Triumphrat

tsmgguy

The Bonneville's not like your BMW at all, but you knew that!

Carb or EFI? My carbed '03 pulls like a draft horse, and I've never needed to even touch the carbs.

The Bonneville is a really nice 3-4 hour ride. After that I want OFF, mostly because of the terrible stock seat and utter lack of protection from wind blast. Guys will tell you that they ride their Bonneville from coast to coast, but this is rare indeed. It's a great bike for for commuting and day trips, and it has good, predictable handling that inspires confidence. At about 450 pounds, it's no lightweight, but it handles like one because of its low seat height and center of gravity.

For me to keep one motorcycle for almost 10 years is something that's never happened before, but this one scratches all of the itches. It does everything well, and has that classic look to boot.

Mine's been completely trouble free except for a slightly leaky fork seal early on. I was advised to wait until the bike had 5,000 miles on it before I ever even considered fixing the problem. Sure enough, at exactly 5,000 miles on the odometer, the weeping stopped and the fork seals have been perfect since.

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2003 Lucifer Orange Triumph Bonneville T-100, completely stock except for chromed fenders.
2007 Anniversary Red Ducati GT-1000

Photo: The GT1000 at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats

tsmgguy

My T100 Bonneville's been completely trouble free except for a slightly leaky front fork seal early on. I was advised to wait until the bike had 5,000 miles on it before I ever even considered fixing the problem. Sure enough, at exactly 5,000 miles on the odometer, the seeping stopped and the fork seals have been perfect since. Good advice indeed.

The rest of the bike seemed to be well run-in at this mileage, too.

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2003 Lucifer Orange Triumph Bonneville T-100, completely stock except for chromed fenders.
2007 Anniversary Red Ducati GT-1000

Photo: The GT1000 at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats

psychodeathbot

I also am contemplating swapping our Beemer for a Bonneville. I tend to prefer simple, classic bikes since I do my own maintenance. I'm a bit weary of the complexity and expense of owning a BMW and I think a Bonnie might be in my future.

luckyduck

I like my '01 Carb'd Bonnie for a few reasons:

1. It has the best paint scheme of all years (forest green and silver)
2. It has the hottest cams of all years (pulls hard to the redline)
3. It's carburated. I like the challenge and organic quality of working on them and getting them to run right.