[Butcher]

I know I am a newbie to this Triumph arena and I know I ask a lot of questions, but remember, it's 10 degrees here and a lot of snow. Test rides are out of the question, at least for the next few weeks, so I am relying on you folks as informative crutches until I can tangibly ride these.
<BR>Doing my research, I see that the base Bonnie's come with 7 less horses than the T100. I really like the looks of the minimalistic "black" bike, but I like power even more, and the T100 has more. I know that 7 horses may not make that much of a noticable difference if you were comparing 150 horses to 157, but 62 to 69 is substantial....at least on paper.
<BR>Has any one of you riden both the base and the T100 models and can you tell me how they compare. I dig power as well as looks. As far as looks, they both catch my eye, so the next issue is the power.
<BR>Thanks again in advance for your input.

[ This message was edited by: Butcher on 2007-01-25 16:09 ]

 

[sweatmachine]

I doubt there's really any difference. They used to say the Thruxton (865cc) made more power, around 5-7hp I think, than the T100 (865cc) with the same engine! Same carbs, same jets, same cams, everything except the exhaust which really only LOOKED different.

I call it "triumph's advertising engineers" at play.

If you like a black bike, get a bonnie black, if you want chrome get a T100. Really no internal differences.

 

[Butcher]

I guess that other site I was looking at was wrong as far as engine size. The Black and the base were quoted as having a 790cc and the T100 at 865. Is this right? If that's the case, I can see how there is a power difference. If not, then it's just advertising hype.

 

[sweatmachine]

I think for '07 they all went to 865cc, but the dealer may have remaining stock of 790s. They say the 790 has hotter cams, and the older ones did, but there's speculation the cams have been the same for 790s/865s from '05 on, or '06 on.

You'll probably put a big bore on anyway right, so who cares?

 

[Butcher]

sweatmachine.....evidently I should reconcider taking a test ride not only because of the snow, but because I am blind as well.....I got so involved with the site that quoted all those stats that I failed to see the huge "2006" at the top of the page. ... duhh....
So just to be clear, in 07 all the Bonnie's jumped to the 865's?
Thanks in advance......

 

[sweatmachine]

that's my understanding. They all got the black motor too, except the T100, which has a silver motor with chrome sidecovers.

The bonnie black has an all black motor, while the 'regular' bonnevilles have the black motor w/ brushed sidecovers.

 

[Butcher]

copy that ...... sorry for the confusion.

 

[SCCTrim]

Triumph has scrapped production of the 790cc motors....the machine is correct. You wont notice any discernible performance difference between the 865 motor and the 790 motor.

The 865 does have a little more low end grunt due to the cam timing, there is very little valve overlap in the 865 cams. While the 790 motor's have enormous overlap, so they have a little less grunt down low and pull harder in the upper rpm ranges.

There was alot of discussion about this topic in the recent past. A few of us have 790 motor's, and have advanced the cam timing in order to lessen the degree of overlap to a in between status in respect to the 790/865 default degrees.

This makes the motor pull a little harder down low where the bulk of time is spent regarding rpm ranges. While I did not have the opportunity to do a before and after dyno test to see the difference on paper, I could definitely feel a difference by the seat of the pants. I suspect little if any difference would be evident on paper.

Theres alot of useful knowledge on this site, both within it's members, and in topic's discussed in the past. No reason to feel bad asking questions. If you want to search mod's and stuff people have done check out the wiki link on the left of the page. Under the triumph twin mod's link you'll find several mod's that guys here have done, all in one nice neat little section.

There are deals to be had on left over bike's man, you aren't that far away from a dealer near me. Capitol Area Triumph

They have in stock a 05 that is brand new, 2 year warranty and all for like 5495.00? Maybe it's 5995.00 not sure.

Might be worth checking them out man...good buncha guys.

Later...

 

[Bhakti-rider]

I felt a difference between the base Bonnie (in 2001 when they first hit the dealers) and the T100 I rode four years later when I learned of the existence of the 865 engine. My impression of the 2001 (the base model till '07) was that I liked the handling and general feel, but there was no sound, the hand positions were too close together (using my memory of the originals as a reference point), and the biggest thing was that it just didn't have enough oomph. If I'd known about the overbore kits and airbox removal kits and all the other performance things available at the time I bought a T100, I'd have gotten the base model and had it upgraded from the get-go.

 

[Scrambler900]

For 2007 classic models, there is only the 865cc engine for all Bonneville versions.