[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Shubz

Avi - Also ensure

Great Suggestions. We will keep all of those in mind. Thanks again !!

Honestly speaking, I personally dont like riding/driving at night but, majority of our group is "game-on" for night ride

I was kind of vetoe'd out

Yesterday visited the Rebel dealership to ride the Bonnie with Arrow Exhausts ( A short review coming up in next post)

To my surprise was greeted by the original cafe racer. It looked fabulous in person and I sat on it could see quality to be slightly better than even the T100

However, iam not a fan of those cafe race handlebar so Thrux was never in my consideration.

It has the same engine as the Bonnie but, its cyclinder fires at 270 degrees compared to 360 degrees of the Bonnie resulting in better torque curves and horsepower ( I think 1-2bhp more than Bonnie)

Price : 8.20 Lakhs OTR

[vcx]

That's the original cafe racer from the good times, pure cult, pure performance.

Good clicks , yes the position of rider is lean /hunch down which are better suited for those highways races!

The actual bike is the purest form of a statement and driver is the soul!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by bblost

A clean and streak free visor makes riding in the night very pleasant.

Fantastic pointers Imran.

I think will document all these points and take print outs and hand it over to each rider and ask them to memorize a day before they actually go for their practical exam

Iam sure they would curse me worse than they cursed their school teachers

[mobike008]

Brief Review of Triumph Bonneville-Arrow Exhausts

Couple of days ago I happen to ride the Triumph Bonneville installed with a complete 2X2 Arrow Exhausts.

After seeing the success of the brand, they too have now introduced the signing documents etc and when they offered me one I looked at them as if they were joking and they sheepishly requested me to sign which ofcourse I did (reason behind is a major incident with a T/R of a ST)

I was wearing my sandals which is very rare and got another sheepish stare which I managed to wriggle out of and then finally started the Bonnie and took a longish ride ( with a marshal on another Bonnie following me--I made sure that he worked hard to keep up with me, least i can do to make them go through the documentation process..LOL)..

Looks like slowly and steadily the Harley Davidson style rubbing off on them and my friendly advise to them was to avoid doing that

Anways, coming back to the bike. Here are a few key take-away of my ride from Arrow Exhuast'ed Bonnie

Sound : It had the baffle plate removed and sounded really loud.

It can now give any HD serious competition in noise department. I never thought it will be this loud. It's a good thing and a bad thing ( personally for me). I simply loved the great gurgling sound when I decelerate the bike

Good thing, you can show off your ride in city and prove that--Hey this is not a bullet

Bad thing, it'll be a pain to ride long distances with that loud sound coming in your way

Sound Wise. Simply too good !!!

Performance : There is definite bump into the horse power which is clearly evident. When I accelarate, bike would jump forward little too eagerly and when I decelarate it kind of slowed down abruptly. That smooth, strong linear accelaration was completely missing. Besides this, engine felt little gruffier and I cannot use the words "Butter Smooth" anymore for this bike

It felt much more faster but, not in a smooth way. Not sure if Rebel guys tuned the ECu properly or whether its characteristics is supposed to be like that.

Price : Approximately INR 52,000/-

I'll be honest and confess that I was a bit disappointed as I was all game to plonk this dough if I was completely sold on it.

Now iam not really sure whether its worth sacrificing the smoothness that I have come to appreciate and love about the engine with this sound monstrosity

Bottomline, Iam not fully sold !!

Thoughts, feedbacks and suggestions welcome !!

Clicked in their basement



Holy Moly !! Look at that tip opening. It can suck in biggest Alphonso mango of this season

[sanketdesai82]

I had come across the arrow exhaust the day I was taking my bike delivery and though I did not test drive it, I did hear it in the basement. Pavan from Rebel did mention that they had purposefully removed the baffle [are they same as muffler or am I just wrong in understanding this term lol] to see how loud it gets. Would be interesting to see if they can keep back these plates to actually see the sound of them so that one could judge the loudness correctly.

[maverick_driver]

Firstly congratulations mobike008 on your new ride(I'm a little late I guess) Also, absolutely awesome write up and pics. Loved reading your posts! Great stuff. I took delivery of my bonnie SE 1st week of march and absolutely love it. It's a blue and white and I booked it without even a test ride. I'm also evaluating the after market exhausts and the blr dealer has the test bonnie with the arrow 2x2. Though I dint ride it... I found the high note a bit too loud. Somehow dint gel with the character of the bike. Heard the clip on free flow exhausts on a customers bike and somehow those sounded nice, though not as loud as the arrow full exhaust. The clip ons had a nice deeper note. Cost 20k change and seem a better option than spending 50-60 k.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by maverick_driver

I took delivery of my bonnie SE 1st week of march and absolutely love it.

Congratulations to you too on your Bonnie SE. Can you describe a little bit more as to what you love about the Bonnie?

Also can we expect an ownership thread of your Bonnie on the forum?

Originally Posted by maverick_driver

It's a blue and white and I booked it without even a test ride. I'm also evaluating the after market exhausts and the blr dealer has the test bonnie with the arrow 2x2. Though I dint ride it... I found the high note a bit too loud. Somehow dint gel with the character of the bike.

Spot on about the Arrow Exhaust. It sounded quite loud to me as well. I could have still lived with that sound only if there is no change to overall characteristic of the bike in terms smoothness and power delivery

Originally Posted by maverick_driver

Heard the clip on free flow exhausts on a customers bike and somehow those sounded nice, though not as loud as the arrow full exhaust. The clip ons had a nice deeper note. Cost 20k change and seem a better option than spending 50-60 k.

Have the video clip of this Bonnie. Was it a Silver Color Bonnie? I know the owner and he is insisting that these free flows are much better sounding than Arrows.

