Author Topic: Itching for a new bike  (Read 18224 times)

Offline twowheeladdict

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2015, 07:28:54 AM »
Today I saw a guy riding a Versys LT. Since the dealer did not have one, I flagged him down to check it out in person. I was primarily wanting to find out if it will be too tall for me. He was more than eager to show off his brand new bike (had like 100 miles). Here is what I do not get. The 650 Versys LT says seat height is 33.1 inch. When I sat on his bike, it felt pretty much like my concours 14 - balls of my feet, but much more manageable due to weight. The Ducati Multistrada specs says seat height from 32.5 to 33.3 inches. When I sat on a 2014 Grand Turismo at local dealer, I could barely be on my tippie toes - not manageable at all. What gives?? I do not think the Versys guy lowered his bike or anything.

Softer suspension on the Versys?  Wider, firmer seat on the Duc?
My Concours Travels:
2014 New England Tour http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=17336.msg212077#msg212077

Offline martin_14

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #21 on: June 23, 2015, 11:13:49 PM »
tried the Diavel a couple of years ago for about 300 miles. Biggest stupid grin ever!!!  ;D
And it looks awesome. No idea about reliability, though.
Build bridges, not walls.

Education is important. Riding my bike is importanter.

Offline twowheeladdict

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #22 on: June 24, 2015, 05:20:54 AM »
tried the Diavel a couple of years ago for about 300 miles. Biggest stupid grin ever!!!  ;D
And it looks awesome. No idea about reliability, though.

That Duc is cool, comfortable, and fast.  Looks real stupid with the typical overweight American male on it though.
My Concours Travels:
2014 New England Tour http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=17336.msg212077#msg212077

Offline twowheeladdict

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #23 on: June 24, 2015, 12:42:49 PM »
Well, I rode the concours 45 miles to test ride the Triumph Trophy this morning.  They have a silver '14 New one for sale. 

I have nothing bad to say about the trophy.  Very nice touring bike.  It is considered sport touring, but definitely leans on the touring end of sport touring.  Kinda like what many of you turn the Concours into with your Corbin seats, hellebars, and barn door windscreens. ;)

The dealer only wanted to give me $4800 for my Concours, and was charging almost $1700 in fees on top of their 'sale' price.  By the time I left, we were still $5000 apart. 

I may put the Concours and Voyager up for sale and watch for a lightly used one when I have cash in hand.  I think I should be able to get a little more than $4800 for my Concours.
My Concours Travels:
2014 New England Tour http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=17336.msg212077#msg212077

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #24 on: June 24, 2015, 12:53:18 PM »
Well, I rode the concours 45 miles to test ride the Triumph Trophy this morning.  They have a silver '14 New one for sale. 

I have nothing bad to say about the trophy.  Very nice touring bike.  It is considered sport touring, but definitely leans on the touring end of sport touring.  Kinda like what many of you turn the Concours into with your Corbin seats, hellebars, and barn door windscreens. ;)

The dealer only wanted to give me $4800 for my Concours, and was charging almost $1700 in fees on top of their 'sale' price.  By the time I left, we were still $5000 apart. 

I may put the Concours and Voyager up for sale and watch for a lightly used one when I have cash in hand.  I think I should be able to get a little more than $4800 for my Concours.

Glad you liked it. I really liked the more "touring" setup. Felt good on this 50 year old body! It's my next bike...just need to keep "buggin'" the wife!!
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #25 on: June 24, 2015, 12:55:47 PM »
Well, I rode the concours 45 miles to test ride the Triumph Trophy this morning.  They have a silver '14 New one for sale. 

I have nothing bad to say about the trophy.  Very nice touring bike.  It is considered sport touring, but definitely leans on the touring end of sport touring.  Kinda like what many of you turn the Concours into with your Corbin seats, hellebars, and barn door windscreens. ;)

The dealer only wanted to give me $4800 for my Concours, and was charging almost $1700 in fees on top of their 'sale' price.  By the time I left, we were still $5000 apart. 

