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2013 Triumph Trophy SE Review
 

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2013 Triumph Trophy SE Review

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If the Chinese were to do a cheap knock-off of the BMW R1200RT—as they do with so many other things—it would wind up looking like the Triumph Trophy. Case & Point: The headlight assembly looks like it's from the we've-only-had-a-styling-department-for-6-months-and-we're-not-sure-what-things-should-really-look-like division and the rear end couldn't be any less devoid of style, definition and excitement.

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Triumph has a lot of product development to do here. They are making an effort and I wish them success.

You know, I've got a 1200RT. I'm not mad about the looks of it either. It looks a little like a bad mosaic or something...with a lot of disparate body panels strewn around...but it sure works well.

What concerns me more about this Triumph is the cost of routine service on it. It's a lot of work to get to the valves...something I wouldn't enjoy doing myself. Then you need bucket shims for adjustment. That means making appointments at dealers, getting the wife to pick me up there etc. etc. at least once a season, not to mention the big bill I'll get when I pick up my bike. I've been doing my own service on Oil and Hex Heads for years. It's easy and almost fun once I get focused. Liquid cooling is heavier and makes engine work harder. Having the jugs out on the sides provides leg protection in a crash, great engine cooling, low cG, and easy maintenance. That's a pretty nice combination.

My ownership experience with BMW bikes has not been flawless or cheap, but they do have some very nice products.

You make some good points about the Boxer motor, but your claim that L-C engines have to "work harder" ain't one of them. In fact, given that L-C motors can produce more power than A-C mills, they can actually work less harder.

Also, it's not always the case that L-C bikes are heavier. BMW engineers told me the new R1250GS will be lighter than the existing GS. Check back with us on Oct 2 when we will be announcing full details.

I think he meant it makes working ON them harder which is basically true with all the extra stuff in the way.

It takes energy(work) to move the water around in a liquid cooled motor. So technically, if you could manage to have the exact same motor in both air and liquid cooled form, the liquid cooled engine would have to do more work for the same power to the rear wheel.

The liquid cooled version could make more power than the air cooled even with the extra load of the cooling system though. Liquid systems just have a higher limit.

The real advantage of air cooled is ball-peen-hammer simplicity.

100 lbs heavier than the BMW RT?

Dang

It's still 3 metric tons lighter than an Ultra Glide Classic.

I think this has Sarnali written all over it!

It's so much more bike (including, unfortunately, all the electronic gizmos) than his old Trophy!