My Triumph Review

[Rustys]

Well seeing iam a new member to this forum i may as well make some comments about our new toy.
Let me tell you about myself. Iam 74 years of age now and still have all my facilties so iam very lucky.
I started with my first brand new bike a Triumph Cub, bought around 1962. I have had bikes all my life mostly Japanese 4 strokes and two strokes, with the odd Ducati at times. I have done Adventure riding for a number of years in NZ and Australia, and lots of Touring on larger bikes here in NZ. I got into the racing scene at around 55 yearsof age, racing 400/600cc Pre modern bikes, Iam still racing today but now Classic bikes with smaller cc and having a ball.
Over the last couple of years the wife and i had a clean out of some of our Adventure and sports bikes and one which i dearly loved was the FJR1300, something i thought id never part with, but loaded up for Touring the thing weighed a ton.
The wife sugested that we look for something a bit lighter in weight than the FJR, and more along the lines of the two Classic Race bikes that we own, something that we can just pull out of the shed on a nice day and go for a bit of a crusie ride.
I have always had a soft spot for the Bonnie, as in the 60's two good mates of mine had these, and they were the bike of the day.
Anyway we have recently purchased a 2008 T100 Bonnie, low klms, 1 owner, full service history and with a load of extra's on the bike, with every thing we wanted, so we dont need to kit it out any further.
We have had several days out on the bike now and iam rather impressed with this bike, after coming off a FJR1300 i thought it would take a lot to beat the Yamaha. Although the Triumph is not as powerfull it has very good torque for an 850cc, very comphy with the King/Queen seat, quite nimble handling, and a nice quite engine, the gear box is a bit notchy but i think i will get used to operate it better, brakes are ok but for a single disk and Two pot calipier can't ask for much better. Rear suspension loaded seems a bit soft, i have cranked it up to about midway and seems a little better, (over the years i have found a lot of touring bikes are undersprung anyway) Bumped the rear tyre pressure up to 40psi and this has helped also. The finnish of the bike in general is good, but the chrome work on the front guard brackets, horn, and spokes is poor, (assembled in Thailand). Will just have to keep plenty of CRC or silicone on the chrome to keep it lasting. Overall its a lovely bike for an older Biker, and very pleased that we have one to finnish off our years of Motorcycling which we both enjoy.
Very pleased with the forum, nice and easy to get around and find things about the Triumphs on here.
Cheers from Rustys NZ

 

[Philois]

Welcome Rusty, glad you are enjoying your new ride mate. Also great to hear you are still riding at 74 gives me hope at 62. Like you I am slowly getting used to the Triumph gearbox after many years on Japanese bikes. Always jealous of people living in New Zealand, have had many holidays there but only one where I got to ride. Hired a VFR800 for ten days and rode around the lower half of the South Island, best riding I have ever done, hopefully if we can beat this bloody virus I will get to do it again. My wife and I were booked to travel to NZ on Sat just gone, but had to cancel.
Again welcome and ride safe. Phil.

 

[Rocky]

Hello and welcome to TT from the east coast of Canada
Great that you're having a good time on the T100. I have one slightly older and love it!

 

[sikatri]

Howdy and welcome!

 

[Rustys]

Welcome Rusty, glad you are enjoying your new ride mate. Also great to hear you are still riding at 74 gives me hope at 62. Like you I am slowly getting used to the Triumph gearbox after many years on Japanese bikes. Always jealous of people living in New Zealand, have had many holidays there but only one where I got to ride. Hired a VFR800 for ten days and rode around the lower half of the South Island, best riding I have ever done, hopefully if we can beat this bloody virus I will get to do it again. My wife and I were booked to travel to NZ on Sat just gone, but had to cancel.
Again welcome and ride safe. Phil.

Hi Philois,
NZ is a great place for Motorcycling, we have enjoyed traveling many klms on the bikes, our off the beaten track roads are also very scenic. South Island has the best roads and scenery and also is less populated. Your always welcome for a stopover if you get back here, we are in the lower North Island.

 

[guscar65]

Welcome Rusty, glad you are enjoying your new ride mate. Also great to hear you are still riding at 74 gives me hope at 62. Like you I am slowly getting used to the Triumph gearbox after many years on Japanese bikes. Always jealous of people living in New Zealand, have had many holidays there but only one where I got to ride. Hired a VFR800 for ten days and rode around the lower half of the South Island, best riding I have ever done, hopefully if we can beat this bloody virus I will get to do it again. My wife and I were booked to travel to NZ on Sat just gone, but had to cancel.
Again welcome and ride safe. Phil.

