comments are welcome.

Spilling Gas and $ [Fuel Cell with Gas Saver Vent]

As anyone who has ever worked with fuel tanks knows, proper venting is critical to the operation of the tank. Modern vehicles have sophisticated venting systems with fuel vapor recovery canisters, external vent lines, an external liquid/vapor separator, multiple moving parts, springs, and floats. These systems are frequently tied into the computer of the vehicle and can impact operation and/or performance if they don't function properly.

With secondary (i.e. auxiliary) fuel tanks the venting systems are very rudimentary. We typically use non-vented caps so there is no spillage in the event of a tip-over. To allow for air to offset the fuel as it is drained, we use a simple vent line located at or near the highest point on the tank. In addition to allowing air to enter the tank, this vent line also functions as a fuel overflow should the fuel expand beyond the capacity of the tank. Since we typically want a secondary tank to be as compact as we can make it there is generally little or no room for expansion. Therefore, we commonly find that some portion of our gasoline ends up on the ground. Not only is this environmentally unsound but, at the price of gasoline, it can add up to a significant expense.

I have tried various methods to prevent this gasoline from being vented overboard but in every case all I managed to do was complicate the system and cause venting problems. All that is about to change.

I just finished up a cell for a client that had a unique twist. He requested an overflow tank mounted internal to the tank. It's his design and a really neat idea, I wish I would have thought of it.

Following is a description of how it functions.

This is the CAD view of the catch tank.

Here's how it works:

• Overflow Operation:
• The overflow is a small tube that exits the top of the overflow tank 
• It extends into the filler neck and goes to the bottom of the overflow tank 
• As the fuel expands in the main tank it flows into the overflow tank. This overflow tank is engineered to hold most of the expansion expected from the 5 gallon tank.
  
  
  
  
  
• Vent Operation:

• The vent tube starts at the top of the catch tank and exits the base of the catch tank and extends through the base of the main tank
• When the auxiliary tank drains a vacuum is created at the overflow tube causing a low pressure in the catch tank, the low pressure is offset by outside air entering the tank via the vent line
• Fuel in the catch tank will be siphoned back into the auxiliary tank 

This entire assembly is mounted inside the secondary fuel tank providing a nice clean exterior. Here is a picture of the finished catch tank mounted in the secondary tank. 

In this particular case, the client asked for a straight filler neck so it was easy to make the overflow tube extend into the filler neck. 

Since most of my tank builds use the side mounted filler with a 90 degree bend I doubt that I could mount a system like this on the inside. I will experiment with making this external on tanks with a bent filler neck.

I will be offering this as an option for current and future clients.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

Triumph Trophy SE Ram Ball Mount

I've been working on this and posted previously. After consideration I've reworked the design a bit. Rather than use aluminum which would require some type of finish (anodize or paint), I decided to make them out of stainless steel. The plus here is that the standoffs can be tack welded to the crossbar. That way the bits are harder to lose.

 This is a picture of the forward mounted ball. It is harder to make since the bolts need to be modified to clear the Ram bracket.

















This entire kit is available for purchase.
$40 for everything pictured and that includes shipping in the CONUS. International first class postage adds about $10.

I'm working on version 2 of the rear mounted ball. It is priced at $35.

30 day money back if you're not satisfied.

Motorcycle Safety [why drivers don't see motorcycles]

Follow any motorcycle forum and sooner or later a posting will show up about how some idiot cager (auto driver) pulled right in front of a biker and cut them off or worse yet, caused an accident or injury. Invariably the report will have verbiage such as, "they looked right at me and pulled out". Then consensus then becomes that the cagers don't care about the bikers. I don't think that's true. Consider the following explanation:

Several decades ago there was this great article in the U.S. Naval Aviation Safety Magazine about why pilots forget to put the landing gear down. Even with all the warning equipment, checklists, and even co-pilot backup, it continues to happen. So much so that, even today, every attended airport has a spotter in the tower to check that the landing gear is down as the airplane approaches.

What this article concluded was that the aircrew was focusing on an "unsafe" indication. So when the checklist comes to "gear down and locked?" the pilot looks at the gear indicator. This indicator has 3 states, up/down/unsafe. Unsafe (a barber pole) is shown when it is transitioning between up and down. The pilot DOESN'T see a barber pole and proceeds.

I've compared this to vehicles and I think it accounts for most of the things we see all the time. Drivers are looking for other CARs. The don't see a car and proceed. This explains how folks can pull out in front of pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, fire engines, or anything. It's not that they don't see these things it's that they don't register.

You can research this yourself and find all kinds of reports of this phenomenon.

