Stone,

I'll never forget standing next to my friend Keith and overhearing what this old bearded mechanic(yeah old...he was probably 40 at the time) told my friend back around 1969 when we were both about 17 years young.

Keith and I were picking up his Panhead Chopper's engine from the shop that he had given it over to, in order to rebuild the engine, and then he and I were then going to bolt it back into his bike's frame.

The grizzled "old" mechanic said...."Okay kid! Here's your motorcycle. And I say THAT because the motor IS the motorcycle. Without it, you've got yourself a BICYCLE there kid."

So, thinking along those lines...I've always thought that whoever MADE the engine, and whatever configuation that engine is designed as, DEFINES the motorcycle.

So even though the Bonneville Americas do have the "style" of a laid-back Cruiser(which BTW, Harley-Davidson has no patent on)...that Vertical-Twin motor will always define it as a TRIUMPH!

Cheers,
Dwight
(oh, and BTW...I'd "smoke 'em" with my 650 Beezer Lightning every time we raced back then...whenever he could keep that contraption o' his running, that is)

Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)