[argchoff]

Any more update on the bonneville stock exhaust issue. I get 2 versions of the story....triumph pune telling me all bonnies sold in 2015 need swapping of stock exhausts with new emission compliant pipes....free replacement. But the MD said only 600 odd bikes had an issue and need their exhaust pipes replaced.

[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Hello there.

The Demo Bikes would have been registered already as Keerti does give demo bikes for long rides. Hence, unlikely that they will palm off one to you as new.

Mr. Samarth the Manager there (Keerti) and Mr Prasanna, Workshop Manager, both are genuine bikers (in my opinion) and don't think will be party to any such dirty tricks. Talk to them when you go there for booking.

What extra fittings you want with it is up to you. Having said that I think the Sari Guard is compulsory for registration in India and that comes as a standard fitting with the bike, I believe.

All The Best

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

Thanks, thats confidence inspiring. Will try and meet up with them.

[dinu2506]

Booked the Bonnie A3, Black. Hoping to get delivery in 2-3 weeks. Added on the basic accessories - Engine Dresser Bar, Engine Guard Plate and Lockable Fuel Cap. Will look at other accessories at a later point. Are there any sources for online purchase of Bonnie parts who have delivery to India / Bangalore. Any leads will be welcome.

[djpeesh]

Originally Posted by dinu2506

Booked the Bonnie A3, Black. Hoping to get delivery in 2-3 weeks. Added on the basic accessories - Engine Dresser Bar, Engine Guard Plate and Lockable Fuel Cap. Will look at other accessories at a later point. Are there any sources for online purchase of Bonnie parts who have delivery to India / Bangalore. Any leads will be welcome.

Welcome to the club. Instead of the Triumph engine guard, pick up the Sw motech ones. Way better and I have first hand info on how they work. Available in bangalore and I'll PM you the guys number.

Lockable fuel cap isn't really needed IMHO. It just adds an extra key in my opinion. Sump guard is mandatory for the great potholes and speed breakers we have in India.

Don't stress too much and enjoy the bonnie. Trust me, you'll love it.

[epijay]

My story do far- I relocated to Hyd from the US, found four wheel traffic to be horrendous, needed to commute 23 Km one way, decided Harley street was best VFM for this purpose. When I bought the bike, was only planning to use it in the city with a AWD for long distance. I didnt know about the "brotherhood" and the long distance rides (else I would have bought a Street Bob, so had V&H exhausts installed, went to IBW in Goa along with all the other big Harleys, barely could keep up with them. Street was uncomfortable to ride above 100 Kmph.

Long story short? I found the HD technical support to be abysmal. They mucked around with my bike for three days to fix the "surge and lag" issue involving a defective fuel pump; at the end of it they messed up the throttle settings and the bike was behaving rather badly, running hot etc. It took a personal visit to their workshop to identify and fix, in 30 minutes, a problem (adjustment of throttle cable) they had taken three days for and finally refusing to see that there was anything wrong with the setting. The sheer incompetence of the Harley support system urged me to sell the wretched thing as I licked my wounds. I didnt think getting another HD would sort out problems with support.

Which brings me to the Bonneville and Triumph dealership/ support. How good is the support system- do you have undeniable confidence in the Triumph workshop? Having been out if this country for 21 years, have come to expect a certain level of professionalism and competence among the workshop folks. I find this sadly lacking, in the case if the Harley (HYD) as well as with my AWD vehicle. The Harley owners that I know spend a lot of time at the workshop personally supervising any work on their machines. This is admirable, but as a working professional, I do not appreciate having to spend time at the workshop, doing what those guys are paid to do. I have a good understanding of machines, which is why the lack of professionalism and competence of dealerships leaves me in despair- Has anyone heard of spending 6.5 hrs at an auto workshop, just changing 4 tyres???

In short, over the past 5 years, India has seen a boom in the availability of fairly high end products, but has not seen a matching availability of high end customer service. How does this play out with your Triumph Products?

[Turbanator]

Which brings me to the Bonneville and Triumph dealership/ support. How good is the support system- do you have undeniable confidence in the Triumph workshop?

It will be more and less same story at least in North , most of the Triumph guys are ex-Harley but amongst better of Harley guys who left due to higher salaries . What I have seen from my own experience - the less we go to workshop's better it is .

Will suggest to stay with bike while they do anything on bike - even it means missing work for few hours - from my experience for a simple re-map job after exhausts changes - these guys messed up and I could bring back to original position only after 3-4 visits

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by epijay

Having been out if this country for 21 years, have come to expect a certain level of professionalism and competence among the workshop folks. I find this sadly lacking, in the case if the Harley (HYD) as well as with my AWD vehicle.

