Triumph Trophy SE and the 50CC Quest

Here's a ride report focusing on the Trophy and how it performed on my cross country trip.

The Trip

I left out of San Diego early Tuesday morning headed to Jacksonville, Fl to attend the annual Iron Butt Association's Pizza Party. [It's just us crazy folks that will drive across the US for a dinner.] Since I was making the trip, I wondered if I still had the stamina for a certification ride and opted to do a 50CC Quest. That's coast to coast in 50 hours or less. My trip was right at 2355 miles and I used the full 50 hours to get there. I rode about 1250 the first day, got a good 7 hours of rest, and then tacked the second half. Because I didn't want to arrive in the wee hours and not have a place to stay I opted to get another good 6 hour rest the second night. I nabbed the finish receipt with time to spare.

The return trip was broken up with a stop in Austin, Tx to visit with my daughter. This was only 1050 miles from Jacksonville, so was a pretty easy ride after having rested for 2 days.

I considered making the 1300 mile trip home in one leg but ran out of steam. Some of it may have been dealing with the high winds but I will attribute it to me being out of shape. I managed 800 miles the first day and had to stop, the final 500 miles really did me in. I will have to work on building my stamina, the 2015 Iron Butt Rally is on the horizon.

The Triumph Trophy SE

Enough about me, let's talk about the Triumph Trophy.

It's been brought to my attention that I've been a bit negative about the Trophy. Last week I threatened to trade it in if it gave me any problems on this trip. Let me say right off, this is a KEEPER!

I want to emphasize that my complaints have not been with the bike but with the warranty process and parts availability. The bike itself is a stellar performer. I can't help but feel this will be a serious long distance platform. I know that there are at least three of these bikes entered in the '15 Iron Butt Rally, mine being one of them.

Performance

The power of the Trophy at speed is one of the things I love about this bike. It gives one the ability to manage traffic quite well. Unlike the K1200LT, where you had to be very cautious about sprinting for an opening, this is not a problem with the Trophy. You can spot an opening 15 or 20 car lengths ahead and easily slip into it. I think this factor alone may have contributed to me being able to get two nights motel rest on my outbound 50CC.

Rider Weather Protection

I've felt like the cockpit of the Trophy was much calmer (that is; less wind turbulence) than the K1200LT but without doing a side by side comparison you can't be sure about your memory. I now have proof positive that the Trophy offers excellent wind protection for the rider.

I ran into rain on the return trip beginning at Mobile, Al and continuing until west of Houston, Tx. At times this rain was heavy. I wear a Shark Evoline helmet and I normally have the chin bar open. With the LT, when the rain came down, I had to close everything up tight and would still get rain penetration on the helmet. Of course, with everything sealed up, you then need to contend with fogging of the face shield. I followed this same procedure with the Trophy. Some time later I had the chin bar open and didn't have time to close it when I ran into a rain squall. I just pulled down the windscreen visor. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was getting NO rain under the visor or on my face!

It was then that I noticed that my jacket was barely wet. Back in the '07 IBR I nearly drowned with the rains we encountered and I blamed my gear. Now I'm thinking it wasn't the gear it was my bike. The Trophy definitely provides more protection for the rider.

Cross Wind Performance

As with any bike, cross winds can be exhilarating (read scary). I encountered some severe cross winds coming and going. I even saw a semi-truck that was blown off the road and overturned!

I found the TT to be no more or less challenging to ride in cross winds than any other bike I've ridden. The biggest problem I have with cross winds is keeping my tank bag in place. 

Lighting

I had a lot of light on the LT, HID high and low beam and two Soltek Fuego's mounted up high. Last August was my first trip out with the Trophy where I had to drive at night, it seemed rather weak but after the lighting I had on the LT everything seems dark.

On this trip the stock lights on the Trophy seemed fine. There was good side illumination and a pretty good reach down the road. This was all interstate at night so I can't say how they are on dark, lonely, two-lane roads. One of the nice features of the Trophy is that you can adjust the lighting on the fly. Simply enter the bike set-up menu, go to lights, and you can move the beam up and down.

While I don't think auxiliary lighting is required I am planning on adding some. Like fuel, you can't have too much. I've discovered how to mount the lights up high under the mirrors without ruining the bodywork. More on that to come.

Gas Mileage

I've been getting really good mileage with the Trophy, 40 to 45 at highway speeds. This changed on this trip and I don't know if the ECU change caused it or if other factors are at play. I am trying to analyze my observations.

I encountered severe winds and, as expected, that definitely impacted the mileage. But even without the winds there were times the mileage was down in the 30 to 35 range. I think there is some relationship to temperature, the colder temps (30F-45F) seemed to cause the mileage to drop. When it was over 70F and not windy I was getting 45MPG. Since I hadn't ridden the bike in cold temps before, I'm not sure if this is normal behavior. Who knows what goes on with the ECU and the IAT (Intake Air Temperature)? I know with the LT pulling the plug on the sensor made the bike run much better. Maybe there are some tweaks to be made.

When you ride 5000 miles in 8 days a 20% change in gas mileage equates to about $120 in expenses. I may need to investigate whether this little toy will help out Triumph Trophy SE Performance Chip. A bit pricey but it might pay for itself. I have a few more cross country trips planned. :-)

Oh, here's a little tidbit for you. To change my riding position I sometimes hang a foot off the peg, alternating from one to the other. It looks like that habit is costing me 2 to 3 miles per gallon. I realize that the instantaneous fuel monitor is not a scientific tool but as near as I could tell, over dozens of trials, hanging that foot into the wind stream was definitely changing the mileage. I'm just not sure how much.

Laam Seat

As I have mentioned before, the Laam custom seat seemed pretty good but there is a big difference between what feels good at 4 hours versus what feels good after 12 hours, and so on. Day one of 1250 miles and I'm thinking I've got a winner with this seat. Day two and another 1250 miles doesn't change my opinion...much. Day 8 at 4500 miles and I definitely need to change something. My hips were killing me and the squirms were pretty bad. I definitely need lower foot pegs and some other ergonomic changes before I can say this seat has to go. Time will tell.

Thanks for the ear and check back from time-to-time as I provide more updates.