[mobike008]

Note from Mod :-

Been wanting to post this message since yesterday but, work and forum being little iffy couldnt post it.

This thread is going into a different tangent and not adding value with members taking things personally and hitting out at each other. I dont want this thread to become a slug fest but, a constructive one for prospective buyers to understand the upsides and downsides of both Harley Davidson Iron 883 & Triumph Bonneville.

This is not a Harley vs.Triumph thread and as an owner of this thread and also a prospective buyer had clearly shortlisted my choices between only these two bikes (Iron vs Bonneville) due to similarities in engine size, price range and cult nature.

Therefore, members offering inputs is requested to focus on their contribution largely around these two models to ensure we have a healthy discussion and readers/prospective buyers can buy whichever bike out of these two after reading + and - of these models

Also a reminder to follow forum rules :-

1. Be courteous and logical in your posts and not fan-boyish
2. Refrain from personal attacks
3. Speaking from experience always carries more weight than just hearsay

I will be forced to close this thread if members continue to be spiteful at each other and dilute this thread with irrelevant posts that is contrary to title of this thread.

[Majumdarda]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Ever since I had one short test ride and a very long one of the Triumph Bonneville, My wife started noticing a strange behaviour from side.

According to her my diet went down, iam day-dreaming more than usual, referring to her by mistake as "Bonnie", spending sleepless nights etc.

For sake of everyone's good, she decided to put me out of my misery--- And, is gifting me the "Triumph Bonneville"

Gents, Iam going to be a super proud owner of a Triumph Bonneville soon

Congratulations Avinash. Looking forward to hear your initial ownership experience. If am not mistaken , then you would be the first on this forum to start the ownership experience with regards to Bonneville.

Waiting eagerly to hear from you on your Bonneville.

What is your color of choice?

Best regards,
Bikramjit.

[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Gents, Iam going to be a super proud owner of a Triumph Bonneville soon

Terrific news ! Congratulations. What a wonderful gesture

My situation is very similar to yours. I have a 10 year old Std 500 which I will never sell. However the Bonnie just pulls at my heartstrings so I intend to get when when they launch in Pune. Perhaps the ideal compromise would be to use the Bullet for the city hops and use the Bonnie in relatively less stop-go traffic

I'm looking forward to your ownership thread and particularly on feedback on whether the Bonnie can be your primary motorcycle, regardless of roads/traffic.

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Gents, Iam going to be a super proud owner of a Triumph Bonneville soon

Hearty Congrats Avi bhai I am sure you are also the quickest owner too !! ( Only you know what strings you pulled )
Eagerly waiting for Ownership thread with loads of the pics of the Black Beauty !

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Pheonix

Hearty Congrats Avi bhai I am sure you are also the quickest owner too !! ( Only you know what strings you pulled )

Thanks Man. Dont let out trade secrets

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Congratulations Avinash !Hope Mrs Avinash realizes she has done a bad turn to herself in gifting you the Bonnie - that from now on she has competition for getting your attention!!!What is the waiting period ? and what colour - Black I presume.

Thank you. Your inputs have been invaluable and now I realize why you love the Bonnie so much. Hope it keeps me also equally happy and you too have done a bad turn on yourself- I will now be bugging you for info related to it all the time

Btw, my wife decided to gift me only on one condition.

Speed-Check & No Riding on ORR (Outer Ring Road) which is my haven for enjoying a drive/ride

Hyderabad Triumph have already delivered 10 Bonnevilles till date and 4 T100 and seeing the demand they have stocked themselves up for this unprecedented demand. Hence, I can pick up my "Black Road Carver" anytime that I want

Originally Posted by indian21r

Congrats Avi and your wife is really nice to give you such an expensive gift What color and when is the delivery.
I was thinking maybe you will give the street 750 a ride before closing the deal. I will do test rides of Street 750 , Superlow and Bonneville before taking the plunge. Some of the mods on 750 are beautiful. And the price also looks good.

Yup, my wife is little too sweet to be true. She splurges on me and spoils me silly !!

I clarified in my quoted response below to Shubz on why I didnt even contemplate a 750. Goodluck for your decision

Originally Posted by Majumdarda

Congratulations Avinash. What is your color of choice?

Originally Posted by rm_arjuna

congrats Avi , which color have you opted for !