In short, over the past 5 years, India has seen a boom in the availability of fairly high end products, but has not seen a matching availability of high end customer service. How does this play out with your Triumph Products?

I got back to India after 15 years in 2012, so I understand your sentiment to quite an extent.

I don’t own a Triumph but I was highly impressed by the customer experience when I called in to book a Bonnie test ride. Emails, several follow up calls and even an offer of a home test ride. Way better than the Triumph experience in my previous ‘first world’ city.

So here, Triumph India: 1, Developed World: 0.

Now lets get to the workshop or support experience: the fact here is that the typical service person in these workshops has grown up in a lot more challenging, deprived environment than their counterpart in say, NY or London. He is no equal in terms of knowledge, exposure, education, the experience, even pay grades.

Keeping this in mind, I always try to help service personnel by either googling for the job at hand, referring to the workshop PDF manual or by asking questions in biker forums and relaying the information to them and helping them understand the job or my expectations of how it should be done.

I’ve had far worse service experiences with both my car & bikes abroad in the past decade than in India. And that applies to almost everything - the service costs, flexibility, competence levels and most important of all - the attitude.

Earlier this year, when I had to take delivery of my bike in the blistering hot month of June in Delhi, Ducati customer service agreed to open up their bike showroom cum service centre at 7am so that it won't be too hot in the day for me to ride back. I don't see that happening EVER in London or NY or any other first world city.

So when it comes to the customer service attitude, IQ or the ability to listen & serve you with a smile, I would say it again: India: 1. Developed world: 0.

I'm not saying that the service or competence levels are the best in the world, of course there is huge room for improvements, but given the circumstances they are far better than what it really could've been.

Lastly, of course I don't mean to belittle your observations or experiences as they are most certainly legit, just my $0.02 in the hope that you might find my 'outofthebox' views worthy of a thought or two.

Since you seem to be in Delhi, we should connect for a ride or two whenever convenient.

cheers!
-ootb

[Sting]

Ive had over 3 visits to the service center in Delhi/Gurgaon. Anupam, the guy who deals with my issues and servicing is a gem to deal with. On other occassions Ive dealt with Atul to get technical support. 5/5 to both of them....till now. There are others in the Delhi dealership that would get a 0/5.

The experience also largely depends on the person you deal with rather then the company. Unless a big fiasco happens, like the Triumph detuning fiasco, where the company is responsible.

Cheers,
Sting

[epijay]

Hi OOTB,
Im in Hyd now- been a BHPian since 2004 I think! I was in the Philippines then, in Delhi next etc. I appreciate your points but Im in no way blaming the individual mechanics- I blame the company for maintaining a low standard in these matters. I went for a Bonnue rest ride today, Sunday- Even though they were not officially open, the guy, very enthusiastically, opened the doors and let me have a Bonnie test ride- I like the bike, but still dont know the calibre of support in their workshop. The Harley sales guys are all very nice too- the nightmare starts when you have real problems to sort out..

[nitrogary]

Originally Posted by epijay

Which brings me to the Bonneville and Triumph dealership/ support. How good is the support system- do you have undeniable confidence in the Triumph workshop? but as a working professional, I do not appreciate having to spend time at the workshop. Has anyone heard of spending 6.5 hrs at an auto workshop, just changing 4 tyres???
How does this play out with your Triumph Products?

I have had a Bonneville in Pune for over 6 months now so can speak of the Pune dealership only and I will add the worst case scenarios first.

1. Parts availability will be a concern - they do not keep stocks and stocks of significant cycle / engine parts so expect delays if you for example bend a wheel rim. But this is true for all imported bikes. From the comments of everyone, Triumph seems to have improved in the recent months.
2. Agreed that spending time at the workshop is not required. I have never needed to spend time with my bike while its in the showroom but have always been welcomed to hang out at the service station. Its a good way to learn about these machines. You don't get to see a lot of Triumphs or Harleys and the bike's internals with such ease any where else.
3. With sales increasing, we should expect the service centers to get crunched for bandwidth of sorting out bikes. This is my opinion.

Having said this, the Pune triumph dealership is the best experience I have had with any of my vehicles. Some of the good things they do -
1. They are understanding, have often not charged me for doing minor setup jobs
2. Adhered to all committed timelines
3. maintained very pleasant but professional relations with the riders,
4. Arranged training camps for us
5. They have regular coffee meets which gives us a forum to talk bikes

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by epijay

Hi OOTB,
I blame the company for maintaining a low standard in these matters.

Yes, but all of them recruit from pretty much the same ecosystem.

The good news is that from here on, as more & more Triumphs and other speciality bikes hit the streets, this situation can only improve.

