Triumphrat

NewOldSkool

My thoughts exactly. Me, I ride with more HDs more then any other brand due to numbers. And I have had nothing but good times and met friendly people. I believe respect (if that is what you are looking for) is a mutual thing, you give you get and the other way around.

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Iraq is stupid!!!

CAPTDON

One of my garage mates hAs a Nightrain. Nice lookin bike!! Bike riders are- bike riders. There are good ones (mostly) & bad ones like any other part of life. The bike they ride doesnt disqualify them as AH's nor does it say they are good people? People are people- there are good ones & not. 90+% of the bike people I have met are good people ! Like the boating world- a common ground!

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CAPT D

yonder

I was the OP'er. I was just curious about this aspect of the two bikes because I was able to sufficiently find for myself the other points of comparison that I was looking for. This one aspect of comparison between the two was not easy to find.

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Joe S.

I happen to have an '05 XL1200R that has had some work done to it, exhaust, 42mm flat slide carb, mild head porting, cams and programmable ignition module. It puts out just north of 80 hp on the dyno.
As it happens my dealer allowed me to take a fairly extensive test ride on his T100 which has slip ons and a rejet so I actually got to ride them back to back.
Its been a long time since I rode a stock 1200R so its hard for me to compare the power with the Bonneville. Obviously my bike will tromp a stock Bonneville pretty badly. I'm guessing stock for stock the bikes accelerate fairly comparably. An 883 would be slower than a stock Bonneville, they turn the quarter somewhere in the mid to high 14s.
I think both handle acceptably well. Neither is a front line sport bike and neither comes with particularly good rubber. Someone said they do not think a Sportster can corner, I suggest that person maybe needs some riding lessons.
I think the stock suspension of a Bonneville is somewhat better on the rear. This is not saying much as either bike comes with shocks that keep the tire from hitting the fender and thats about the best you can say. Forks are roughly equal. My particular 1200r has benefitted from the addition of the fully adustable cartridge forks of the defunct 1200S and some Progressive shocks. Its never going to be plush but its not a jackhammer anymore. The Triumph needs help here also.
I give an edge in braking to the 1200R. I think they feel more powerful (front mind you). An 883 may be a toss up, they only have a single disc standard.
Ergonomically I end up preferring the 1200R. To me the Bonneville feels like it makes me reach forward for the bars too much, I find the Sportster more neutral. Thanks to the miracle of tubular bars I think its easy to fix on either and would not be a deal breaker to me.
Finish quality goes to HD. They simply are finished better in terms of paint and chrome work and the Bonneville has a couple of cheap looking touches, like the seam on the tank and the plastic badges on the '08. Much was made of the weight of a Sportster. No plastic fenders or side covers there.
My opinion is that both of these bikes are about the feelings they evoke for the rider, real world performance is secondary although both do well. If looking at a Bonneville gets you all misty eyed for the ACE cafe thats cool. If you look at a Sportster and start thinking Then Came Bronson, thats good to.
In the end, you look at them, ride them, pick the one that makes you say "yeah baby." I'd like to have both, maybe I eventually will but I can't right now. Given that choice I happen to be a Sportster guy, if someone ask me to pick a picture of a motorcycle for a dictionary that defined motorcycle it would be a Sportster. It could almost be a Bonneville but I just don't have quite the emotional link to it I do the Sportster but I'm happy for anyone who does.
At the end of my test ride I spent a lot of time examining a lightly customized T100 at my local dealership. It looked great, showed a lot of obvious owner pride. The owner was a good guy and told me quite a bit about what he had done and asked me about the Sportster and some of the changes I've made. That is how it should be, focusing on our similarities not sniping at each other over our differences.

BishRat

I like that... it's a good way of looking at it.

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Cheers... Bish
'06 Black & check Thruxton - AI & airbox gone, TORs, instruments lowered, YSS piggybacks, prog fork springs, gaiters, kneepads, rear fender bobbed, lucas rear light, Napoleons, custom blue/chrome headers, and a little duct tape...

schnabba

There are several interesting articles out there where magazines will compare the bonneville with the larger 1200 - because performance is closer.... the interesting things to me are the different riders comments at the end of the article - about which one was better to ride.... and the only references to acceleration and speed seem more subjective "feels stronger" or "seems to get around cars in a shorter distance" type measures..... much of the comparison is how they do toe-to-toe in a real world, round the town, highway, and in the backroads twisties type comments.

Those are good sources - no matter what the flat out straight line acceleration is.... how do they do around town? How well do they hold a line through a rough road corner?

Hey - once you get used to the bonneville, go rent a harley from ray price just to compare....

yonder

Actually I've got two rentals coming to me that came with their Riders Edge class.

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garygr5760

my wife and i had a 2004 1200 custom. very very nice bike. with stage 1 and vance and hines, pretty darn quick! BUT-----------------! THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT THE BONNIE! I SWEAR PEOPLE GO NUTS WHEN THEY SEE IT! JUST GOING DOWN 6TH STREET HERE IN VINCENNES, EVERY GUY IN A TRUCK OR CAR IS BREAKING THEIR NECK TO GET A BETTER LOOK! AND THOSE PREDATORS! WHAT CAN I SAY! THE SOUND IS UNBELIEVABLE! NOW I KNOW WHY MY DAD WAS A BONNIE MAN BACK IN THE 60'S! MY 07 WILL BE WITH ME FOR A LONG TIME! NOT KNOCKING THE SPORTSTER! IT IS TRULY A GREAT MACHINE ALSO! GRIFF

BeastInBlack

I have ridden my mates sportster which has stage 1 tuning, and I could never dream of tearing round the english countryside in the same fashion as I do on my T100, but im sure I could pull more babes at the pub on it.....whereas on my triumph i tend to attract middle aged men who 'used to ride one of these'

Physics dictates this not my riding ability. It is american fried potato potato vs british barking bulldog!

The Rand Man

This is from the "performance index" section of Motorcycle Consumer News, Volume 39, Number 1, January 2008. It is a compendium of performance numbers spanning several years. These bikes are bone stock. They're not this year's models, but I don't think anything has changed for them since.

Since the format might be a little confusing, it is as follows: make, model, issue month/year tested, RW hp, RW torque, wet weight, top speed, 0-60, 0-1/4 mile, braking 60-0.

Harley-Davidson Sportster 883L, 1/05, 40.8, 41.9, 574 lbs, 108mph, 0-60 6.94 sec, 14.98 @ 88.93, braking 134 feet.

Triumph Bonneville, 4/01 (so this is a 790cc engine), 53.9, 40.8, 500 lbs, 114mph, 0-60 5.2, 13.52 @ 96.97, braking 115.

Triumph Thruxton, 2/05 (865cc engine), 54.9, 43.8, 489 lbs, 124 mph, 0-60 5.33, 13.42 @ 100 mph, and braking 133.8.

Hope that helps you with an evaluation of these machines' performance in stock condition. If you haven't seen or heard of this mag, I'd highly recommend it. They strike me as one of the most honest cycle mags in the business (they don't even accept advertising). For whatever it's worth, they assign an overall star rating to each of the bikes they test, and both the Sporty and the Bonnie got 3 of 5 stars.

Cheers,

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Mr. Rand
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'07 Thruxton, AI removed, BC airbox removal kit, Predators, mini rear fender & LED brake light, Kellermann turn signals.