I may put the Concours and Voyager up for sale and watch for a lightly used one when I have cash in hand.  I think I should be able to get a little more than $4800 for my Concours.

I'll be "re-connecting" with you on the Trophy Forum eventually :chugbeer:
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline twowheeladdict

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #26 on: June 26, 2015, 08:11:20 PM »
Well,  It turns out the dealer wanted to sell the Trophy more than I wanted to buy it.  They called and we did some more negotiating and this morning I turned the Concours over to them and rode home on the Trophy. 

I spent last evening converting it back to stock as much as possible.

My Concours Travels:
2014 New England Tour http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=17336.msg212077#msg212077

Offline Charlie747

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #27 on: June 27, 2015, 12:37:22 AM »
One of Hinckley's finest ...................Enjoy  :thumbs:

Offline Scaffolder

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #28 on: June 28, 2015, 06:54:17 AM »
Well,  It turns out the dealer wanted to sell the Trophy more than I wanted to buy it.  They called and we did some more negotiating and this morning I turned the Concours over to them and rode home on the Trophy. 

I spent last evening converting it back to stock as much as possible.


I have liked those ever since they came out again. Keep us posted on what you like/dislike about it. Good luck and enjoy your new ride. Silver is nice on those.
Joel from Maine.

Offline Awaz

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #29 on: June 28, 2015, 08:25:54 PM »
Nice! Went to Triumph dealer myself this Saturday. Plan was to check out a Tiger 800. Ended up test driving a bonnie and a scrambler. I absolutely loved the scrambler. Looks like it will fit the bill nicely and complement my C14 quite nicely. Still want to check out Indian before I plop down cash.
2016 Ducati Scrambler
2008 C14

Offline timsatx

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #30 on: June 29, 2015, 03:34:34 PM »
Yeah, be sure to keep us up-to-date on this bike. I have always like the look of it.

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #31 on: June 29, 2015, 03:44:49 PM »
Yeah, be sure to keep us up-to-date on this bike. I have always like the look of it.

Guys, it is a good look BUT you have to go ride one...they're awesome! I test rode the 2014 and have been hooked since. I'd have one now if my wife would let me spend the money! I could just go and get it but as good as that bike is it's not worth the "wrath" of my wife! Actually, she's not opposed to it but wants to get some other bills paid down first. I will buy that bike eventually but just know it is a fantastic bike...it has that "get on and ride all day" kind of comfort!! I currently have 30,000 miles on my 2012 Connie so I still have lots of life left in her but am hoping to have my Trophy sometime next year (2017 at the latest) at which time the Concours goes away.
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline clogan

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #32 on: June 30, 2015, 06:27:44 AM »
I test rode an Indian Chief Vintage a couple months ago. Before I give my impressions, let me say that I'm a retired CPA, been riding since 1970, and feel that the C14 is the absolute best bike ever...at lest for me.

My take on the Indian: beautiful paint and trim, very heavy, very loud, mediocre power, brakes and suspension (due to mass?)... And very expensive. It was a beautiful bike to look at, but I could not EVER see myself picking the Indian to ride anywhere, as long as I had a C14 to ride. But it sure was pretty! YMMV of course. There's no denying the popularity of the American V-twin motorcycles, but They're not for me.

I also test rode a Diavel. Very fun bike! That's a V-twin I could enjoy, if I could get past the sticker shock. Don't see how you could ride 2 up on it, but I guess it might be possible. I have no clue as to reliability or maintenance costs.

After looking around, I still keep coming back to the same conclusion that the C14 is my favorite, (along with a KLR).
2010 Neptune blue C14
2009 blue KLR
2013 DRZ400

Offline timsatx

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #33 on: June 30, 2015, 06:57:08 AM »
What is maintenance like as well as cost of repair? Just curious as to how it stacks up to other bikes.

Wasn't the Trophy chain instead of shaft before?

I also found this while looking it up:
Quote
Fuel Efficiency
Spending more time on the road and less time at the petrol station is important to any rider. The Trophy’s efficient
engine and tall 6 gear provides relaxed cruising and impressive economy with 69.2mpg at 56mph, and 54.5mpg
at 75mph. The tank is a capacious 26 litres allowing well over 250 miles between refills.

