I love the looks and engine of my T120 Bonnie but crikey the suspension and standard seat are bloody awful. Why should I have to spend hundreds of Euros to change these terrible components. And whilst I’m having a rant which genius thought it was acceptable to have to remove the exhausts just to adjust the chain. Compare this to my new VStrom, comfy seat, decent suspension and chain adjustment an easy job. In standard form the Bonnie can never be used to go any distance it’s just too uncomfortable. Might be changing my name to Strom-Cat
I opted for the comfort seat when ordering mine, but have to say it's, not that comfortable (I had an Airhawk on my previous bike a Honda CBF1000 - now that was comfortable...). Agree about silencers - damn stupid idea - but at least guys like Norman Hyde and Remus can make a few bob selling shorter replacements !
Bonnie seats have never been comfortable - but the new T100 I rode as a loaner had a comfier seat than my SE!
Exactly DD. I had to buy a paddock stand when I bought my Street Triple. The damn thing is still taking up space in my garage years after I got rid of the bike. I mean are you supposed to wear the thing round your neck if you go on a decent long trip. The bike manufacturers are a load of crooks. Apologies for being in rant mode today. (That’s what 45min ride today on the Bonnie has done to me)
I had the seat of my T100 altered with a gel insert. It was not too bad for me to start with as I was fine up to three hours or so but I'd had it done on my mk1 SV650 and it transformed the standard plank on that to an all day machine. Have been out on Hugh for a couple of 6 hour long rides now and no discomfort at all. Much cheaper than a genuine comfort seat. Having said that I do have a comfort seat for the water cooled T100 as the trimmer stopped answering the phone/email after a few weeks and I thought he'd gone bust. To get back on the road I got a new seat and a week or so later (8 weeks after i sent it off) my adapted standard one finally reappeared. I'll set up a for sale post but if anyone wants one make me a sensible offer.
Honestly, I thought I wrote this post in my sleep. Premium priced bike with bargain basement suspension. I have TEC shocks and progressive springs now, it's better by a large margin but still cr@p compared to the Thruxton R. Not a fair comparison but now I have a constant reminder how sh@t the T100 is at the moment. I just went the chain cleaning routine as well...now I'm thinking of one of these or something very similar: The current situation is bloody ridiculous
Sounds like we are both liking the new Kawasaki z900. I will probably wind up with one, but not the first model year. I'll let them get the little bugs out first! My local dealer quoted me a price of $9800.00 out the door, black was all he had. Too hard to keep clean for me.
You bunch of whinging soft ass', get your self an Aprilia, then you'll understand proper plank like seating !!! Saying that, it's still loafs better than my KTM Enduro 50 miles and it's like a night with Dilli
Im very happy with my newchurch. Despite of, and since its a modern/neo classic, i cant understand some things. Cant imagine the project manager approving things like: 1) No revolution meter 2) No gas meter (dude, its basic, something that measure your gas level) 3) Bolts to take out the seat? really? Triumph engineers need a trip to Japan, those guys use a very complicated technology based on the key. 4) Fuel tank cap without key? Serious? Does your market live only in UK Mr. Triumph?
I think most of us have the same concerns about Triumph. On my two previous bikes, the 'comfort' seats cost a fortune and they were no more comfortable than the original junk on the bike. I could almost understand putting junk shocks on the base level bikes if the decent after market shocks didn't cost $500 to $600 US. However, with all brands, the reality is that if it's for a motorcycle, it's going to cost a fortune. What really frosts my nuggies is the engineering 'failures' that make it unnecessarily difficult to do the simplest jobs like changing the oil or spark plugs, adjusting and cleaning the chain, or changing a tire. 'Form' is supposed to follow 'function.' In my mind, that means they should put an access port in the fairing to get to the oil filter - not make you have to take the fairing off the bike to do the job. The Triumph designers need to be reigned-in by top management and forced to work with the engineers to produce bikes that are easy to work on. I honestly believe that Triumph does it, because they are trying to force you to go to the dealer to have ALL service done. What they don't seem to realize, is that for most of us, working on our bikes is part of the fun of owning them. They also don't 'get' the fact that many of us have good reasons not to trust our dealers and we certainly don't want to mortgage our houses to have the service/repair work done. I'm not defaming all dealers. Some are great, but when I stand there and watch them use the wrong oil and gear lube on my bike, I've got no faith in them to do anything else right. I don't know what it is other than the Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen factors when I was young, but I love Triumphs. When I really objectively think about it (mind v. heart), I would take a Yamaha any day over a Triumph. Triumph should think hard about that statement, because their new generations of riders won't have the same sentiments.
1) But sir, you can buy the optional extra rev counter dial (like Mr Bryce did) 2) But sir, just zero your trip meter each fill up and pop in to the next petrol station when you reach 90 miles (so long as you remember to zero the trip meter) 3) And sir, do what Mr Bryce did, buy the extra long after market bolts, then take them off to change your battery, forget to put them back and then have no fecking idea where they now are. I have it on good authority that the designer of those elements was the intern work experience lad one Friday afternoon.
Chain adjustment on the VStrom. Undo big nut, allen key on each side of the swing arm, adjust chain. Job done - simples and on the Triumph Remove silencers, loosen big nut, faff around with 2 spanners and adjust.
On the Sprint-; My seat is the best I have sat on.I can do 7/8 hour days and still feel fresh. The chain adjust is one clamp bolt, then adjust, redo clamp bolt. Modern bike and modern design, married. The RETRO design on a modern bike causes its own problems. and the Bonnies were designed to be customised, so why not save money by stinting on seats and shocks, the slow Sunday guys wont notice and the Riders will change it anyway (so why not get rich both sides) for example my Sprint seat is great.(eBay is littered with "new take off"s for 40 quid). I suppose the bolts on the seat are Retro. @Hack Driver says I honestly believe that Triumph does it, because they are trying to force you to go to the dealer to have ALL service done. I would say your right, they want to own everything that gets done to the bike for the first three years, then they do not give a damm, cos the money they are chasing has just traded in. The market is littered with 2000 mile machines with every upgrade and 20,000 mile machines with none.Triumph have the stats at there finger tips and seem to know what they are doing. https://www.motofire.com/2017/12/triumph-sold-63404-motorcycles-in-2017/
