just back from a 4 week trip

[1675]

Just back from a 4 week trip on my trophy where I travelled from the uk to holland, where there were quite a few bikes on the ferry including another trophy. North through germany, ferry rto denmark , then another to sweden. Up the middle of sweden to avoid stockholm, then onto the east coast and up to the arctic circle. Then headed south east to imatra which is just on the russian border. Met a finnish guy on a 110cc "moped", towing a trailer full of camping gear who had been to the nordkapp, he obviously didnt know you need a gs clunkenvaggen  to tour on. There was some racing on the old imatra gp circuit where michael rutter and dan kneen got a win apiece, hard fought from local east european and scandinavian talent, together with parade laps from ago, phil read, jon ekerold and others. West to helsinki and a ferry to estonia, then south to poland and into ukraine. Headed east visiting the tunnel of love ( google it), then to chernobyl (pictured, chernobyl is at the bottom of the signpost). Had a few days in kiev and rode over the first all welded steel bridge over the dniepr river and had a ride on thd underground from the deepest station in the world. A 2 day, half circle route to oddessa over very bad roads and an even worse hotel then west to moldova and romania. Did the transfaragasan pass (pictured) both ways as it was closed with snow last time I was there and the transalpina pass which were very good. West into hungary with a 600 mile day into germany, just because it was raining. Finally got the boat home from calais to dover where I saw 2 british registered bikes, (both triumphs, one with a 75 yr old couple on) the first since hull which is quite sad really, everyone must be on an organised ride to the local "biker cafe" before getting home for lunch. 6482 miles, 141 riding hours, 108 gallons of petrol, 60.02 mpg and 46 mph average. Cost? Havent a clue, but worth every penny. Booked in for a 60k service and tyres next week then off to czech republic for more racing, slovakia and poland at the back end of the month with 3 mates. I do like my trophy, are they still being made I wonder? They do seem to be a very good touring machine

[earthman]

Wow, that's a tour and half,.....wife & I have thought about driving our camper to Sweden one year, to hopefully see the Northern lights. I gather that studded tyres are a legal requirement during the Winter so we'd have to go by October time. We plan to take 4 weeks off, this trip would be expensive enough without having to buy/change tyres.

Did you have any problems with the Trophy by the way??

[HACKLE]

1675. Great read and photos. One of the enjoyable things associated with bikes, is reading other tourers  ride reports. The opportunity to travel in Europe visiting all of the great mountain passes has so far eluded me. I have ridden a Royal Enfield to the worlds highest pass, Kardung Lah in the northwest of India. I'll still keep Europe in my bucket list. Enjoy your upcoming travels.

[cropbiker]

Sounds a fantastic trip! Wish I could get that much time off to do something similar!

Having visited Chernobyl does your Trophy glow in the dark now?

[Verdun95]

That's a road trip  Congrats 

You asked "are they still being made I wonder?"; I guess you've been away for too long, I'm afraid the last one went off the assembly line a couple of weeks ago 

[1675]

No trouble with the bike, its a triumph dont you know? Pleased there wasn't mind as dealers ( and recovery insurance) are none existant in some of these countries. I knew before I set off that I could only get to the gates of the exclusion zone which is about 20 miles from the site of the disaster and this suited me fine. Although there are organised tours to the site and workers are there building a bew sarcophagus to cover the reactor I thought it best not to risk it. My wife is very understanding,  but I dont push it! Picture of the tunnel of love is from the information sign nearby as the teain only runs a few times a day. It carries wood crom a sawmill to the railway station and the locals cant see what all the fuss is about. Well some can as they have set up stalls selling fridge magnets and cups, good effort.

[earthman]

Compared to other makes, the lack of Triumph dealerships,  could be a bit alarming whilst on a big trip & needing a specific part for the bike.

The majority of my European tours were done on a 1500 Wing, pretty reassuring to see a Honda dealer in many a town, thankfully I never had to try and order a part via one of them though.

Did you add anything extra to the tool kit for this trip?

[karl]

Having a dealer in town is not the same as having one ready to help you.  Twice this spring going cross country I needed help and the dealers told me it would be a week or more till they could look at my bike.  On the other hand Iron Pony in Columbus ,OH was able to provide me a rear tire installed the same day.  There are big differences in how they operate.