Just watched "How to lose a guy in 10 days" The guy rode a Triumph Bonneville it looked like a 60's or 70's bike. When I went to there site I seen they still make them to look old. Very Cool!!! Has anyone owned one or heard anything about them? I might be interested next summer.
I have a 1970 Bonneville hooked up to a trickle charger sitting in the garage. Maybe if it doesn't rain tomorrow, I might just...
Buy the new one. The old bike was pos 30 years ago. Yeah, it has character and all that, but screw that. Character doesn't mean crap when you are standing by the side of the road trying to figure out why the &)*)*_*=-)())_ will not start. Turns out that the headlight had rotated around and had grounded out the lead wire to the ignition. Don't ask me how I figured this out. I don't have a clue. Dale
I do like the idea of buying a new one or even one a few years old, Because they still have that nostalgic look but new technology. I have seen them for less than 6k, not bad but I don't want something thats hard to get parts for.
Parts and service are no problem. There is a pretty large dealer network. Indeed, I have been thinking about getting a new one. If you have access to it, research Cycle World for Peter Egan's review of the bike. Sounds good to me. Dale
My dad has an '03 Triumph Speedmaster. I don't know nor really care about bikes that much, but he seems to like it. There is a shop about 40 minutes away that sells and works on them so that's not a problem. -Keith-
www.triumph.co.uk Check out the Thruxton 900. There is a comparion with the Harley Sportster in this months Motorcyclist. I've got an '02 Daytona. Awesome bike.
Kawasaki W650 might be a thought if you can get past the Asian origin. they are starting to get a bit of a cult following of their own...and they don't leak and will never leave you stranded. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I roadraced a 955i a couple of years ago for 1 season. The bike was not competitive, but we road the hell out of it and were posed to win the regional WERA OPEN superbike series on it with one race left in the season. The engine had developed a stress crack in the case and Triumph sent us a "new" engine. I jumped out to the early lead in the next race and on lap 1 the motor came apart! Triumph called us the following Monday and explained to us to be sure to drill out the oil galleys on the engine as it was a warranty recalled engine and had an improperly machined oil galley. Well they were a day too late!! We finished second for the year on the bike....the bike was not meant to be a race bike!! The bike was difficult to work on and not near the design of a Jap bike. It did make cool sounds and had lots of low end grunt. I was not impressed with the engineering of the 955....if you want to play with the big dogs, I would expect a more thought out bike that did not crack engine cases from track stress on the frame.
IIRC 2000 and 2001 only, with 2001 being preferred for much more comfortable seat. I think the pic I posted is a 2000, the 2001 has a somewhat stepped seat. I'd buy either as I'd likely put a nice leather Corbin with contrasting piping. I'm no expert in w650, but I think this is accurate. the early magazine reviews seemed to suggest that the Kwack was more true to the original than the later day Strumpet, i.e. sound and road feel like the 1960/1970s original. I'd buy the w650 without reservation. Addendum: Notice the "pushrod tube"? it's fake as the bike has an OHC, this styling element not true to the orig Bonnie, but more like an early Ducati IMHO. I'm not offended by it as it's not supposed to be an exact copy of the early Bonnie, this nod to Ducati is all the more indearing IMHO.
The Kawi is slightly down on power compared to the Triumph. In most modern bikes this wouldn't matter. But these bikes only have, what, 60 hp to begin with? ***** BTW, wouldn't it be cool if someone would make a copy of the old Duck 450? Make it a 650 with electric start. Say hey Mama have ya heard the news? Gonna make you sweat. Gonna make you groove.
