Missives from the 6th Floor

I ordered the seals (again) and the bushings, waited another couple weeks, only to discover that there are a second set of bushings needed, which don't appear on any of the Triumph parts blowups, because they (wait for it) only sell them with the chrome fork tubes, at over $300 a side.

The crew at So. Cal Triumph came through again - turns out that RaceTech has aftermarket bushings suitable for the bike, and they're on order - hopefully to arrive "soon."

The real trouble is that this whole experience has caused a crisis of faith with regards to the Trophy. It's 10 years old this year, parts are getting harder to find, and the local Triumph shops are pretty underwhelming. I don't like to think about what might have happened if we were a state away from home if something that takes 2+ weeks to source from Triumph broke.

So I'm thinking hard about selling both Triumphs and buying something more common.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of buying a used bike, but neither am I thrilled with the price tags on the ST1300, FJR1300, Concours, or R1200 RT. The VStrom 1000 is a bit more in the right price range, but I've never ridden one, and my immediate reaction to a high-center of gravity bike isn't completely positive.

It seems way too possible that I sell one (or even both) of the Triumphs and then can't find a replacement that I'm happy with for a price I'm willing to pay.

There's also the possibility that we sell all three bikes to put toward a new one, but I'm encouraging Dawnise to think hard about that decision, as it's unlikely the new bike would be one she'd be comfortable piloting (for weight/size/seat height reasons).