The First Ride

Since my first ride on my new Triumph resembled a scene from Ice Station Zebra, I don't consider that my real first ride.  The real first ride occurred three days later.

The freezing temps from the week gave way to a weekend of gorgeous weather.  My ability to ride was stifled on Saturday by work but Sunday was all mine.  I got up, made quick work of breakfast and grabbed my gear.  It was time for me to officially begin the relationship with my new bike.  The sun was out and the temps were hovering around the low 40s.  In other words: perfect riding weather.

I opened the garage door and wheeled the bike into position.  It was hard not to get distracted by the bike's wonderful looks.  There's so much to look at: the chrome caps on the carbs, the shape of the gas tank, the machined handle bar clamp complete with Triumph logo.  The ride was already enjoyable and I didn't even leave the garage yet.


With the ogling over with, I hit the starter, threw my gear on and headed out on my first proper ride.

It's a short ride to a stop sign and then onto a sweet set of curves.  I set off gently at first, getting used to my new machine.  The twin gave off a nice mechanical noise as it revved.  I'd love to know how the exhaust sounded but they're too quiet.  That's something to address in the future.  As I rolled into the first few corners, I got a sense of what the bike was really like.

My old Suzuki had a bit of a top-heavy feel.  It really didn't go through the corners at all.  It sort of fell gracefully into them.  You tipped it in, let it fall and then caught it.  It made for awkward riding, to say the least.

The Bonneville was completely different, though.  With a little nudge of countersteer, the bike would just track through the corners beautifully.  The wide handlebars and classic standard riding position allowed easy placement through the bends.  No hip persuasion and no knee-down histrionics are needed to take a quick line.  You just pick your line, dial up a bit of countersteer and through you go.  This was all new stuff to me.

The mechanical noise from the engine sounded good, too.  As I revved the engine, the noise got better and better.  I'd love to know where in the rev range the noise sounded best but alas, my new Triumph had no tach. 

The exhausts...well, I'm sure they made a great noise, too.  I couldn't hear them over the sound of a butterfly fluttering away nearby.  In fact, I don't think the bike came with any exhausts.  I mean, there are these two shiny chrome cans near the back but it's hard to tell if they do anything.  

I also remember being blown away by having a bike with actual low-end torque.  On my old Suzuki, everything happened toward the northern end of the tach.  It had a six-speed 'box because you had to keep shifting up and down to make sure the engine was in its narrow powerband.  It was annoying, frankly.

Anyway, on with the ride.  With the corners dispatched, it was on to the most American of roads: the straights.  Now, my bike at this point had less than 20 miles on it.  You're not supposed to get on the throttle heavily until after the first 500 miles.  Well, I said stuff it to the engineers and gave it some right hand action (oh, that sounds dirty).  In response, the Bonneville barreled forward in a symphony of mechanical noise.  It was like an excited dog; it just wanted more, more, more.  Each upshift brought more joy to this bike's new owner.  It was becoming clearer to me that I made a good purchase.

With the straight bit finished, it was time for some higher-speed sweepers.  As with the slower corners and the straights, the Bonneville showed stoic aplomb in the sweepers.  There was no wobbling and really, the bike felt like it was encouraging me to go faster.

About this time a few flaws were starting to develop.  The sweepers are on a typical pock-marked Pennsylvania road and the Bonneville's poor rear shocks had me flying off the seat on numerous occasions.  It's okay, though, because my butt went numb a few miles before from the rock-hard stock seat and I couldn't feel the bumps anymore.  Clearly, cost-cutting measure were becoming apparent.  No worries from me, however, because the Bonneville's aftermarket is quite large and those niggles would be fixed in the future.

A few hours later I pulled back in my garage with a sizable grin on my face.  My new bike was quite a machine.  It's not really fair to compare the Bonneville to my old Suzuki as they are separated by 31 years of evolution but that's my only frame of reference.  And it really shows how far the motorcycle has come in that span of time.  The Bonneville is a normal, everyday motorcycle.  There's nothing really special about it yet it handled every situation on that first ride with confidence. 

Four years later and I still get amazed by this bike.  It now has saucy pipes, hopped-up suspension and a comfy seat but it still displays the same confident, playful attitude it showed on that first ride.  It still likes to attack the bends, it still like to have the nuts revved out of it and still wants to run all day.

Sure it lacks the flash and speed of a Ducati 1198R, an MV Agusta F4 or even my Guzzi but those are "sometimes" bikes, best suited for taking you around the track than around the block.  The Bonneville is an "all-the-time" bike.  It does everything so well it makes you wonder why the good ol' fashioned standard ever went away.  With the Ducati, the MV or the Guzzi, you have to own another bike because they're so specialized.  With the Bonneville, you don't.  It's the perfect motorcycle for riding in the real world.

I think you can sum up the new Triumph Bonneville in one word: perfect.