One color resonance enhanced two photon ionization spectra of the tropyl C7H7 and C7D7 radicals were recorded in a molecular beam. Tropyl was produced in a supersonic plasma source using different precursors to identify its vibronic bands. The vibronic system is assigned to the E-2(3)" <-- (XE2)-E-2" electronic transition with origin near 25 719 cm(-1). It covers 6 000 cm(-1) revealing a large change of geometry due to a Jahn-Teller distortion in both the ground and the excited states. Ab initio calculations were carried out on the Jahn-Teller configurations to guide the assignment.