Triumphrat

ricksd

Was trailering my Speedmaster and taking 2-day trips from various bases in Arizona, Utah and Colorado when I ran into Simon, a Brit expatriate in the U.S. for many years, at Bryce Canyon, UT. He was en route to Albuquerque from Seattle riding his new Bonnie T100; a red/black 2006 with 3000 miles he had put on it, mostly on this trip. He had all his gear in a backpack that he fashioned into a tank bag secured with bungee cords. He lashed his sleeping bag to the rear of the seat, which left him about eight inches of space to squeeze himself onto the bike. With the tank backpack pushed up to the handlebars I told him it didn't look like he could maneuver the bike, but Simon said: "Motorcycling is a all about leaning isn't it?" Simon's riding gear consisted of a Northface camping jacket, a sweater, jeans and helmet. He said he didn't even have gloves when he left Seattle but had to buy some after a few days because his hands couldn't take it. Also, no windscreen on the Bonnie!

I can't remember how many miles Simon said he traveled from Seattle over the Cascades, to Crater Lake, to Reno, down route 395 in CA and across Death Valley, through Vegas and up to Bryce but it's a lot; and he still had hundreds to go -- check it out on your Rand McNally. After Albuquerque he said he was riding back to Seattle, said he had to do it in four days.

I don't know what kind of records there are for touring on a Bonneville T100, but Simon must qualify in some category if you count the gear it's done with, time and distance. I told him about this forum and how he should tell his story here; hopefully he will.

[ This message was edited by: ricksd on 2007-06-18 23:34 ]

wenzel850

I did 3000 miles on a T100 without a windshield, boy that was tough. I too had everything I needed strapped to my seat in a duffel bag and that didn't leave very much room for me.

Simon sounds like 1 tough cookie. I hope he enjoyed himself.

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Quentin

Is it spring yet ?

tba-golfer

It wasn't thisSIMON, was it?

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William Blake

sweatmachine

I did an almost 2000 mile trip in 5 days, so none of the days were very stressful or too far of distance, but I've done 600 mile days plenty of times on the bonnie.

If your bike is setup correcly a windshield is not necessary. I have M bars mounted upside down (pretty low) and rearsets, this setup gets me out on top the tank, and "under" the wind, I can ride all day no problem.

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"If you will it dude, it is no dream"

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wenzel850

Sweat,

Yea your right about the rearsets and lower bars, but you forgot one thing. Your alot younger than some of us. Hence the need for a windshield, my back couldn't do 3000 miles on top of the tank. My wife would still be peeling me off the bike.

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Quentin

Is it spring yet ?

decobike

Great story ricks. Visions of days gone by: My wife and I would 2 up travel on my old RD350 leaving Kansas City and head down to Branson (that was before it was Branson) to play and camp. Us 2 and a full length backpack slipped over the sissy bar, no rack (the pack sat on top of the tail light) & no windshield. Always thought that was the way it was supposed to be. Heading home on one of our trips, outside of Sedalia, Mo the bike started going all squirrelly in back at 70 mph on I 70, looking over my shoulder and realized my (not yet) wife was falling off, she had fallen asleep. I pulled over and yelled at her a little realizing even at the time how crazy it was. Got the clothesline out of the backpack tied us together and continued home. We were married 30 years in December. Were not tough when were young just lacking experience. Never owned a leather jacket until the 06 Bonnie. A Bonnie is a pretty basic machine compared to the road barges.

Yeah wensel, I think 400 maybe 500 miles these days on a long trip. And I would need forward foot pegs too already have the windshield. TG the Bonnie needs fuel every 120 miles or so.

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lunus

Oh, wow, I didn't realise he was doing it again! I still have the original Jupiter's Travels on my bookshelf - an amazing guy. Shame he wasn't offered a Bonnie ....

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This, boys, is a motorcycle.

50yrDream

What a Traveler! I'm reading Jupiters Travels now that I got from Scott as well as 3 other of his books ( Thanks Scott!)

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Billie I

ohiorider

Here's my machine about 5 minutes before heading out on what ended up being a 5000 mile trip. Tom and I both took Bonnies. Mine was pretty elementary, but I like leaning into a bike, and prefer no windshield to the noise created by many of them. And really liked having no shield running thru northern AZ and Southern UT, where the temps were hitting well over a hundred degrees F



Not much room for anything else but me, but the T100 was a surprisingly good ride, day in and day out. BTW - I had changed out the stock fork springs and shocks.

Most days were in the 350-375 mile range, with one close to 600 miles.

Bob

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2003 T100 (790cc) Lucifer Org and Silv: 122/42 jets, TORs, 17T, UNI filter, no AI, Polaris bellmouth, Metzeler ME880 tires, Progressive 440 shocks (105/150 springs),11-1126 fork springs, gaiters, MotoTwin low bars, 6024 lamp, htd grips, 12v outlet.