Look at your own behavior and make sure you're not doing it too. I know I've had to consciously raise my awareness of pedestrians. I've caught myself a couple of times not noticing them as I was making a right on red.

Be safe out there.

Triumph Trophy Rally Performance

This captures some of my impressions of the Triumph Trophy (TT) and how it performs as a long distance rallying platform. If you want to skip parts here is the index of the presented information:

• Prelude
• Wind and Weather Protection (Crosswind Performance)
• Tire Wear
• Instrumentation
• Cruise Control
• Lighting
• Ergonomics
• Handling and Performance
• Summary

Prelude

I finally got the TT out for a good test. I had added a custom built seat from Seth Laam, a dash shelf from MaPLE for my accessories, a fuel cell from MaPLE for extended range, and storage and wiring for my electronics in preparation for the Big Sky Montana "Into The Unknown Rally".

All this prep came at a cost. I've had the bike for a couple of months and had only put about 1500 miles on it. All that changed starting last Thursday morning when I headed out to Big Sky. Over the last 5 days I managed to put 3500 miles on the bike on a variety of roads and conditions. The overall track from my Spot satellite tracker is located on my Spot Adventure page. No longer is my TT all clean and pretty, now it's battle tested.

It's hard to tell the breakdown of this route from the link so I'll expand a bit.  I took a back road for the trip up which added 125 miles to the 1100 mile direct route up I-15. This route offered more sights and more opportunities to test the performance of the Trophy. I rode 850 miles the first day and the remaining 400 the next. The rally started Saturday at 0500 and ended 1300 Sunday during which time I rode 1436 miles across a mix of interstate, primary, secondary, and tertiary roads. [NOTE: I skipped unpaved: I want to get a bit more familiar with the bike (or get some more shop and parking lot dings) before I risk dropping the bike. Unlike my BMW this bike has absolutely zero tip over protection. It looks like a parking lot drop would rack up at least a $1000 in body damage.] The return trip of 1100 miles was all interstate over a period of 17 hours (I took a 2 hour nap), I had get-home-itus and was in a hurry.

Wind and Weather Protection

During the outbound leg I hit some good thunderstorms with lots of HEAVY crosswinds and torrential rains. The bike was extremely stable. Other than having to lean into the wind it didn't seem to know it was getting some 40+MPH gusts. I, on the other hand, was having to hang on for dear life, I thought I was going to be blown off the saddle. The aftermath was notable as you can see from this picture.

The cockpit stayed pretty dry, I didn't get any wetter than I expected.

During the rally I keep my rally pack in a plastic dry bag affixed to the handlebars. On my previous bike, at highway speeds my tank bag would get blown all over. With the TT the cockpit is devoid of any wind at all.

Tire Wear

Based on my past experiences with high speed rated tires, I was concerned that the Z rated tires wouldn't make the miles I had planned. I'm quite impressed with the tire wear so far. These have 7100 miles and appear to have at least another 3000 miles left. The 1100 mile all interstate trip back sure did "square" off that rear tire though. I'll have to do some canyon carving on these southern California mountain roads to try to round off the tires.

Instrumentation

The LCD instrument display is clearly visible both day and night. Sunlight on the dash makes it hard to read without craning your neck to get some shading. 

The fuel gauge, low fuel light, and distance to empty (DTE) are all WORTHLESS. The low fuel light comes on at 1/4 tank. According to the consumed fuel reading there is 2+ gallons of fuel still in the tank. It's a nice bright yellow idiot light that will get your attention in the daytime and irritate the dickens out of you at night. Since it is on for hours it doesn't provide useful information. The DTE computes based on fuel guage reading, so when it thinks the tank is empty it reads 0 miles. I drove 40+ miles with this reading 0! The fuel consumed seems to be the most accurate. If you want to stretch your range you will need to know how many gallons you have on board, then have faith and believe that the consumption is accurate. I'll try to play some more with this and when the bike runs out of gas.

The buttons on the handlebars are not especially intuitive. Even after 40+ hours in the saddle I'm struggling to hit the correct button and have to glance occasionally. At night there is no illumination so this is problematic.

The kill switch is easy to trip if you are repositioning your hands to change riding position. On the plus side, hitting the kill switch does give you a nice jolt of adrenaline.

Cruise Control 

Setting the CC briefly displays the set speed on the info display of the dash. This will reappear and flash if you are over or under this set speed. The + and - set keys redisplay this info, each key press moves it 1 mph. Speeds from 29mph to 100mph can be set (with the error on the speedometer the actual CC speed range is 27mph to 96mph. 

