Triumphrat

barneys · 10-11-2007, 12:39 PM

Just been out for a short ride on my '07 T100. I was stopped at traffic lights alongside a Honda CBR1000 and thought how quite the engine was when idling, like a whining hairdryer. My Bonnie by comparison is quite noisy\rattly by comparison, can hear the tappets Etc. Only had the bike a short while and only a few hundred on the clock, I got to thinking was this the normal sound of these engines? I have got stock exhausts so they don't drown out engine noise.

Raindogs · 10-11-2007, 12:44 PM

The stock silencers are embarrassingly quiet. You've got to either drill those or pay the Bonnie Tax and get some aftermarkets.

sweatmachine · 10-11-2007, 12:46 PM

the engines are quite loud, as most air-cooled engines are. Mine sounds like a coffee can full of rusty ball bearings at idle.

nwraindevel · 10-11-2007, 12:50 PM

I had the same concern when I first got mine. I posted pretty much the same question and come to find out that it is just the way these fine machines sound. I thought the responses might be biased since everyone here owns one. So I asked my older brother (A Harley Rider and Mortorcycle Mechanic) who remembers our Dad's Triumphs from the 60's very well and he confirmed that that was a normal sound for our bikes.

neuroboy74 · 10-11-2007, 01:10 PM

my roommate has a yamaha fz6 and it sounds like an electric sewing machine. . . i love the burble of my bonnie at idle (i have repacked d&d pipes) and the whistle that layers over the top is my favorite (what does that anyway? cams?). the drawback of sportbike-quiet idle is that instead of roaring like the bonnie as it's wound up it whines--the bonnie just sounds like a bike is *supposed* to sound. just my opinion. my roommate loves the precision of his bike and wouldn't likely trade with me, but that doesn't mean that he's not wickedly jealous of the roar i kick out as wind up.

CAPTDON · 10-11-2007, 01:48 PM

Yeah the Bonnes are quite noisy in respect to the NEW MODERN motorcycle. They sound the way motorcycles were suppose to sound. Unfortunately, they will not pass the noise regs upcomming,nor will HD & a few others. Watercooling deadens the sound (a sound blanket of sorts) as well as cooling the over heated new engines from cats & other pollution regs. Thats why the Bonne as we knew it will soon be history again. The lucky ones that got one- savor them!! They will soon become real classics once again! I guess HD has the real game of "catch up". They only have 1 series of bikes (3-4 modles) that will pass the new regs!

alfacliff · 10-11-2007, 02:06 PM

High performance engines are noisey. even the venerable push rod v8 when using solid lifters gets noiser. My 74 alfa with its 2 ltr, dual overhead chain driven cam has much the same valve gear and is noisey also.hydraulic lifters make things quieter but also take power, and add weight to the valve train, cutting performance.
a few spacers between the fins might cut the noise a little by dampening viberations and resonances.
cliff

dkreidel · 10-11-2007, 03:09 PM

The new Bonnevilles are actually quieter than my old Triumphs - the tappets on the the old bikes make a hell of a noise - but after 40 years of listening to the tick-tick-tick I'm used to it. My parallel twin Kawi 650 is actually noisier than the new Bonnevilles. One of my T100's has a bit of a whine in the gearbox when the throttle is off and the bike is overdriven by the rear wheel, but other than that they are actually pretty quiet bikes. Put some NH Togas on your bike and listen to some real Triumph music!

Dick

dazco · 10-11-2007, 03:17 PM

Well, i guess i'm gonna have to be the devil's advocate. Not because i want to, but this bike as much as i love it, it is the noisiest engine i've owned.The other twins i owned back in the day, hondas, yamaha 650, triumph 750 all were far less noisy. (yes, even my '78 Triumph tiger!) My bike's pipes are plenty loud, but w/o earplugs, once i take off the bike's valve train is loud as he|| under load. At idle it's fine. But under load may as well have someone shaking a can of marbles in my ear. It's my only real irritation i have with the bike. Why our perspectives differ so much (some think older bikes were noisier) i have no idea. What i can say w/o reservation tho is that when i listen to other bikes of today, even harleys, i hear less, often MUCH less rattling noises. They're just noisy bikes, and thats pretty much been the general consensus at all the triumph forums as long as i've been on em.

BeastInBlack · 10-11-2007, 03:25 PM

embrace the noise, all part of the character!