Best Bonnie ever?

[trustme]

Hmmmm , Meriden cooperative grenade or Hinkley swiss watch ? ?

My 76 T140 Street tracker will be for the Sunday pootle when finished
My Scram will continue to be used when I have to get somewhere on time, reliably using pretty much any road or non road I like

It's heavy , quiet [ fixed ], crap suspension [ fixed ],underpowered [ soon to be fixed ] , overengineered & bloody reliable . Guys are getting over 100000 miles with no internal work . Imagine if it had been available in the sixties & seventies, Do you seriously think we would have stayed with the Meriden stuff. I suspect the specs for the CB750 that killed off the UK industry are not that far off the new Bonnie

Mind you, a ' 69 ' is not to be sneezed at.

[AllanB]

I still think the W650 Kawasaki is more "Bonneville" than the new Triumph Bonneville.

I wish Triumph would bring out a limited edition hot-rod Bonnie - I always thought they would, but it does not appear to be coming.

[trustme]

I wish Triumph would bring out a limited edition hot-rod Bonnie - I always thought they would, but it does not appear to be coming.

+100 Triumph accessories are too much form , too little function & must be gold plated to justify the price

The yanks do some pretty good hot rod mods for them

[Voltaire]

I should start an equally pointless thread titiled " the Best Ducati 900SS Ever" and proceed to go on about how much better the injected 900 in every way compared to the bevel 900ss......

....At least the comparison would be bikes built at the same factory unlike the Hinkley/Meriden one....and the 900ssie is a blood relative of the original.

Lets get away from clones and back to classic bikes.....

[PeeJay]

Talk about rose tinted glasses
A 69 Bonny WAS good in 1969, but you would have to be nuts to think they are "better" than a new Bonny.
As a young fella I rode a preunit and compared to the little Jap bikes and old singles it was pretty good. When I grew up a bit I had a 67 trophy, miles better than that crapped out preunit. Then a brand new 70 bonny awesome.
But there is no way that I would say any of these bikes were "better" than a new T100.
They were great bikes in their time but today they would be rubbish.

As someone has said these new bikes are clocking up in excess of 100,000 km without engine work. In the olden days you would be real lucky to get 10,000 miles without layng major spanners on your bike.
If a 69 Bonny is so good why isnt it still in production?
Probably have to sell for $100,000 to cover all the warranty work.
cheers

[Voltaire]

Talk about rose tinted glasses

The prefered viewing medium of the classic section.
Why are modern bikes being discussed here anyway?

[Dodgyiti]

The prefered viewing medium of the classic section.
Why are modern bikes being discussed here anyway?

Yep, we would all go out and buy new Bonnies if it were not for the rose tinted glassess and a die hard attitude to keeping the past alive, or at least in bits around the garage...

100,000km without engine work, so what do I do in the garage then? Spray my tools with CRC so they don't rust or take them to the scrappie for recycling and get the dealer to do my servicing? May as well find another hobbie, maybe quilting?

[triumphnz]

Triumph t140 harris 1985 to 1988 twin brembo disc brakes as std and ss gaurds, also the t140 1977/78 .

[Big Dave]

I'd venture to suggest your average new triumph buyer is not much interested in history.

How do you know I wasn't talking about Paul Jones huh.....twiggy.
New Triumph 675 - Tiger etc buyers maybe - but I bet they like the historical imagery.
But not new Bonneville buyers. Most of my pals actually have or had both a Meriden and a Hinckley in the shed at the same time. Chris, Andy, Max - liked the way they could have a similarly performed machine with modern day reliability.

[Max Headroom]

Talk about rose tinted glasses
A 69 Bonny WAS good in 1969, but you would have to be nuts to think they are "better" than a new Bonny.
As a young fella I rode a preunit and compared to the little Jap bikes and old singles it was pretty good. When I grew up a bit I had a 67 trophy, miles better than that crapped out preunit. Then a brand new 70 bonny awesome.
But there is no way that I would say any of these bikes were "better" than a new T100.
They were great bikes in their time but today they would be rubbish.

As someone has said these new bikes are clocking up in excess of 100,000 km without engine work. In the olden days you would be real lucky to get 10,000 miles without layng major spanners on your bike.
If a 69 Bonny is so good why isnt it still in production?
Probably have to sell for $100,000 to cover all the warranty work.
cheers

PeeJay, if there was a clearcut and universally held answer to the OP's question, we wouldn't still be banging on about it ten pages later . . .