Any slack in customer experience and it could have a direct impact on their market share. This niche of customers is very visible and very vocal.

[mobike008]

Epijay,

I had the experience of using Triumph's service in Hyderabad for nearly 11 months and my experience was reasonably good. They were pleasant, polite and eager to help. But, they had at most times have no clue about the issues in the bike

Can't blame them as they were poached from Harley with head of service not even from the industry.

Having said that, Bonnie is an extremely reliable bike and except for regular service it needn't even see the face of service center, so if you decide to buy one, you will be happy from that perspective

Since your based in Hyderabad, let me know if you want to connect with me on phone so I can share much detailed experience about Bonnie and Triumph service levels

[dinu2506]

Took delivery of my Bonnie in the last week of October. Absolute pleasure to ride. Accessories - just got the engine dresser bar, the skid plate. Also paid for a lockable fuel cap, but its not in stock yet.

Found the stock horn a bit feeble and weedy, so swapped it myself at home with an old hella horn lying at home from my Civic. Used only the high tone. Its much much better and compliments the bike.

Incessant rains in Bangalore has been keeping her off the roads for days. Just managed to cover 280 km from the time of delivery.

Some photos

[dinu2506]

Bike is doing good. Its due for the first service as 1 month is over, but it has done only 450km. Will book a slot this week. Got some time today to click some good snaps. Hope you enjoy them

[harishpr]

I'm a 'passive' auto enthusiast who enjoys reading and being updated about everything that runs in fuel !!! I like to read about HTVs as much as I like reading about LCVs and Bikes.
Please bear with my long post since you need to know my situation before suggesting.

Year 2013 saw my long (6+ years; day & sometimes night dreaming) yearning desire fulfilled. I got home Skoda Yeti 4x4 despite stiff resistance from my family/friends (Thanks to Skoda A.S.S stories), but went ahead. Since then, i have been delightfully endeavoring every single moment with Yeti !
Thanks to Bengaluru's traffic situation, travelling in traffic every single day got tiring. Tried everything possible like below:-
(1) Used uber/ola 2 days a week, but was irritated with their unreliable service (i dont blame them since i reside in JPNagar & Work in Whitefield.. Hehe, most bengalureans would know my situation).
(2) Did car pool with my colleagues, and discontinued due to timing issues.
(3) Hired a driver with 15K salary, but he would disappear without notice.
(4) purchased Auto Celerio (which my wife drives now) but travel time didn't reduce ()
(5) Drove my 2 wheeler to office 2 days a week (Monday-Yeti, Tuesday- Bike, Wednesday - Yeti, Thursday - Bike, Friday - Work from home)
The 5th option worked the best, BUT; the bike was breaking my back due to extremely bad road & zillion potholes !! BTW, i drive Bajaj Avenger as two wheeler. My *** would hibernate before getting to office & i felt too exhausted. (Anyday, 2 wheeler is the best bet to shrink commute time)

Coming to avenger - It's great value for money, but the low seating means extreme stress on spine/back. So, i started searching for better ride.

After several hours/days of internet search, I decided to upgrade my bike option with something better. Most importantly, such bike should be a good daily commuter & not scream for attention.
With a budget of 10 lakhs, i started the following:-
[/list]Went to RE showroom, no one was interested in even explaining the different option, forget about TD + loooooong waiting period.
[/list]Went to Suzuki/Honda showroom, all are super bikes & not fit for daily commute.
[/list]Went to HD showroom, got TD & absolutely fell in love with the lowest priced HD, Oops, it has MRF tires & i read about several stories in team-bhp about bad brakes & accidents. WIFE DISAPPROVED instantly.
[/list]Went to the 'only' dealer of Triumph & was bowled over with the Bonneville Looks (Stop, dealer told me that base version of Bonneville is stopped production, and only option is Bonneville T100).. With limited color options, I took TD & found it to be a great daily commuter with excellent seating position. The Onroad price in bengaluru is crossing 8 Lakhs.

So, my fellow brothers/sisters/citizens, please help with following:-
1. Is it really worth 8+ lakhs ?
2. What is the average cost of Service ?
3. With only dealer in bengaluru, have you experienced high handedness ?
4. Is it better to wait for upgraded model in 2016 Bonneville Street Twin , or go for the existing one ?
5. Is it really a good daily commuter for 50 Kilometers drive per day?
6. How is the drive quality ? can it take the roads of bengaluru and still be kind to my back ???

Please help !!!!

Mod Note : Post Edited. Smiley usage is restricted to two per post on Team-BHP. Please do NOT use more than 2 smileys in a post.

We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further.