Offline stevewfl

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #34 on: June 30, 2015, 07:50:51 AM »
Doubt you'd be satisfied with the performance of the Trophy
“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” St. Augustine

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #35 on: June 30, 2015, 08:50:10 AM »
What is maintenance like as well as cost of repair? Just curious as to how it stacks up to other bikes.

Wasn't the Trophy chain instead of shaft before?

I also found this while looking it up:

It's shaft now. Fuel economy is great!
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #36 on: June 30, 2015, 08:53:03 AM »
Doubt you'd be satisfied with the performance of the Trophy

I don't know about that...I thought it handled great for the ride I was on. It DEFINITELY handles lighter than the Concours. It is more on the "Touring" side of the ST bikes but I am sure it would get me through the twisties juuuuust fine ;)
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #37 on: June 30, 2015, 08:53:35 AM »
Doubt you'd be satisfied with the performance of the Trophy

Steve, I took your post as "handling" but reads more like you're referring to the engine and it's performance...yes?
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline mikeb2411

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #38 on: June 30, 2015, 09:04:49 AM »

Doubt you'd be satisfied with the performance of the Trophy

Steve, I took your post as "handling" but reads more like you're referring to the engine and it's performance...yes?

If that's the case then you may have a point...depends on what people are looking for. The power is definitely different between the 2, the Concours having more of it. Let's face it, the Concours loves to run and there's no denying that!

What I'm looking at are the overall attributes of the bike and one of the BIG factors for me is comfort and the Trophy is most definitely the more comfortable of the 2 bikes. I "think" I am willing to sacrifice the power and performance of the Connie's motor for the other positives of the Trophy. It feels like the kind of bike you can get on and spend 10+ hours a day riding and feel fine afterwards. I can't do that on my Connie...it hurts after a few hours!

Now, regarding the comfort...I do believe a lot of my "discomfort" comes from my seat so I am having a new seat built by Loren at Baldwin. I am hoping that new seat solves my comfort issue (all my discomfort is in my butt...nowhere else) which will make the Connie much more enjoyable to ride than it already is. One other thing I REALLY liked about the Trophy is that when I sat on it I felt like I was sitting "IN" it. It wrapped around me nice and I really liked that! I feel as if I'm sitting "ON" my Connie...not liking that much but it is what it is for now.
Mike
Ojai, CA
2016 Black Triumph Trophy SE

Offline wally_games

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Re: Itching for a new bike
« Reply #39 on: June 30, 2015, 11:27:57 AM »
I test drove a Trophy quite a number of years ago and I liked it at the time. Just couldn't afford one. The style is change a good bit now.

I met a guy at our local Triumph/Guzi/Ducati dealer one weekend that had a Trophy decked out with everything you could think of for Ironbutt rallies. He had a huge aluminum tank on the back instead of a seat, two or three GPS units, etc. It was crazy, but he was showing us all of the long distance stuff he'd been doing. That tells me that it HAD to be comfy.

I enjoyed the power of my Connie and loved riding it. The buzzy hands bugged me, but I found that my immature side kept coming out and I was having trouble holding the speed down. I never had butt or back problems (Corbin seat) and could ride hundreds of miles in a day without discomfort. But, since the wifey wouldn't "let" me have two bikes, I sold off the Connie and picked up a BMW 1200GS. Completely different ride. It's super comfortable, although it doesn't offer the protection that the Connie did. Of course, that also means that it isn't quite as hot on a summer day in Texas as the Connie was. I have no problems with big miles on the GS (cruise helps!).
'14 BMW 1200 GSw (red, what little there is that's not grey)
'11 Concours ABS (black) w/ Leo Vince carbon, heated Corbin, Garmin; TechSpec pads (gone but not forgotten)
'05 Yamaha FZ6, only crashed once, gone in trade; '87 Honda Gold Wing Aspencade, sold; '85 Honda Magna (700), sold; '76 Kawasaki KZ400, sold