There's a huge amount of $$$ and skill required to design, manufacture, market and distribute a bike which is reliable, handles well, performs well and stops when required. There's a certain amount of luck involved in order to entice the buying public to part with their money instead of buying another brand.

Some excellent bikes have been commercial disasters, and vice versa. Not every commercially successful bike is brilliant, and not every commercial flop was necessarily a dog. A Royal Enfield is unlikely to be regarded by anyone as a brilliant bike technically yet it's undoubtedly been a commercial success for decades. Ditto the Honda stepthru. Localised market forces have a big influence.

Asking why a '69 Bonnie isn't in production any more strikes me as an odd question, since motorcycling history is full of reasons for its demise as well as the demise of its manufacturer. To have an appreciation of classic bikes means that one will generally also have an interest in recent social, financial, political and industrial history in order to apply context. One will generally also have respect for older machinery, and an ability to appreciate that machinery for what it is, not what it isn't.

I am personally quite fascinated by the period covering the late '60s through to the late '70s in terms of car & motorcycle technology & development, and view that decade as foundational to the current range of 2 & 4 wheeled vehicles in many respects.

[Big Dave]

I don't think that comment is worthy of you Dave..

Sparking you up is always worthy. Calling Motu short was out of line - he's at least 4'6"

[TripleZee Dyno]

Triumph t140 harris 1985 to 1988 twin brembo disc brakes as std and ss gaurds, also the t140 1977/78 .

Harris Bonnevilles, great idea but shocking execution.
I was a mechanic at Shafts at the time and these things were terrible.
The best thing you could say about them was they were a fettlers wet dream.
Chassis and electrics seemed pretty good but quality control especially to do with the engine, was non existant. More than one engine was pulled out and replaced with a Triumph engine.
My pick would be the TSS, unbreakable bottom end, and it went like the hammers.
Unfortunately a day late and a dollar short.

[YellowDog]

This is a good point.
Personally I like the 59 Bonnie and the history that goes with it. I restored a 1959 T110 ( which I still have ) 20 years ago.
I took a " new " Bonnie for a ride at Holeshots with the intention of possibly of buying a Thruxton.
I did about 30 kms up the back roads of Albany, and I was glad to give it back.
It might have Triumph on the tank and Bonnie on the sidecovers but as far as I'm concerned its about as authentic as a new Mini or VW Beetle.
If I could only have one bike ( and I had no mechanical skills )it would be a modern, but it would not be a retro.
Probably the best of the retro bikes would be the Ducati 1000.

I have been involved with restoration projects in the past and if you have the time - IMO - there is nothing better or more rewarding.

I'd take my hat off to you (if I had one). Great work.

[AllanB]

Asking why a '69 Bonnie isn't in production any more

Because 96.5% (roughly....) of motorcycledom would not tolerate them and they would be a commercial failure.

Doesn't mean they are not a beautiful piece of kit and most certainly worthy of my dream garage, it's just that things have progress in the last 40 years!

And just quietly there was a reason all those british brands failed and went under decades ago.

I wonder what people will be getting excited over in 40 years time - probably arguing the merits of a 01 GSXR against a 09 model ......

I was on a forum a while back discussing 'naked' bikes - some young chap in his early 20's came on and commented that he just did not get the naked bikes as he did not want to see all that messy engine and stuff ............. obviously he is some form of serial masturbator, but there were a few of the younguns who shared the same opinion.

[triumphnz]

Harris Bonnevilles, great idea but shocking execution.
I was a mechanic at Shafts at the time and these things were terrible.
The best thing you could say about them was they were a fettlers wet dream.
Chassis and electrics seemed pretty good but quality control especially to do with the engine, was non existant. More than one engine was pulled out and replaced with a Triumph engine.
My pick would be the TSS, unbreakable bottom end, and it went like the hammers.
Unfortunately a day late and a dollar short.

That would be spot on the third harris ive owned and ive fully rebuilt alL of them the current one has only the cases and head left from the original motor but now it flies ive camed it balanced 32mm carbs belt drive etc.Once sorted they are a good bike .