You can only set the CC in 4th gear and higher. At first this was a bit aggravating to me since I like to use the CC for really low speeds like school zones and small towns, my concern was misdirected. Since the TT has such a wide power band it has no problem with the 27mph in 4th gear

It holds the set speed spot on. Sometimes it is a bit quirky to set or resume but once you understand it's operation it works quite well.

Lighting

I had plenty of nighttime driving. Since I've been accustomed to having auxiliary lighting the stock lamps seemed inadequate. In all fairness, in my community the conventional wisdom is that you can't have too much light. The low beams are fair and the high beams reached out pretty nicely. Enough that I could get oncoming traffic to flash at me.

What is really nice is that the headlight aim is electrically adjustable. Even while you are moving! It was easy to optimize the throw of the beam.

Ergonomics

The cockpit is nice and compact. Everything is within easy reach and the instrumentation is close enough that my tri-focal glasses didn't have any problem getting things in focus for a good view.

The footpegs are way too high for me. I don't understand why the bike for the US market has a special lowered seat. Since I'm reluctant to lower the footpegs (which would reduce lean angle), I'm looking into how I might raise the seat. I'll report on this if successful.

Handling and Performance

This is certainly a sport touring motorcycle. Coming from a theoretical sport tourer (the BMW K1200LT), I certainly can tell I've not been riding a sport tourer. The TT has outstanding performance. The bike specs say it is 662 lbs. (Wet) (without panniers). I had it loaded with both panniers at 25 lbs, each, tool and maintenance items for 10 lbs., tank bag at 3 lbs., Storm iM2500 case loaded for rally mode at 30 lbs., the fuel cell and luggage deck at 22 lbs., and at time an extra 38 lbs. of fuel, for a 148 lb. luggage load. Adding my riding weight and the stock fuel load brought the estimated total wet weight to 1070.

This load didn't seem to impact the performance at all. With 135HP this bike can handle anything you can throw at it. The quick acceleration makes it a breeze to manage traffic.

I had the dynamic suspension (TES - Triumph Electronic Suspension) set for normal suspension two up riding.  I noticed  the difference in weight just after a fill up but one would expect that when adding ~75 lbs. of load.

One quirk about the TES, when you first turn on the key, the system adjusts itself. If you start the engine before the TES has completed it's adjustment it complains and takes longer to finish. For quick stops, one needs to get in the habit of not turning off the key but using the kill switch to shut off the engine. This is not a battery problem since the headlight and many accessories are not powered unless the engine is running.

Summary

All in all I am very pleased with the platform. Over the 4000 miles this last week my fuel consumption was in the 45 mpg range. Not bad for a FUN bike. [more later]

Using a Receiver to Integrate Bluetooth into an Intercom System.

This is a HOWTO (or at least how I did it) on integrating a bluetooth output into another system.

In my case, I had a Triumph Trophy with a cool stereo [AM/FM/XM/WX] system but no way to listen to it. Most bike manufacturers are not providing an audio output other than Bluetooth.When I first looked at the Trophy I was very disappointed that there was no audio out from the system that I could plug into my system. I figured the radio would be like my LT just so much dead weight but I found a solution!

I have a pretty severe hearing impairment. I can't wear my hearing aids under my helmet (even if I wanted), and I can't hear normal headphones unless the sound is blasting way too loud.  Since I want to protect my hearing from getting worse I wear custom molded earplugs with transducers installed. My particular brand is the Challenger headset from Earplugco [no affiliation just a very satisfied customer].

I connect this to a MixIt2 [again, highly recommended] which has multiple inputs and a single output with enough gain I can turn the volume up to compensate for not being able to wear my hearing aids. I use the MixIt to integrate 2 GPS units, my radar detector, and a music source.

I bought a Bluetooth receiver which paired up with no problems at all with the Trophy. I take the audio out and route it to my MixIt and viola I have all the Trophy sources in my headset.

Here is the receiver I got. $20 from Monoprice.com

The nice thing about this product is that it has no on/off switch which is exactly what you want with a car or bike radio system. Connect this puppy to the same circuit as the radio and when the radio powers up, so does this. I haven't had any problems with it reconnecting. It takes about 15 seconds but has always come back.

I recommend this product as a good bluetooth receiver with the following caveats:

• The audio out level not adjustable and is VERY high. This is obviously made to tie in to a stereo system. I had to put in an inline volume control to turn it down because when I adjusted the volume to a tolerable level with my MixIt my other devices didn't have enough volume for me to hear.
• The USB power input jack is an A male. This requires a USB A Male to Male connector which is really rare. Monoprice has them for 85 cents but I didn't know I needed it when I bought mine. Be sure you buy one with the unit or, if you're handy with a soldering iron you can just run a USB male pigtail out like I did.

