98 Trophy 1200 Shakedown Run

[atomsplitter]

I took my Trophy out this morning to assess the carburetion after Eurosport replaced the carb fuel inlet seals. I rode about 55 miles under various conditions of speed and load. It idles better now that I ran Sea Foam thru it and overall runs adequately, but it feels as though the sync is off on the carbs and the idle mix smells way too fat. The bike jerks slightly under steady load telling me the synchronization needs checked. The idle going up and down 300 RPM on it's own is now over and it idles smooth and steady at 900 RPM. But there's a lot of exhaust smoke and it smells rich at idle. With the cooler temps I'll get it up on my lift and do a synch check with my mercury manometers and install my color tune to check idle mix. Normally I would only check one pot and then adjust all the mix screws the same, but in this instance I'll do a check on each cylinder to make sure its not just one being way off. For those unfamiliar with color tune (because you run fuel injection) here's a quick video on carburetor tuning with it:

 

[Claviger]

Neat tool.

 

[Jallen3.14]

I'd love to have a Trophy as a second bike.

 

[atomsplitter]

I'd love to have a Trophy as a second bike.

It's my cool weather bike, and really a fun ride:

 

[Claviger]

Such a shame they killed off the 1300 version, it was, IMHO, a phenomenal 1st shot at returning to a fully equipped sport-touring bike. Shame they didn't make a revision to compete with the market.

 

[atomsplitter]

Such a shame they killed off the 1300 version, it was, IMHO, a phenomenal 1st shot at returning to a fully equipped sport-touring bike. Shame they didn't make a revision to compete with the market.

My guess is the underwhelming response to the 1215 Trophy was the catalyst to focus on their core market. While a very competent motorcycle in its own right it lacked the punch to compete with the big boys in that segment (BMW basically owns that market with the GTL1600 and K spin-offs). If Triumph wanted to really compete they should make Rocket wrapped in sport-tour livery, with handling and brakes to match. I suppose the power plant from a 1700 T-bird could also be adapted. (with a massive catalytic converter)

 

[Jallen3.14]

It's my cool weather bike, and really a fun ride:

Gorgeous!

 

[atomsplitter]

UPDATE: Had Tom over to help with the tuning project. What I found was one of the blind plugs on carb #3 was split (vacuum leak on that cylinder) and then when we hooked up the manometers. The sync was off all way round. We got 3&4 working together, then 1&2, then synced the two sides. That got the motor humming nicely. We then pulled the #1 plug and found my 14mm Colortune won't fit in the 12mm hole. So the 12mm adapter is now on order. I did note the plug was black on the electrode so rich running is a given. Once the color tune arrives we'll finish the tuning.