I thought this was really cool. I wrote a good friend of mine to tell him that I had just purchased a Bonny, not realizing that he was a fan and past owner. This is what I received from him via email - including the great vintage picture:
So, you got a new Bonneville. I absolutely love the looks of them, and (I probably already told you all of this) I'm a Triumph fan from way, way back, beginning when I traded a 1953 Ford to a friend for his 1950 Tiger 100 (500cc, 1 carb)in 1963. I rode that bike until it got too snowy (I was in college in Boston then) and then took it apart and sort of rebuilt it over the winter, thus teaching myself the intricacies of English motorcycles - or I should say trying to learn the intricacies. I don't think I ever came to terms with Lucas electrical systems. After that Tiger100, I owned 1967 Daytona (500cc, twin carbs), a 1967 Bonneville, and finally, a 1970 Bonneville that I bought in England when Marcia was studying in Salamanca, Spain. I rode that bike around England for a while, then took it across the English Channel and rode down through France into Spain, picked up Marcia who had finished her studies, and the two of us then went all around the place camping out and occasionally staying in a hotel to get a hot shower and nice comfortable bed. It was a wonderful trip. I shipped that '70 Bonny back to the states, kept it for a couple of years, and sold it for almost twice the $863.00 I paid for it brand new in London. (I still have the receipt for it.)
So, if I were going out to buy a bike today, I'd buy exactly the one you just bought. I can't wait to see yours. Very happy riding on it! I'm attaching a photo of me and Marcia on that 1970 taken in Spain in July or August of 1970.
Hope you're having a great weekend and let's chat again real soon.
Darn, I guess I didn't realize that the picture would not be sized the same as I posted it. It is in the gallery.