Will be riding to Bangalore on April 26th, look forward to meeting you with your Bonnie if your in town

Originally Posted by sanketdesai82

Pavan from Rebel did mention that they had purposefully removed the baffle [are they same as muffler or am I just wrong in understanding this term lol] to see how loud it gets. Would be interesting to see if they can keep back these plates to actually see the sound of them so that one could judge the loudness correctly.

Baffles are plates that are inserted in pipes to reduce overall sound to meet emission and various other norms. If baffle is cut (right word is broken) it cannot be replaced back in same pipes

Thats my understanding, other experienced people may correct me if iam wrong.

[absynthguzzler]

Arrows have mechanical baffle. They are a remove and refit type. More than pollution protector , it's just a decibel killer. Riding a bike without the baffle in city traffic added with a basement sound check and tall buildings around is certainly not the way I would judge an exhaust. Take the bike on an open road, Rev it the way you would ride it normally (not just to pull away from marshal ) , have the riding gear the same way you would all the time, and then take a call Avi. Keep the baffles in place, especially because it doesn't affect performance of the bonnie.
Arrows in the correct setup and environment are supposed to be wonderful.

[maverick_driver]

Mod note: Post Edited to fix Quotes, please do a Preview before Submitting posts. Thanks.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Have the video clip of this Bonnie. Was it a Silver Color Bonnie? I know the owner and he is insisting that these free flows are much better sounding than Arrows.

Will be riding to Bangalore on April 26th, look forward to meeting you with your Bonnie if your in town

Yes - it was a silver Bonnie. Looks like this is quite a confusing one. Lost of different opinions. I guess the best way is to really hear these on the open roads and then take a call.

I should be in town that weekend. In Chennai the weekend before. Would love to meet up and ride a bit. Let me know.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by absynthguzzler

Arrows have mechanical baffle. They are a remove and refit type. More than pollution protector , it's just a decibel killer. Riding a bike without the baffle in city traffic added with a basement sound check and tall buildings around is certainly not the way I would judge an exhaust. Take the bike on an open road, have the riding gear the same way you would all the time, and then take a call Avi. Keep the baffles in place, especially because it doesn't affect performance of the bonnie.
Arrows in the correct setup and environment are supposed to be wonderful.

So do i understand correctly that the baffle in the Arrow Silencers are removable and refittable types? That sounds like a good thing

I agree that without an open highway ride coming to a conclusion is premature, Will request the Triumph guys to get the Arrow Bonnie on Sunday ride and will check it out. Lets see how it goes

Iam keen to listen to HFS on that Silver Bonnie which we can check out when we ride to Bangalore

Originally Posted by maverick_driver

I should be in town that weekend. In Chennai the weekend before. Would love to meet up and ride a bit. Let me know.

Great. Will send you our plan. Abysnthguzzler is also riding on his Bonnie with me and we look forward to catching up with you. Most probably a lunch meet on April 26th in Bangalore

[sanketdesai82]

Don't forget to get a video of the silver Bonnie you are talking about mobike008. Though a video is never a good judge but still something

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by sanketdesai82

Don't forget to get a video of the silver Bonnie you are talking about mobike008. Though a video is never a good judge but still something

That owner has sent me a video via. Whatsapp long back. I spoke to him also a couple of times and he insisted that High Flow Silencer (HFS) from Triumph is much better than Arrow as they are more bassy and not as loud as Arrows

HFS costs around 22K ( It sounds so reasonable now) and are just slip ons and not entire exhuast systems

Plan to check out his ride in person before taking a call

Here is the video which he sent me of his HFS'd Bonnie (As you rightly said, cannot make out much in video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=672f...ature=youtu.be

[mobike008]

Today went to a friendly neighbourhood guy and got the Triumph Logo at the back seat painted. Originally, logo was just etched into seat and unlike
T100 wasn't painted in gold.

This artist took exactly 20 minutes and asked for INR 75/- ( but, seeing his excellent work, paid him 100 bucks)

He was cribbing that grab rail was coming in his way else he could have done an even better job.

Don't you think it's worth it?

[Axe77]

Rode the Bonnie today and absolutely loved it. I rode the street triple back to back and surprisingly actually preferred the Bonnie. It's just a little more calm and laid back compared to the triple which is a bit more manic and feels as if it constantly needs to be on the boil. I also liked the sound of the Bonnie much more. The triple is much closer to a parallel twin type whine which I don't like too much.

Working on home ministry to see if I can take the plunge post monsoons or early 2015 perhaps. So far, it's the only bike (Bonnie) that feels perfect to me. All other bikes that I've liked on paper, haven't excited me when I actually took a ride.

In my mind, for the first time I'm completely sold on a bike and sure I want to buy it and it's actually worth shelling out that kind of cash on.

Now I'll be closely watching this thread for upgrades, glitches, cost of must have accessories etc.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Rode the Bonnie today and absolutely loved it. I rode the street triple back to back and surprisingly actually preferred the Bonnie. It's just a little more calm and laid back compared to the triple which is a bit more manic and feels as if it constantly needs to be on the boil. I also liked the sound of the Bonnie much more. The triple is much closer to a parallel twin type whine which I don't like too much.

Axe77, I was there today at Shaman in Kalina as well. Rode the Bonnie and Street Triple too and agree with almost all your observations. I loved the sound of the Triple though, maybe 25 years back I would have bought it

Suggestion: Please take a test ride of the Kawasaki Ninja 650 (different beauties though) and then decide. Its less expensive as well at INR 5.5 lacs approximately versus the Bonnie at INR 6.77 lacs. Both prices on road Bombay. I found the Ninja to be more comfortable and planted on the road.

The Bonnie brochure cum accessories list is attached which the staff at Triumph sent via email.

Cheers