Triumphrat

Redmaster · 02-10-2006

It seems the days of the Parallel Air Cooled Twin is about to end....
This season brings some new designs from a number of manufactuers.... Motorcycles that I think have been around in Europe for awhile....

I just read the review about the Kawasaki Ninja 650 which has all the modern acutrements like Fuel Injection and liquid cooling system.

I will always have a great ride with my Speedmaster, however it represents a bygone era. Part of it's success stems from it's romantic design concept, solid reliability and 'tried and trued' motorcycle architecture.

To me it represents the pinnacle of the Triumph Twin Concept, along with it's bretheren.... However, these are romantic snapshots of what could have never been built in times past.... Brought to life to fuel our romantic fantasies of times when motorcycles were just transportation not ICONS to be worshiped.

I personally welcome the new crop of motorcycles... Just as I've welcomed the evolution of Motorcycle architecture for the past 40+ years... (My first motorcycle as a young 10yr old being a Honda 50 SuperSport that's probably still running today!)

I commend Mr. Bloor and Co. for their dedication and foresight in bringing the "Worlds Best Motorcycles" to the marketplace... Truly, only the British have codified the very essence of riding a motorcycle. This happened many years ago in the '60's and early '70's. (I speaking to the OVERALL handling and performance of the motorcycle design... not reliability... which was questionable at times.... Honda set the bar for reliability in a motorcycle engine design.)

I hope to be able to ride my Speedmaster forever....
It may share some garage space with one or two other siblings down the road... But I'm sure they'll all speak the same language of Triumph Values... the engineering dialog that links the past to the next generation.

--Clark

MES · 02-10-2006

Quote:

Truly, only the British have codified the very essence of riding a motorcycle. This happened many years ago in the '60's and early '70's.

The Italians might have a thing or two to say you about that. :-D

oops. Forgot the "e".

[ This message was edited by: MES on 2006-02-10 22:14 ]

Redmaster · 02-10-2006

The "Desmodrive" certainly put them in the 400cc and above motorcycle hunt... They already had a blueprint in the form of the British motorcycles IMO... It's easy to reverse engineer, and build upon and improve on solid design statements already proven.
(and I'm focusing in on the era of the Bonneville, not racing, just during the days when a motorcycle was viewed as a preferred mode of transportation... Not a toy that you'd bought because you could... just to ride on weekends or something like that...))

The Italians make nice scooters and some fairly nice roadcars though.
I used to race for Motovilla in the '70's
--Clark

Diego · 02-10-2006

We will almost certainly see fuel injection on Triumph twins, but I don't foresee water cooling in the near future, nor their demise.

guzzi · 02-10-2006

No need to look past Moto Guzzi for "true motorcycling essense".

They have been forced to adopt fuel injection, and perhaps a water cooled touring rig in future, but they have had an equally long and storied journey as Triumph.

I see new triumph as a "rediscovery" of past glory, with Guzzi as a continuation of glory (second oldest moto company in the world).

Room in my garage for both

shorty

wnt2rd · 02-11-2006

I don't know how true this is, but someone told me that the US will no longer allow air-cooled motorcycles to be built after a certain year, which will be in the next 10 years. I was told this a while ago so I can't remember the specifics.

I think it has something to do with the environment, but I can't think of anything other than the fact that air-cooled bikes may run at a higher temperature. Maybe the heat pollutes the oil more? Maybe it creates extremely bad exhaust? Sounds like a rumor to me, but either way it made me glad that I purchased an air cooled.

kdrake · 02-11-2006

Of necessity, an air cooled engine needs looser clearance to allow for a larger variance in expansion. A water jacket also kills some noise, witness the little rubber plugs I saw between the fins on a Thruxton. On the other hand, notice how many liquid cooled MC's have rudimentary fins for appearance? Between noise and emissions, we will probably finally have electrics if thing that fall over when stopped are even allowed.

Diego · 02-11-2006

> I don't know how true this is, but someone told me that the US will no longer allow air-cooled motorcycles to be built after a certain year

Doesn't seem likely any time soon. As long as they meet the emission and noise requirements, there's nor reason why air cooled bikes won't be allowed.

Of course, our particular twins are not strictly air cooled anyway. But remember that the US has just this year imposed the California motorcycle exhaust emission standards nationwide--and Triumph has not had to modify any models, including Bonnevilles, because they already met that standard. The only difference has been the evaporative loss control requirements of California.

The fate of air cooled motors will probably rest in the hands of Europeans, whose standards become even tougher next year.

ohiorider · 02-11-2006

If you think air cooled motors are coming to an end, better tell BMW (and HD). BMWs latest boxer twins (air/oil cooled - not water cooled) are running compression ratios of 12:1. pumping out over 120hp at the crank on the latest R1200S, pull well over 45 mpg on their touring R1200RT, are fuel-injected and are equipped with catalytic converters to meet current, and most likely, proposed EU emissions regs.

What I think will be the first thing to go on future Bonnevilles will be the carbs. In the future, they'll come with a mapped fuel injection system and cat converter. This doesn't mean one can't change the mufflers. Companies like Remus, Staintune, and others make slip ons as well as complete systems designed to work with the mapped f.i. system on BMWs. They will do the same for Triumph twins.

Bob

WANG · 02-12-2006

As long as Triumph doesn't try to get rid of their leftover Sagem units on the Twins we will be O.K. :-D