Good hearing from you, I am 71 going on 17----and like you, lucky to be fit. I have the T120 and given its extra oomph would think that it would be a better match to your lifestyle----I may just be lucky but its gearbox is absolutely fine. However I am sure that the T100 will charm you. These bikes are all about 'feelgood' ------a sunny day on two wheels ! I have spoked wheels (no other option on 120) and they seem OK. Mind you, you do need to enjoy wash/polish. But hey its part of the fun on a nice day.

 

[Rustys]

Good hearing from you, I am 71 going on 17----and like you, lucky to be fit. I have the T120 and given its extra oomph would think that it would be a better match to your lifestyle----I may just be lucky but its gearbox is absolutely fine. However I am sure that the T100 will charm you. These bikes are all about 'feelgood' ------a sunny day on two wheels ! I have spoked wheels (no other option on 120) and they seem OK. Mind you, you do need to enjoy wash/polish. But hey its part of the fun on a nice day.

Thanks for the reply guscar65: The more i ride the Triumph the more i enjoy it, i think it was a good choice to finnish off my biking years. Cheers mate.

 

[acton mike]

Well seeing iam a new member to this forum i may as well make some comments about our new toy.
Let me tell you about myself. Iam 74 years of age now and still have all my facilties so iam very lucky.
I started with my first brand new bike a Triumph Cub, bought around 1962. I have had bikes all my life mostly Japanese 4 strokes and two strokes, with the odd Ducati at times. I have done Adventure riding for a number of years in NZ and Australia, and lots of Touring on larger bikes here in NZ. I got into the racing scene at around 55 yearsof age, racing 400/600cc Pre modern bikes, Iam still racing today but now Classic bikes with smaller cc and having a ball.
Over the last couple of years the wife and i had a clean out of some of our Adventure and sports bikes and one which i dearly loved was the FJR1300, something i thought id never part with, but loaded up for Touring the thing weighed a ton.
The wife sugested that we look for something a bit lighter in weight than the FJR, and more along the lines of the two Classic Race bikes that we own, something that we can just pull out of the shed on a nice day and go for a bit of a crusie ride.
I have always had a soft spot for the Bonnie, as in the 60's two good mates of mine had these, and they were the bike of the day.
Anyway we have recently purchased a 2008 T100 Bonnie, low klms, 1 owner, full service history and with a load of extra's on the bike, with every thing we wanted, so we dont need to kit it out any further.
We have had several days out on the bike now and iam rather impressed with this bike, after coming off a FJR1300 i thought it would take a lot to beat the Yamaha. Although the Triumph is not as powerfull it has very good torque for an 850cc, very comphy with the King/Queen seat, quite nimble handling, and a nice quite engine, the gear box is a bit notchy but i think i will get used to operate it better, brakes are ok but for a single disk and Two pot calipier can't ask for much better. Rear suspension loaded seems a bit soft, i have cranked it up to about midway and seems a little better, (over the years i have found a lot of touring bikes are undersprung anyway) Bumped the rear tyre pressure up to 40psi and this has helped also. The finnish of the bike in general is good, but the chrome work on the front guard brackets, horn, and spokes is poor, (assembled in Thailand). Will just have to keep plenty of CRC or silicone on the chrome to keep it lasting. Overall its a lovely bike for an older Biker, and very pleased that we have one to finnish off our years of Motorcycling which we both enjoy.
Very pleased with the forum, nice and easy to get around and find things about the Triumphs on here.
Cheers from Rustys NZ

I be riding a 2016 T100. Got back to riding at 69 after 30 years away. Started my return to riding with a 2011Royal Enfield 500 Bullet, rode it for a couple of year and then bought the T100 brand spanking new. Ran both of them for a while but said goodbye to the bullet during this summer.
Love the T100. Some say I should have gone for the more powerful faster T120 but blasting along at 120 KMH or more and mixing it up with distracted motorists and huge trucks on the expressway/freeway/interstate/autoroute/autobahn is not for me. The secondary highways and back roads with their lower speeds and lighter to no traffic along with the accompanying sights sounds and smells make for much more enjoyable riding.

