Thinking about a Touring Bike

[pwrmedic1]

I ride a Daytona 600 as my regular bike but the better half hates it so I am thinking about buying a Trophy or Sprint Excutive as the other machine for her to ride and do some short trips on but I am not very familiar with either one of them so what are some of the problems I need to watch for and how does it handle with the bags and how hard are they to take off.

Thanks Eric

[idahotb]

Eric-
The Sprint 900s and the Trophy 900s are the same essentially bike with different body panels. They continued to produce the Trophy 900 for a couple of years after 1999, which was the last year of the carburated Sprint (Sport of Exec). There is also a 1200cc 4 cylinder Trophy on the same frame that was made until 2002.
I ride a '96 Sprint 900 and rode it to Alaska and back a couple of years ago. I am 6'3" and it is the most comfortable bike I own. I don't have the factory bags (I put a Givi 3 bag system on mine), but from what I have heard and seen they work great. I hauled way too much stuff with me on that trip, burned out the rear tire; but the bike handled great. I almost always have the top box on even when just out running around, and I don't feel that at all.
As far as problems, I have had one, a pinched vaccumn line to the fuel tap caused a minor panic but the fix was to flip it end for end (30 minute job). The Mikuni carbs on the Sprint are not terribly efficient, so you only get around 35-40 mpg. The engine is noisy, and the pipes are extremely quiet; so stock the valve train makes more noise than the exhaust.
All in all, they are a little hard to find, but if you find one in good shape at a reasonable price I would say buy it.

Hope that helps. If you have any specific questions, just shout.

[roadweazel]

Originally Posted by pwrmedic1

I ride a Daytona 600 as my regular bike but the better half hates it so I am thinking about buying a Trophy or Sprint Excutive as the other machine for her to ride and do some short trips on but I am not very familiar with either one of them so what are some of the problems I need to watch for and how does it handle with the bags and how hard are they to take off.

Thanks Eric

I have a Sprint Executive and it's a really nice bike. Mine's the really nice 'Platinum' colour, which is sort of a silver with a just a hint of gold. The hard bags are the same as the Trophy and they come off in a snap. They don't hold as much as the Givis but they look like they belong on the bike. I've rode mine over 1,000 miles in 16 hours and it's wasn't bad, altho I did swap out for a Corbin seat.
The handling is decent. I find the handling to be smooth, not too heavy and solid. My Guzzi Sport acts like it's going to slam my helmet off the ground as soon as I think I wanna turn but this one just eases into a very stable arc.
I get about 35mpg with rejetted carbs and a slightly modded exhaust.
Mine might be for sale come Feb of '08, the only reason for that is that I've got 'new-bike-itis'. I want to have a Triumph in the garage and I don't want to sell the Guzzi. If I can't find a good deal on a Rocket III then I'll just keep it, I think.
Good luck with your quest.
Weazel