Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes Triumph America: Rosemary's Baby? Spawn of Satan?

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I guess you really did have to be there,,,,,,,,,, do you have a point?

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Considering the fact the BA/Speedy models were styled and engineered(that whole 270 degree crank thing, ya see) from the get-go to primarily appeal to the American market, yep, your story is perfectly understandable, Dave.

(...to which I suppose a "REAL" die-hard "Dark Side" fan COULD always just use that old excuse that all that shaking "just adds character", huh!)

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Funny you should mention the shaking adds character bit, that's what I heard from BSA & Triumph owners when I had my 1971 Norton Commando in the 70's and 80's.

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Yep, good point. The Norton's "Isolastic" frame from that era definitely helped some to keep the old British parallel twins inherent vibrations from reaching the rider, and of course was a similar "fix" that Harley has used in their Dyna line and now their Sportster line.

And, your line of conversation about "cracking" on Sportsters by everyone "including Big Twin owners", reminds me how I usually respond to Harley owners when they jokingly ask me about these new Triumphs and if they "still leak oil like the old ones".

My reply is usually somethin' along the lines of: "Hmmmm...so I guess you've conveniently forgotten how much oil could be found on the ground underneath all those sitting Knuckle/Pan/Shovelheads TOO back in the day, and until the Japanese figured out that splitting the engine cases horizontally instead of vertically kinda sorta fixes that, huh?!

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(...to which I suppose a "REAL" die-hard "Dark Side" fan COULD always just use that old excuse that all that shaking "just adds character", huh!)

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Yes, it does...kind of like having to screw around with a "choke" or "enrichment" or whatever knob just to start a new, modern fuel-injected Triumph huh?

And our bikes are still using old school chain drives while the Thunderbirds get clean belt drives...just for the character.

Besides, sales stats prove nobody likes Harley's character anyway...

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I have a modern fuel injected triumph,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,im trying to find that knob you mention,,,,,,,,,,,, it doesn't seem to have one.

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Well OB, all I can say here in response to that is that I would LOVE to own an XR1200, and thus actually hold NO dislike for H-D's wares(but don't me started on some of the PEOPLE who think that their wares are the "end-all and be-all" of motorcycledom ), the whole "chain vs belt" thing you're attempting to use as some sort of "benchmark" in regard to "modern motorcycle design" is entirely misplaced and irrelevant. Ya see, all of the world's motorcycle manufactures who build the latest and greatest and fastest AND the "most modern" motorcycles on the roads(read especially: Sportbikes) STILL use chains to drive the rear wheels on THEIR products, as you probably know.

And secondly, and in regard to your using the ol' "sales stats" thing to prove some point about the public's overwhelming appetite for The Motorcycle Company's product, all I can say to THAT is that McDonalds certainly sells a whole lot of hamburgers to a whole lot of good ol' Americans TOO, don't they?

(...but I don't think that says all that much about the issue of "Quality" in EITHER case, if ya ask me!)

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I think the whole brand hate thing is a bit childish, I like them all some more than others though. Ironically the last time I ran into it was at a bar parking lot when a Harley owner stopped to compliment my bike and another Triumph owner I was talking to ripped into him about his old Harley. Really stupid.

About chains. A belt is cleaner and a lot less maintenance, until it has to be replaced. Sport bikes use them because they don't waste power like shaft drives and are stronger than belts...but last time I checked Bonnevilles hardly make belt ripping power. If it's good enough for the Thunderbird...

Comparing McDonalds to Harley might be appropriate IF a BigMac was made out of quality beef and cost $15.00 until then...no.

Oh and the vibration issue is a bit overstated, our 1200 Sportster isn't bad at all. If you want a balance shaft Harley pick one of the Softail models because they all have balance shafts. May I suggest the beautiful new Breakout.

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...which I suppose begs the question: Why do they have him ridin' a BMW in some of those movies???)

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I only have one truly modern triumph and it ain't the america! Nope,,,,,,,,,no knobs to pull there boyo

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+1

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Better refer to the username dude. I only have one truly modern triumph and it ain't the america! Nope,,,,,,,,,no knobs to pull there boyo
No mickey d meat in my other triumph either,just plain old hog slaying power and agility.

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I like chain drive because I can do a permanent repair along the road in a few minutes and ride the rest of the day, can't do that with a belt. Changing out a chain I just pop a link slip it out slip the new one in close the link , done. Can't do that with a belt either.

As for vibration, nothing wrong with that, I remember watching the front wheel bounce on my old Triumphs while sitting at idle. My 64 BMW is smooth as silk at any RPM.

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Eh, why worry about the belt on bike?

I can't speark for other brands, but the drive belt on the Vision - an 850 lb machine with about 100 TQ at the rear wheel - has a maintenace replacement interval at 30,000 miles.

I had mine changed around 30,000 with a rear tire change so it wasn't a big deal. It was barely worn and the mechanic told me it would have probably lasted to 50,000 miles or more.

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