Triumphrat

stylemaster53

Hello all. First off great board you have here. I am new to the board and was hoping I could get some feedback on the Bonneville T100. I was in the Triumph dealership on Saturday and saw this bike and Wow, it was exactly my style. I wasn't able to take one out for a spin since it was raining here but am going to try and set up a demo this coming weekend. I currently own a Yamaha R6 and the seating position on the T100 was a relief to my back. :lollol:

Anyway, my question is. How well will this bike hold up on a long ride. A few of my buddies and I are wanting to do a cross country ride next year, approx 3000 miles in 7-8 days. How well do you think this bike will hold up and has anyone done that kind of a ride on one before?

Thanks for any and all feedback you can provide.

guzzi

Howdy. Wait til you take a test ride. No telling how you will adapt from one type of bike to another.

300 miles a day? Bonnie can handle it if you can. :-D

I'd put a few thousand on it before the trip to break it in, and get past the first service, then you'll know what mods/additions you'll need to travel.


Have fun!

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shorty

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doctorjay

Best Bike in the world, but I'm biased!! It is light in weight, and that's an advantage and a disadvantage on the freeway in my opinion. I'm doing a 100 mile ride Saturday on mine. I'll let you know my state of butt numbness after that. all in all, I wouldn't hesitate to buy mine again

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Thriumph Thunderbird SE 2010

stylemaster53

Thanks for the replies guys.

Guzzi, my plan is to purchase one later this year and we are planning the trip at the end of next season. I don't want to do a trip like that without being familar with the bike and especially right after I buy it. I am defiantly going to get through the break in period prior to ride.

The longest I have gone on the R6 is 220 miles in a day and I was exhausted. I am hoping the up right seating position will help a lot since the R6 sits so aggresive.

Doctorjay, the weight feature I am pretty used to. The R6 wet weighs just over 400 lbs and isn't too bad on the freeway unless you get a semi that wants to blow past you to make a point. When I sat on the T100 the weight distribution felt very nice.

Has Triumph fixed the issue with the pipes turning blue after a short period of time? I really don't mind it, I was just curious.

bluesjeans

Triumph would never alter their trade mark..

stylemaster53

:lollol: Good point. Personally I like that look, just saw a lot of reviews where that was mentioned so was just curious. Thanks for the info.

chazzman

I had a full system BUB exhaust installed and a rejet at time of purchase. At 80 miles my pipes were blued about 4 in from the head and a little popping on decel. I went to an older Triumph tech., he deleted the air injection and rejeted with 135 mains and did a couple of other things. My ride home was 30 miles and there was no more blue when I arrived. I have a light bronz color about 4 inches and most people do not even see the color change. I can tell you this it runs like a raped APE!

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"If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you."

mcocorochio

My only concern would be the 'lack of performance' compared to the R6. I am getting a bit old (54) and had a few sport bike speeding tickets. So I didn't mind dropping my power to wieght ratio. The bikes I had were about 100hp for 500lbs or so. In your case the R6 is even lighter. If you were used to using that kind of power you may end up like some of the frustrated bonnie owners putting a lot of time and money into it just to get another 5 or so hp.

On a related track, I had problems getting used to the mediocre handling and brakes. This winter I installed aftermarket shocks, upgraded brake lines and better fr pads (it is a single disk). I didn't go for the upright seating and also installed M bars.

I feel very comfortable with the bike in general, but today I ordered the Scrambler gel seat so that I could go over 200 miles per day.

Mike Cocorochio

dazco

I suggest you ride one and also a cruiser. I know some with bonnies will disagree, and i'm not saying they aren't good for a cross country ride. But the cruisers are much better for that i'm sure. The wheelbase is longer, they weigh more, and the seat is the most comfortable bike seat i've ever sat in, and no bike i've ever owned is as stable at freeways speeds. granted, the closest thing i've owned to a current bonnie is a 78 triumph 750, but thats not remotly close to my speedy in this regard, and theres no question the design of the cruisers is better for long distance like that. IMO they're likely much better. And no comparison between the cruisers and any other bike i've owned in that regard. So i'd suggest you at least test ride the america or speedmaster. The bonnies have thier place and the cruisers have thier place. But i responded because you want the bike for what i believe is easily the cruiser's territory. If you were looking to carve the twisties i wouldn't dream of saying this, but you aren't so there ya go.

dawgfan

I am in the same boat.

I own a Bonnie, now with about 2,200 miles and use it mainly for commute, around town, and weekend rides. When folks gripe about the stock brakes and shocks, I would tend to agree with them. When they say the Bonnie is a friggin' blast in the twisties and around town, I DO agree with them.

I am considering doing longer rides as well and trying to decide whether to do it with the Bonnie or move to the Speedmaster. Regarding comp'ing the Bonnie with a Sportbike, when I go to my hometown, I ride a buddy's CBR 954 and there is no way I could ride it comfortably as long as I can on my Bonnie. I love the ergonomics of the Bonnie cause' it is very close to what I am used to from dirt bikes (neutral stance).

With that said, I am not sure if I would enjoy 5+ hour days on the Bonnie on highways due to its lighter weight, need for an extra tooth on front sprocket and lack of storage space or places to put storage space without getting all geeked-out.

I am not going to make a rash decision and I will be test riding the Speedy in the coming weeks. It is just so, so hard to even think about giving up the Bonnie (I don't have the $$ for both).

Good Luck