Christmas Shopping

It’s time to share my new obsession, Triumph Bonneville. I see one in my future. Will it be an SE or a T100? Only time will tell. Last Thursday, December 22, I drove down to Paul Blouin Suzuki/Triumph to test ride a Bonnie and an America. I was accompanied by my friend Cappy, aka Black Douglas. I know it seems ludicrous, test riding motorcycles in late December in Maine, but in spite of the freezing rain the day before the salesman at Blouin encouraged me to come down. As we headed south, the freeway continued to improve and by the time we arrived at around 12:30 the roads were clear and the temps were in the low 40s.
After receiving a little sales pitch, I rode the Bonnie first. I slowly proceeded to the parking lot exit getting comfortable with the controls and turned right on to busy US 202. This took me up a fairly steep hill. No issue with the Bonnie in first, second or third. It seemed to have a lot more low-end torque than I'm used to. As I headed west I was fighting a stiff head wind and I really missed the wind protection provided by the windshield and fairing on my NT700. Several miles down the road I turned on to state route 17. It goes north thought a small town and then up and over a big hill with a similar descent on the other side. I rode out about 3 more miles and then headed back. The total trip was about 10 miles.
 In addition to all the low-end torque, the transmission was butter smooth. I didn't notice any "snatchy throttle", the controls were almost perfect. There seemed to be a wide zone in which the various gears were content. As I left the traffic light I began to wind it out. The acceleration was terrific. I notice a 35 mph limit sign so I backed off. As I exited that speed zone and rolled on the throttle the acceleration was awesome. The bike seemed to surge out from under me. I was hitting 70 mph and the bike was still in 4th gear, ready for more. I don't think I ever hit fifth except to figure out what gear I was in. I negotiated a U turn and headed back, the bike turned on a dime. A gentle push on the handlebars was sufficient to change directions. I like the upright ergonomics and I concur with Suzie that the seat is hard but satisfactory. I cruised back to the dealership totally in awe of the experience. I'm sure you know how one can sometimes build something up so much that the actual experience is a let down. That certainly wasn't the case here. I was absolutely shocked how much better it was than what I expected.
 Then I jumped on the America, a black one. My only complaint that I didn't care for the way the clutch set up. A slight squeeze disengaged the transmission, and therefore I had to let the clutch almost all the way out before it reengaged. I'm sure that a small adjustment would solve that problem. However it took a little getting used to, especially out in traffic. I took the same route, except this time a moving van pulled out in front of me. She stopped on a dime. The bike handled extremely well, though not quit as responsive as the Bonnie. Of course that's all do to the greater rake angle and longer wheelbase, like all cruisers. Cruisers want to go straight and they do it well. The four 90° turns required a good lean and I felt extremely comfortable. It has the same butter smooth transmission and awesome acceleration.  As I rolled out SR 17 I was hitting 70 mph and decided to shift up to fifth. After the shift I realized that I wasn't yet in fifth, I was still in fourth. If you follow that you’ll notice that I was doing 70 in third gear. The bike was completely happy doing, no strain on the bike at all. I think the only time you would ever get into fifth would be cruising on the freeway.
 Can't say much about the sound of the bike, either one, as I wasn't focused on it. I liked the America very much and I could be very happy with one, but I find the shorter wheel base and more upright forks of the Bonnie more to my liking.
 What will happen in the spring???