Still Loving My Trophy

[Sleuth]

I bought my 2017 SE almost exactly four years ago and 42,000 miles later feel the need to sing its praises.  I've taken a few 3,000 mile roundtrips from Boston to the Midwest, and one 5,000 mile ride to South Dakota and back last summer.  The bike has been consistently reliable, comfortable, and a joy to ride.  The wind protection is superb for wet weather, cold weather, and high speed travel.

I've had the two problems commonly reported on this forum (sheared off shift lever bolt, frayed ignition switch wires) and both were fixed under warranty/recall.  I also had my fuel tank float sensor replaced (again under warranty) when the readings became too erratic for comfort.  Other than that, it's only been in for scheduled maintenance.

I've owned (and own) a number of other bikes, but the Trophy is the winner for anything involving serious mileage.

[Coconut]

Nice one Sleuth 

All too often Owners Forums are only used, understandably, to report problems,
and it's always good to hear an owner singing their praises. 

Cheers 

[HACKLE]

I agree with your comments totally Slueth. With just on 90,000 kilometres on the clock of my 2016 Trophy I've also only had minor irritations with it. Been dealer serviced from day one, has never failed on a ride [some have been SS 1600 Iron Butt distance rides]. My only wish, like all Trophy owners is that Triumph stopped production rather than continue with and further develop this great motorcycle. But with limited sales [through bad brand advertising] it was the inevitable outcome. 

[Sleuth]

IMHO I think there are two reasons Triumph stopped making the Trophy:  (i) big adventure bikes replaced sports tourers as the flavor of the month and (ii) the Trophy was more than competitive with the BMW R1200RT (2014 to 2018 version) but it's hard to keep pace with BMW when they can spread R&D costs across a much larger sales volume.

The silver lining was that new Trophy's were available at a deep discount in late 2017.

I'd be interested to hear Coconut's opinion though I'm guessing I could find it if I spent some time searching the forum.

[Saddle Tramp]

I agree with Hackle’s assessment that Triumph never adequately promoted the Trophy. I also agree with your assessment that the market has mostly shifted away from Sport Touring Motorcycles. I also think Triumph made a critical mistake by initially pricing the Trophy similarly to the long established RT, rather than offering a lesser price as an incentive to purchase. Finally, I think that the well publicized engine issues on the first generation did a lot to limit interest shortly after introduction. My Triumph Dealer blamed the early engine problems as the main reason that the Trophy never sold well.

By the way, I have also enjoyed 42,500 relatively trouble free miles on my Trophy in the 26 months since I purchased it new as a leftover 2015 Model...

[Yellow jacket]

When you talk about the first generation, are you referring to the SE. If so I didn't know there were more than one generation. Were there reliability updates on the newer ones? I have the 17, and am thrilled with it. Your thoughts.

[Saddle Tramp]

The first production run on the at the time new Trophy 1215 unfortunately included a Manufacturing defect in the engine which caused a number of catastrophic failures. Triumph stepped up and repaired the problems, and improved the engine design for subsequent production, but word spread quickly about problems with this new model, and put an immediate damper on interest.

I was actually interested in purchasing a Trophy in 2013, shortly after it was introduced in the U.S., and the Dealer, who I had known for quite some time, suggested that I hold off on purchasing the Trophy until Triumph could sort out their engine issues. I thought it was awfully nice of him to be so honest, and I ended up buying a BMW K1600GTL instead. Triumph did, of course quickly rectify the problem, but in some regards, the damage was done...

Regarding the std. Trophy vs. the Trophy SE, they both utilize the same drivetrain. By the time the 2014 Model was introduced, the engine problems were a thing of the past.

[trophied]

The problem was somewhere in the production run after the initial launch.  My 2013 Trophy Vin is earlier than the Vinseries that was subject to the recall and has not had an issue.  Still not included the last time I checked, just last year, for any recalls.