We already have Ram sir's Bonnie thread on forum. If nobody beats me to an ownership review, mine will be 2nd on forum but, 1st for a Triumph Bonneville sold in India.

Color choice was unanimous-BLACK !!!

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77

Terrific news ! Congratulations. What a wonderful gesture.My situation is very similar to yours. I have a 10 year old Std 500 which I will never sell. However the Bonnie just pulls at my heartstrings so I intend to get when when they launch in Pune

Thanks. If you like riding a bullet, Bonneville is a no brainer.

Will start an ownership thread once I have a few hundred kms under my belt on the Bonnie

Originally Posted by Shubz

Avi - Could you please shed more light on this comment made by you? You or anyone has ridden a 750 to say "A buyer will not look at HD"? Just curious.

Firstly Shubz, I must thank you for responding to my request and posting a matured post about your bike.

Reason I said that anyone contemplating a bike in this price range will not look at HD is only if their primary factors are Performance, Ride and Handling.

When Iron 883 didnt impress me, How can HD Street 750 be there on my radar?. Iam happy that iam spending about 1.5 lakhs lesser than initial budget that I set out with for a "Stock Bike"

Like they say, experiencing is beileving. As you live in Bangalore and unlike other folks across the country have access to Triumph showroom, May I request you to ride the Triumph Bonneville (preferably a longish ride on varied terrain) and you will know immediately what Iam saying.

If you take the HD culture, loud exhaust out of the equation. IMHO, Iron 883 doesnt even stand a chance

Besides above, what a coincidence that I met up with a young chap who did exactly what I have done here. He shortlisted/test rode the Iron 883 and Bonneville and he immediately booked the Bonneville T100.

When I asked him why choose Bonnie over an Iron 883, he gave a short nasty comment about the Iron which i would refrain from outlining here.

His is first T100 delivered in Hyderabad.

Look at him below, he is a very young chap (and acted his age too as he was feverishly buying whatever merchadise was available )

Couldnt he have chosen the Iron 883 as it would be a better style statement for him? Yet, he chose the Bonneville

Anyways, he is joining us for our ride tomorrow morning. Will know more about him and his bike then....

[sanketdesai82]

Congrats mobike...I guess your real name is Avinash Looking forward for a much detailed ownership thread and details from you and other triumph owners. Hope my 2nd TD of triple is much better [fingers crossed].

[naveenroy]

Congrats mobike/Avinash.

I didn't see the waiting period for the bike - when are you getting it? Looking forward to the ownership thread.

[Haroon]

Wonderful news. Congrats & good luck with the new bike Avi. And lucky you, getting a Bonnie as a gift from wife, while many bikers have to normally tell a lower price of bike & all bike related accessories to our better-half!

I am sure after the initial use you will know what functional things to customize to your requirement.

Eagerly waiting for the owner review.

[mobike008]

I didnt know dough can be arranged this fast.

Well, If all goes well Bonnie will be home this Sunday !!!

Some questions to Ram (Being a Bonnie owner) and other experienced big capacity engine bike owners here :-

1. What is the typical PDI to be done for these bikes? Never bought such an expensive ride and all my previous 5 rides were just picked up without much thought

2. What is the ideal run-in that should be done? Appreciate some DO's and DONT's

3. Iam paranoid about tyres and PSI. Please advise ideal air pressure for front and back. Normal Air or Nitrogen?

4. Any paint protection treatment adviseable? Teflon? 3M? etc

5. Any other points that comes to mind useful for a bike delivery is also most welcome

Cheers & Thanks !!

[Surajit333]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Ever since I had one short test ride and a very long one of the Triumph Bonneville, My wife started noticing a strange behaviour from side.

According to her my diet went down, iam day-dreaming more than usual, referring to her by mistake as "Bonnie", spending sleepless nights etc.

For sake of everyone's good, she decided to put me out of my misery--- And, is gifting me the "Triumph Bonneville"

Gents, Iam going to be a super proud owner of a Triumph Bonneville soon

Supaaacool! This is a nice heartening story and well narrated too. Wish you many trouble free miles mobike008, I am already jealous, when's the bike getting delivered?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by gthang

Interesting observation. Wonder which country the HD's are "Tuned" for. The last time I checked the average American weighed a lot more than the average Indian.

