Will The Bonnie Work For Me?

I had intended to say primary chain but anyway....

I still love my new Bonnie as much as my old cantankerous bikes.

Yeah well that's just like, your opinion, man.

Must admit. Leaning towards the R12R. I just like them too much to pass it up. Got a great Bandit looking for a home.
Lyle

Good on ya. The R1200R is hot.

Though I have to admit, I came back to the thread to post another reply to this comment:

Yup. Just look at that no-character POS. Makes me want to puke!

I agree, that dirty bike should be in my garage keeping my POS company.

I love my R

...not that there's anything wrong with that

I looked at the Bonneville also before I bought my Beemer. I really liked it - but didn't love it as compared to the R. Luckily for me, Mrs. Patch retained an affinity for the Triumph, and will likely be picking one up this season. She's just not comfortable on the R solo... feels it is too powerful too quickly or some such thing. She's not scared of it and can tip-toe it but to her it's just not quite right. Pillion only for her on the Beemer.

I think you can't go wrong either way... good luck with your choice!

I have sixty thousand trouble free miles on mine. Lovely multi-purpose bike that looks tons better looking than any Beemer.

At least the pipes still blue, they got something right, If you think the new ones have character, try riding a new one and a mid '60s model side by side. No comparison. The old ones actually felt like MOTORcycles. Just like pre '04 Sportsters. The new ones are 100% more reliable, but they don't come close to providing the same experience.

Not a really good comparison, but I have 2 scooters. One is an '08b Yamaha Vino 125. Smooth, reliable, electric start, twist and go, no clutch and no gears, stone reliable, and drop dead boring. A modern plastic transportation appliance.

The other one is a 1971 Vespa PX150. 2 stroke, kick start, premix gas, manual trans and clutch, 6 volt electrical system with no battery, and whatever you call the front suspension that Vespa used back then, very similar to a Honda Cub. Drum brakes on both ends, and tube type tires. But it also has a complete spare tire and wheel. It is noisy, it smokes, it can be finicky to get started, you have to mix the gas and oil, the suspension sucks (though the new seat is great), the shifting is clunky, and it squeaks and rattles.

Guess which one is more fun to ride. Hint: It's not the Yamaha.

if you need more "character" than the Bonnie, there is the Scrambler.

Serious question: Have you ridden one that has been de-restricted and fitted with a set of decent pipes? I fully admit that the modern Bonnies sound neutered out of the box, but it doesn't take much to wake them up.

I haven't ridden a '60s Bonnie, but I've ridden other ancient motorcycles that leak oil and vibrate... sail around in the wind... with forks that barely work... and brakes that work even less. In fact I rode one for like 5 years before I wised up

If the stock pipes are too sedate for you, you can always opt for the Arrows. Here is my 2011 T100 I just bought with Arrow two-into-ones with no baffles. Sounds great with a nice low rumble and even without the baffles is not deafening, but you pay a bit of a price on mpg with these pipes. Although I have gotten mine up to about 48 mpg before while making an effort to ride easy. The pipes also up the hp, not sure how much, but this bike has some oomph and can hit the ton with lots of throttle left. Handling is great and I've yet to drag my peg, something that happened occasionally on my CB350. The tank is 4.2 gallons giving a decent range. The saddle is not great, but I will eventually replace mine with a Corbin. That said, the stock seat is not too bad, but I am used to 400 to 700 mile days on my '68 CB350 so anything is better than that seat by comparison. I have added a rear rack since the pic and my tailbag swaps right over that I use on my CB, along with tank bag, saddlebags, and windscreen (National Cycle Deflector DX). I am looking forward to some long trips on the Bonnie when I am not doing vintage rides on the CB.



Cheers,

Mike

Just my opinion here Mike, but one of THE most attractive features on the new Bonnie are the "pea shooter" exhaust pipes! A 2 into 1 header......say you didn't!! Please. The "pea shooters" are works of ART!
Lyle

I absolutely agree with that, yet the sound coming out of the stock pipes (gorgeous as they are) begs for improvement. Isn't there a pipe available that would retain the pea shooter look AND sound good as well?

Maybe its just me, but most of the bikes that people say have "character" or "soul" have serious flaws. It seems that this euphemism for some horrid mechanical flaw. I have ridden some of these bikes and would never trade a modern bike for them. Sure, they required more personal involvement from the rider than the new ones do. Does that make the old ones better? I think not. Personally I like things that don't break. I had a '74 Scout that I loved....wouldn't trade my Tacoma for it.....EVER! The Tacoma works everyday! I actually had to buy two Scouts to create a single one....fun, but I don't have time for that anymore. And, I hate vehicles that leave me stranded.

When I bought my K8 Gixxer, the only other bike that was seriously in the running was a Bonnie. The new ones are great. Mods can be cheap. You probably won't even need the dealer. It is not fast, but it is fun. The BMW will be very expensive to maintain....the Bonnie not so much. If anything happens to the Bonnie much of it can be handled by the owner or local indy, try that with the BMW. I really like the K1200s...very hot bike, but the dealer network is limited and they are very complicated.

Just my NSHO.

There are all sorts of Exhaust options for the new Bonnie a few that retain the peashooter look. Check out:

http://www.british-customs.com/

or

http://www.newbonneville.com/

My fI 09 T100 sounds better with stock exhaust than the ones I had originally heard with carbs. Maybe Triumph let loose a little sound when they converted to FI. I do plan on getting pipes though but will probably stick with the TORS with the factory tune for them. I wouldn't mind getting rid of the AI while I am at it.

But first I am doing a proper suspension. I am waiting on a set of Ohlins and will have Ricor Intiminators for the front forks installed at the same time. Can't wait for the suspension mods, but will have to wait a bit for the pipes.

Rick G

Yeah, the peashooters look good and I would have been happy with them and the better mileage, but this was a deal I just couldn't pass up on a consignment bike with 3,500 miles and still under warranty until April of 2013 (<$7,000) and it was absolutely flawless. I had been looking for the right deal on a Bonnie for the last couple years. A friend of mine test drove some out in Nevada a while back, and the one thing he did not like was the (lack of) sound. He sadi at speed you couldn't even hear the motor. These Arrows are cool in their own way looks-wise, but not like the peashooters, but man, I mean, no one can say the growl of this thing has no character. There is a drawback to them, though, and that is that the stock centrestand won't fit with the Arrows on. I may look into buying one and modifying it.

I would not say serious flaws, more like personality as opposed to the sewing machine that sort of looks like an old motorcycle.
Some years and models did suck, others were very good.
The later bikes had good brakes, electronic ignition, good carbs, were around 400 pounds, had cast wheels, held about 4 quarts of oil in the frame, had thick comfortable seats that flipped up for storage.
You could buy a new one, and ride it for years without issues if you did the usual maintenance on it.
They did vibrate a bit when you really got on it, which was where the character came from, that and the sound of the exhaust.

Not to say everyone should run out and get one, just that the new ones are not anything at all like the old ones in a bad way.

What puzzles me endlessly is how vibration and breakdowns are considered personality traits, while reliability and smoothness somehow are not. Yes, I also look for a bike with character: smooth, reliable one.

Norman Hyde Togas (what I have, pictured above) look closest to the 60s pipes and sound great. They're not as loud as some other options, but they are nice and robust sounding. And they deliver increased rwhp and torque when carbs/mapping is dialed accordingly.