Life is not a race; hell it goes by fast enough as it is

slow down an enjoy the ride

 

[Vector]

I agree

 

[guscar65]

I be riding a 2016 T100. Got back to riding at 69 after 30 years away. Started my return to riding with a 2011Royal Enfield 500 Bullet, rode it for a couple of year and then bought the T100 brand spanking new. Ran both of them for a while but said goodbye to the bullet during this summer.
Love the T100. Some say I should have gone for the more powerful faster T120 but blasting along at 120 KMH or more and mixing it up with distracted motorists and huge trucks on the expressway/freeway/interstate/autoroute/autobahn is not for me. The secondary highways and back roads with their lower speeds and lighter to no traffic along with the accompanying sights sounds and smells make for much more enjoyable riding.

Life is not a race; hell it goes by fast enough as it is

slow down an enjoy the ride

Yes cruising has its charms. Our little group try to get out together one day a week for a 'big' ride-out ----through some of the best scenery however Scotlands roads are crowded with caravans etc. through out the summer. Short straights and the draw of nice open bend swinging rather sets our bike parameters-----so good handling and acceleration are the order of the day.----so we try to ride around the speed limit (60) and keep a high average along 'B' and sometimes 'A' roads so we can reach the good bits and back within the day (along with coffee stops of course). One does note that at 71 ----life seems to pass rather quickly!.----pack as much living in as possible. My T120 with slightly lowered gearing is superb to look at----handles well and can really take -off when the need arises.----although now using a BMW F800GT for those longer ride-outs as it is somewhat lighter on its feet. T120 is kept for cruising with wife on board and those days when all you want is a relaxed ride along the coast on a sunny day. Bliss!

 

[Rustys]

Yes cruising has its charms. Our little group try to get out together one day a week for a 'big' ride-out ----through some of the best scenery however Scotlands roads are crowded with caravans etc. through out the summer. Short straights and the draw of nice open bend swinging rather sets our bike parameters-----so good handling and acceleration are the order of the day.----so we try to ride around the speed limit (60) and keep a high average along 'B' and sometimes 'A' roads so we can reach the good bits and back within the day (along with coffee stops of course). One does note that at 71 ----life seems to pass rather quickly!.----pack as much living in as possible. My T120 with slightly lowered gearing is superb to look at----handles well and can really take -off when the need arises.----although now using a BMW F800GT for those longer ride-outs as it is somewhat lighter on its feet. T120 is kept for cruising with wife on board and those days when all you want is a relaxed ride along the coast on a sunny day. Bliss!

We were over at the Manx TT in 2018, then had 3 weeks traveling around Scotland, roads a narrow, but there's some fantastic riding on a Motorcycle from what we have seen up in the Highlands, Ullapool, Applecross, and Isle of Skye. Not the best time to visit, August, but still we did enjoy ourselves.

 

[guscar65]

We were over at the Manx TT in 2018, then had 3 weeks traveling around Scotland, roads a narrow, but there's some fantastic riding on a Motorcycle from what we have seen up in the Highlands, Ullapool, Applecross, and Isle of Skye. Not the best time to visit, August, but still we did enjoy ourselves.

yes you picked some good ones----Glencoe, is a regular ride with humbling scenery, Glenshee, riding is technical but exciting, the sma' glen (via A85) is also very good.

 

[NWGABikerGuy]

I be riding a 2016 T100. Got back to riding at 69 after 30 years away. Started my return to riding with a 2011Royal Enfield 500 Bullet, rode it for a couple of year and then bought the T100 brand spanking new. Ran both of them for a while but said goodbye to the bullet during this summer.
Love the T100. Some say I should have gone for the more powerful faster T120 but blasting along at 120 KMH or more and mixing it up with distracted motorists and huge trucks on the expressway/freeway/interstate/autoroute/autobahn is not for me. The secondary highways and back roads with their lower speeds and lighter to no traffic along with the accompanying sights sounds and smells make for much more enjoyable riding.

Life is not a race; hell it goes by fast enough as it is

slow down an enjoy the ride

Interesting. I started back after 48 years away on a 2009 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 as well. (Still can't believe how little I paid for it.) It was a great comeback bike because it was not too fast, but is old school engineering and tech (with the capitulation to disc brakes and EFI) and really puts the rider solidly in touch with the road. Then I tried some Japanese bikes for the tech and reliability and frankly didn't like them at all. Too easy to ride, and too much tech interference with the rider's butt, hands, and feet feeling and riding the reality of the road. I sold them quickly. Then came my Triumph Bonnie T100! I am going to winnow down the herd to the Bonnie and the Bullet (the Old Boy deserves the TLC and a few miles a week!). I have considered affecting a fake British accent, but if the dialect does not include the word "Ya'll" I will be quickly exposed. I look for roads and routes where I can slow down and soak-up the sights, smells, and scenery.

 

[Vector]

Ah yes, the escape...