Seen a lot of Harleys with scraped exhausts? Sure it wasn't from leaning over too much?

Don't know how you can have any >800cc bike "Tuned" for Indian conditions since the Govt itself has mandated EU spec.

Maybe you mean better "Suited" for Indian conditions.

Are you saying that Harley suspension is good for Indian conditions?

Weight of riders? That's passive sag. What has that got to do with the suspension bottoming out when the bike is on the move.

Harleys dragging hard parts is because of the abysmal GC and the really crappy stock shockers. A Bullet also very easily drags its main stand and rider pegs. That's neither because they are being leaned hard or the riders are Rossis. Its a design flaw. Same for the Harleys.

I've ridden with Harley boys in the twisties and the rough/les than perfect stuff. Its not fun. For either the guys on other bikes, or for the guys on the Harleys themselves as they gingerly thread their way around stuff that the other bikes just thunder over and across.

[BackInTheFold]

Mate, congratulations on the purchase and for co-opting your better half into the decision That's always good form.

This is a bike after my own heart. I wish you many miles of happy motoring with it.

Regards,
BITF

[ebonho]

Hey mobike bro, hearty Congratulations man! Black looks very nice on this bike, very classy, understated. Just the way I like it (I know .... not something you'd associate with a guy who rides a flaming orange bike! )

Bonnie Bonnie to wife eh? Wondering at similar reactions from my better half if I start with Katie Katie .... probably no food and sleep on the couch for a month.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Some questions to Ram (Being a Bonnie owner) and other experienced big capacity engine bike owners here :-

1. What is the typical PDI to be done for these bikes? Never bought such an expensive ride and all my previous 5 rides were just picked up without much thought -

Now its too late - but what I have done in the past is to get hold of the Owners Manual couple of days ahead of the actual delivery (of any of the vehicles I bought for the first time) and go through them in detail. Then when I go over the actual vehicle any obvious and or glaring discrepancies do come out

2. What is the ideal run-in that should be done? Appreciate some DO's and DONT's

When you get the Owners Manual you will see that there are no particular Run-in instructions. However I followed a self imposed run-in of 1,000 k with speeds not exceeding beginning of triple figure that too only in 5th gear. Did a oil and filter change at 1000 K (its not required by Triumph Owners Manual or the WS Handbook). Then on it was rather free flow ride,

3. Iam paranoid about tyres and PSI. Please advise ideal air pressure for front and back. Normal Air or Nitrogen?

As you know I have a wire wheel and tubed tire. Best is to Follow the Manual

I am quoting the figures for Bonnie SE (which has alloy wheels)

Pressure - Cold
Front - Solo: 33 lbs Fully Laden: 33 lbs
Rear - Solo: 38 lbs Fully Laden 38 lbs

Mind you the in my bike the Front wheels are 19 and not 17

4. Any paint protection treatment adviseable? Teflon? 3M? etc

You have seen the pics of the Bonnie in Bangalore - its 2009 Feb Model (manufacturing date I know was in May 2008) and it has no pain protection on it. Till last year it was in the corrosive air of costal Dubai - It was store on a side open covered parking and still you see it has faired very well. In the dry whether of HYD it should do well as it is. However, there is a tendency for wash water to stay in the Allen key slotted bolt heads and if the water is hard you can see some kind of white residue developing there. In hind-sight I feel that a dab of clear warmish or similar at the heads, would prevented it. Its not serious but often can look little jarring of "blackened parts"


But then again - my bike is made in Triumph Hinckley, UK and I hope there are no differences in the Build quality of the Parts in Thailand and in the assembly process in India

5. Any other points that comes to mind useful for a bike delivery is also most welcome

Cold start - below 20 deg c, you may have use what looks like the choke (idle speed increaser). You will also take little getting used to the side stand - cut off switch.
Mobike008 you are no novice to biking and this is just another bike - all I would say is ride responsibly and it will adapt to your lifestyle.

Happy Biking

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

Mod Note : Please do NOT reply to posts using bold text within a quoted post, as it leads to visual discomfort for readers. Additionally, it's inconvenient to quote & reply to such a post.

For the correct way to quote, please see this thread.

Thanks!

[getsurya]

Mobike, congratulations! Where is the teaser picture? You can do one from your BB, please?