Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Member's Rides Brand New Speedy

I picked up my new Bonneville Speedmaster on Saturday - a 2019 in Cranberry Red. It's absolutely amazing.
It's smaller than the America, even with the bigger engine. Shorter and narrower, much less rake - it feels almost like a sportbike. I haven't looked up the weight to compare, but it seems much lighter. The handling is very different, took me a while to get used to. It corners tight and crisp, where the America liked lazy turns. At highway speeds it actually felt harder (at first) to maneuver for lane changes or missing potholes and such. I think it's because it lacks the leverage of those wide bars and the center of gravity is much lower. But it just took adjusting my technique. It is lower to the ground though, much quicker to scrape pegs in a corner.
The power. Oh, the power. I'm having to work very hard not to just let it rip because I'm still breaking it in (and I'm riding with an Oregon temp plate that technically isn't valid in Wash lol), but she lets me know every time I get on the throttle that there are lots of horses waiting for me to let them run.
Everything about this bike is smooth. Shifting from N to 1 is a "chunk" instead of a "clunk". Those couple degrees of slack in the throttle are gone.
Don't get me wrong, I loved my old bike. But this is a whole new animal.
I finally get that 6th gear that I was always looking for on the highway. Between that and the push-button cruise control, my commute to work at 0400 is much nicer.
I'm still getting used to the beach bars, but so far I'm pretty happy with them. They work for both leaning back a little while just steady cruising, and for leaning forward to cut through some turns or traffic. The seat isn't the greatest; it might soften up a little with some use, but right now I think I'll be wanting to upgrade to the comfort seat. And my wife only looked at the passenger seat and immediately told me that wouldn't work.
All in all, I'm very happy with it. If I was planning to do some long haul rides, I'd probably pick a different bike, but for everything I'm doing now, it's perfect.

Congratulations on the new ride. I've read the comfort seat is not much of an improvement, for the rider or the pillion. Best spend those $$$ on an aftermarket seat.

I went with Corbin again
They're a good seat but be prepared to monkey around with them a bit.I have had too on all the one I've had.Using original brackets or modifing them slightly.
I still have my America and if I was doing long rides I'd still choose that but the Speedmaster is capable of touring is good for shorter trips and a bit of hooliganismi