Triumph Trophy 900

[Baryonyx]

Has anyone every ridden one of the old Trophy 900 bikes? I'd be interested in opinions on them, what they're like to own and to ride. I know they're hardly 'cool' in the traditional sense but they look like a great all rounder. In it's favour:

• Wide fairing
• I could remove that awful top box, and use the panniers for carrying my stuff to work and back.
• 900cc triple engine seems to be well regarded
• Competitively priced - compared to a Deauville or a Pan Euro, they look like a giveaway!

I seem to be spending a lot of time looking at tourers at the moment, perhaps without real reason. My commute is short (15 minutes on a decent bike, either way, maybe 20 on my CG125 at the moment). I want a 'big bike' that will be good enough for whatever I wish to do with it; to maybe do some light touring, riding for fun, getting to work quickly and without fuss. I should note that my route to work generally doesn't require any sort of filtering, so a wide tourer is not so much an issue there.

Is the Triumph going to be too big and boaty to enjoy on the local B roads (Northumberland, where they can be quite tight and twisty)? Should I try a few tourers to get it out of my system? I know it's a bit much for the short ride to work and all that, but I like having the best I can afford and these seem like a decent bike on paper. I also work near to a Triumph dealer, so I would have a support network within reach.


Or, because it would be my first big bike, and I'm not yet 30, should I be looking for a sportier steed? Sports bikes do appeal massively to me also, and I tend to lust after tourer's one day and sports bikes the next, but I can't afford one of either at the moment, sadly.

Also, do the panniers on these detach via a turnkey mechanism? The panniers on my mates K1300S come off with about 10 seconds work, so can easily be added for commuting then quickly detached for a weekend ride, which seems a good solution to me.

Some pics for reference:







Typical Triumph owner:

[Baryonyx]

Mastodon2 said:

Do you need panniers and a full size touring bike for a 15 minute commute? If you can cope on a CG125 you can cope with a smaller bike. I'd get an SV650 or something, they'll do 50mpg, sound interesting and will be a much nicer weekend bike than a big Trophy. The SV skirts a good line between sporty enough for a laugh, but practical and comfortable enough to use every day.

If you're going to be covering big distances the Triumph makes sense, but buy the bike for the riding you're going to do l, not just the riding you'd like to imagine yourself doing, or you'll end up wanting to change.

I don't, but I like to be practical on the bike where I can be. I can manage my commute with just a backpack, carrying my work slacks, shirt, lunch and a towel for showering. Storage space isn't a deal breaker but it would be nice to have (I could do a big shop with just the bike then).

Regarding the SV650, I've been somewhat put off by a friend who had one and speaks rather disparagingly of it, citing it as the ultimate beige bike, workmanlike but not exciting. I have to say, that just looking at them I struggle to really feel any sort of want for one other than the old bugeye model in yellow with clip ons and the extra belly pan fairing, and they seem pretty rare.

I take on board the points above about the Triumph being a big, top heavy bike. It would be my first 'big' bike and I'm concerned that my technique just wouldn't be up to managing it on tight, low speed stuff. I'm sure I could get to the level where that sort of thing would be routine, but I'd rather be there before I drop my pride and joy on it's side!

I've tried out a CBF600 and I liked that to a degree, but it's my mate's bike and I don't really want to copy him by getting the same bike. That had a nice riding position, nice feel to the controls. My ultimate fallback is Thundercat or an FZR600R. The Thundercat seems to be well regarded as a bike suitable for doing everything on.