New Trophy and trip to Alpine - 2014

Hey Hey,

This is going to be another quick post.  Yet again I'm blogging, hours before departing on another trip.  Why I don't work on these days before morning deadlines I'll never know.

Back in April the wife went completely nuts and agreed to let me buy another bike.  We wanted to get something a bit larger then Bonnie, that would allow us to tour more then a couple of hours.  Anything longer then that and the wife's back would give out on the old seat, not to mention the fact that, when she came along I had nowhere to pack any gear.

So as a result we became a two motorcycle family when I went to go pick up "Clyde", the 2014 Triumph Trophy.

 He's a three cylinder 1200cc beast that weighs in at nearly 700 pounds wet.  He makes Bonnie feel like a slim bicycle.  But oh so many luxuries!  Adjustable windscreen, cruise control, stereo system, electronic suspension.  Wait! Can I still make fun of those Goldwind guys??  I don't think I can anymore. 

 Tuyen came along for moral support.  And to keep me from jumping up and down in joy in front of sales people and customers.  A side story here, I sold my 10 year old Ranger pickup truck with 35K miles to Tuyen to help pay for the bike.  I'm going to miss that truck!

 Brought it over to my parents house where my Mom and Aunt checked it out.  My Aunt firmly believes in most of the gear some of the time.  My mom is a crazy person, who throws caution to the wind, and doesn't wear any gear.

 I had the shop install a bunch of modifications.  Top box, radiator grill, Tank bag, heated grips, comfort seats (the default seats made you wonder why Triumph doesn't sell the comfort seats right out of the gate.  Oh wait they make more money that way.)  But unfortunately I had ordered some R&G Adventure Bars that didn't show up in time for the shop work.  So I decided to install them myself.

 Always a little scary tearing down a bike that has nothing wrong with it.

 What Clyde looks like with all his pretty plastic pieces gone.

 Bad picture, but you can make out the newly installed crash bars on either side of the bike. 

 After putting Humpty, I mean Clyde, back together Kiri and I were lucky enough you take the new bike out for a small ride up to the White Mountains with my parents.  This was taken at a outlook looking over the town of Eagar.

 Near Hannagan Meadow we spotted some rain clouds nearby so we pulled over to throw on some gear.

 We stopped for lunch in the town of Greer.  This place has some great food! The Rendezvous Diner.

 Mmmmmm Mmmmm.

 Waiting for the parents to get their pictures taken I make a stoic figure for passerby's to leer at.

 From there we wandered the back roads near Alpine.  Some great driving in this area.

 Had a spot of engine trouble after pulling over to look at some elk.  When we got back to town the Triumph shop told me I need to let the bike go through it's starting routine before taking off.  Who knew that we were now on Clyde's schedule!  Wait till these new fangled machines start talking.  We'll really be in trouble.  "What's your rush! You got a hot date??? Darn Humans!".

 Heading back to Alpine we were going to hit some heavy rain.  So we pulled over at a local post office to put on the gear again.  I can't stop laughing at this picture.  Not one drop of water is going to touch my mom.

 Me and the misses.  Frogg Togg needs to make pants in Large Tall, not Large High Water.

 So one of the main reason I wanted crash bars was so I could mount some highway pegs.  I really want to ride in style!  After looking at a LOT of different pegs I found what I wanted at a BMW accessories web site.   Shhhhhh don't tell Triumph.  They'll take my fan club membership pin away.  If you want some serious foot pegs the people at Ilium Works are who you want to talk to.

 What I like about these, in addition to their build quality is that not only do they flip up against the bars, but the foot pegs swivel so I can rest my legs on top of them and they provide a nice flat surface.

 So now that the bike is ready to travel what else do I need.  Yes! Yes I do need 200 pairs of neon green ear plugs.  What can I say..I got a good price on Amazon.

 I say I needed, the wife says I wanted, I really don't see the difference, a new tent. 

 And now you're all caught up to date.  Tomorrow morning my dad is going to show up at the ungodly hour of 6am so we can start a two week trip up through Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, and New Mexico.  This is Clyde all packed up and ready to roll. 

So stay tuned. In two weeks I'll start to post the pictures of the epic journey, or I'll be stranded on the side of the road somewhere looking for a ride.  Either way it should be fun:) Take care and please ignore any spelling errors.  I'm too tired to proof read:).