NOTE: The documentation/instructions for this device are incomplete. It is not clear at all that the USB port is for INPUT power. Especially since they used the wrong gender for an input port. It took a lot of research before I found that this port does accept a 5VDC input to power. Even then I wasn't sure until I used this port to power the device.

Here is how I mounted it.

1. I took the unit apart and stripped out the A/C adapter tabs and trimmed the plastic a bit so I could get some attaching velcro to lay flat.
2. While the unit was apart I took an old USB cable, cut off the male end, and soldered it on the main PCB.
3. I wanted to leave the USB female connector in place, a bit of dremel work made clearance for the cable.

This all fit nicely in the glove box where I mounted a USB hub so I can also plug in my phone.

As far as where I put all this other stuff that will come in another post.

Triumph Trophy SE Rally Prep

I just spent the first part of the week getting the bike rally ready. I had held off on connecting the aux fuel tank since the main tank is going to be replaced under a factory recall. Every tank I've dealt with needed a bulkhead fitting installed and I didn't know how Triumph would feel about a hole in their tank. Since it didn't look like the tank was going to be replaced in time I decided to take my chances.

Getting the plastic off is much easier that with the BMW K1200LT. By easier I mean easier after you figured out where they hid all the bolts. It was time consuming but the next trip will be better.

After getting the left side plastic off I discovered that the main tank is quite interesting.
It bears a striking resemblance to a Klingon Bird of Prey.
There are "wings" that straddle the frame and extend forward and down. Triumph has installed a fuel line from the lower part of each wing that returns to the main tank. This allows gas to be scavenged out of the wings.

To remove the tank you have to split this line. Triumph has put in a handy hose union. From my standpoint of needing to tap into the tank this was great news. I simply removed their straight connector and installed a T. I intended to shoot some pix but managed to forget that task.

The bad news I learned was that, like the LT, the air filter is underneath the fuel tank. The only way to remove the fuel tank is to remove these wing drain lines since they run through the frame. I don't see any way to do this without draining the fuel. So this design, while good for my one time installation, is going to be a nightmare for routine maintenance.

I also got all my electronics wired in. I tapped into the GPS power plug to draw power for my audio components. Power to my GPSs is straight from the battery since I don't want them switched.

It took some engineering but I finally figured out how to route my wiring to the dash shelf without making any ugly holes. I Dremeled  a bit of the plastic near each windshield arm to allow my wires to come through.

 This image is on the right side where I have run the power for my radar detector.

On the left side is the power and audio cables for the shelf mounted GPS.

Triumph Trophy SE Auxiliary Fuel Cell and Luggage

I have gotten really spoiled having an aux fuel tank, so this was high on my list of farkles to add to this bike. It just came back from being powder coated yesterday and is mounted today. Well...the main tank is subject to a recall. I'm waiting on this to get completed before I do the plumbing.

This is a 4.9 gallon tank that brings the total capacity to just under the IBR specification of 11.5 gallons. It has been fully pressure tested. It is constructed of .100" thick marine grade aluminum alloy with internal baffling. The filler neck has a non vented cap attached to the tank with a brass chain lanyard. The total wet weight is less than 35 pounds (14kg).

It was a bit of a challenge in that the pillion seat is used to retain the rider seat. Since I recently built a tank for a BMW R1100RT that had the same problem I know what a challenge it could be. I opted to go with a simpler design that I had used on a BMW F800. This design raises the tank up enough that the seat can be removed from underneath it.

Being mounted this high may not be the most attractive solution (as compared to the R1100RT) but the height really won't impact handling as much as a pillion rider would. I'll post some ride reports as it gets tested. One major advantage of this design is the simplicity which reduces the cost and will give this tank a very competitive pricing structure.

The stock Trophy panniers are very roomy, much more so than what I had on the K1200LT. But...it is impossible to get things into or out of them while they are mounted on the bike. Opening them will spill the contents on the ground.

I have really missed having my quick connect Storm case. Another reason I was in a hurry to finish up the cell.

More pictures detailing the mounting hardware and other views are on my web album.

Triumph Trophy SE Dash Shelf Update

The dash shelf got painted and put back together. I had considered anodize but somebody pointed out that it would be a semi-gloss finish and would show reflections in the windscreen. Excellent point, the raw aluminum was a real irritant. I went with the wrinkle black that I have become fond of putting on the fuel tanks. I think it looks really nice.

Please disregard the wiring. That is the next item on the agenda.

In a 2 hour road test I couldn't see any reflection off of the shelf. Also, I couldn't see any vibration in the shelf. The GPS mounted on it was no more or less blurred by the road vibration than the one mounted on the triple tree,

More pictures showing the completed shelf and how the design and build progressed can be seen on my web album.

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.