Where to go next...

[ghulst]

Last year I sold both of my remaining motorcycles. And I miss throwing my leg over a bike and being on two wheels. I know I have more than my share of four-wheeled vehicles to choose from, including two great toys, but they are not bikes. So, the search is back on. (Stay with me, Triumph content coming...)

When I started riding, I bought myself a dirt cheap Yamaha XJ600 for €50 from the mid-eighties that needed a lot of TLC. With the help of friends and a secondhand exhaust, I got that back on the road for a song and rode that in the region. But through Long Way Round and Long Way Down I loved adventure bikes. But I was not able to afford a BMW 1200GS, so when I saw a cheap Transalp up for grabs, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a fun bike to have. The seat height and seating position really made me happy and so the mile munching began. That was the first bike I did a road trip on, rushing out to the ferry in Calais, driving it through London (getting hopelessly lost without a GPS) and meandering down the coast to Bexhill-On-Sea to meet a friend. And later to Germany, to a place slightly south of Heidelberg. That's also when I felt the need for a bigger engine.

Enter Triumph and the Steamer. (And this forum.)

I really liked my very early example of the Tiger. It had been crashed at the start of its life, but I overlooked all of that (at my own peril) and drove it home at a ridiculously low price and temperature. It was around freezing and believe me when I say I really needed a hot shower when I finally made it home.

To keep the long story short, I have mainly been riding adventure bikes ever since. After the Steamer I got an 1150GS, a Suzuki DR800, a Tiger 800XC, and then a 1200GS as my main bikes. I did dabble a bit in projects with a Yamaha XJ550 naked, another Transalp, a Yamaha 660TT that I never started on, a Ducati 600SS and a KTM 640 Adventure.

Lately I have been charmed by other motorcycles that I have had on my list for a while. The Triumph Bonneville and Scrambler are two of those, as are the Street and speed triples.

A while ago I did have a test ride on a Scrambler and I found it was not as agile as my GS or Tiger. And that made me wonder whether I would like it as much. Then I was listening to the Highside/Lowside podcast and they mentioned that they would recommend the Street Triple to anyone who wanted to have a fun bike. Now, there also is a speed triple that has more power and bigger engines, so off goes my brain and countless hours on online classifieds.

So, my question to you all (if you are still reading this), is which one would you choose and why?

• Triumph Bonneville (great retro looking bike, preferably with the spoked wheels; 6-7K for up to 2009)
• Triumph Scrambler 900 (looks a bit more fun, but how practical is that high exhaust?; 6-7K for up to 2009)
• Triumph Street Triple (including the R; 4-6K for up to 2013)
• Triumph Speed Triple (995i up to 4K, 1050 up to 5K for a 2011)

Or any of your own suggestions.

[London_Phil]

I'm actually looking for a 2010 Speedmaster 865FI. I do like the simplicity of the Bonnie, but I wanted the more cruiser looking look. The Speedmaster has the lines of my old HD Shovelhead FLH, but in a much more manageable package. Sadly ABS was never fitted to the Speedmaster, but there are a lot of Bonnie options, among which the Newchurch variant seems popular

[Lee337]

Like the look of the Scrambler. Tabitha's previous owner has one having traded in his Street Triple. He claims its real fun to ride but he admits its not great for longer journeys. More of a weekend blast


I'm not sure about the Bonnie, a bit too retro for me & I'm not certain how comfy it'd be on longer runs.

Of the list though  I'd likely go for the street Triple. It looks smart & the ergonomics probably suit my body type more than the others, I.e. slightly unfit, slightly overweight  slightly knackered knees & back. (It's why I went down the adventure bike route)

Think I'd give a Zero a look  my local dealer has a test ride event next weekend. Other than that  not sure  maybe a Ducsti Desert X but I'm no fan of the Ducati engine.

Test rode a Yamaga Tenere 660(?) last year which was nice but after my 800xc I thought it a little gutless.

Let's face it  I just like the triple engine and looking at budget, street triple would have my vote.

[ghulst]

Thanks Phil. I am not sure I would really want to go the cruiser route. After the adventure bikes, I already found the scrambler a bit less agile than I was used to on the Tiger and GS etc.

But like Lee, I am a bit worried about the longer rides. I see a lot of very flat saddles on the Bonneville and the scrambler, and I doubt that is going to be nice on a 5 hour ride. But I might be wrong.

That is also where the Street Triple comes in. I think the Speed Triple might be having a bit of unnecessary weight in comparison to the Street Triple and at over 100hp it is going to have more than enough power anyway. So that made me prefer the Street Triple. Plus the seat will probably be a bit more ergonomic than the Bonneville board. Having said that, I am not sure whether the Bonneville might not be having a bit more of an upright seating position than the Street Triple, which I do prefer. So that is something I need to test.

Oh and Lee, thanks for throwing in the Zero. I have been eying a Zero SR ever since they came out. However, I cannot find one with the 14.4kW battery under 10K around here and I would prefer to spend something around 4-5K max. Which is going to be hard enough with these bikes anyway.

[London_Phil]

I do find myself drawn to the electric bikes, just because of the tech, plus living in the London 'Burbs, but costs are way too high....Been following Marc Travels on YT, and find it very interesting. Plus the Speedmaster is for me, not you, lol....You like something a bit quicker of the line Arne, don't you...

[Lee337]

It's Marc Travels that is sparking my curiosity for electric bikes and if I didn't live in the wilds of South Lincs (but in a city) I would possibly go down electrickery route. Sadly, the costs are too high, they're not really that practical living where I do and for the type of riding I want a bike for, and taking into account the initial cost, higher insurance and loss of time charging, compared to riding in, fuelling up & riding out again, I don't think they're there yet.

I looked at electric cars but the sums didn't work out. Looking at initial cost, battery rental/lifecycle, it's still cheaper t run my Jaguar & I'm still not convinced that they are any more environmentally friendly than my old (2016) diesel. When you take into account the environmental impact of production, the materials used & where the stuff comes from to make the batteries, plus the life cycle of EVs, I believe all it does is move the problem away from the end user to somewhere else. (Did you know that Tesla support vehicles use diesel generators to charge up their cars? I didn't)

Equally, electric bikes are the same, their green credentials don't yet add up. That's not to say they won't in the future, but my money's on hydrogen. 

[ghulst]

I love the tech Phil, and the Zero SR's are complete hooligan bikes. I really liked the SR when I tried it over four years ago:



The acceleration was instant and there was little to no noise. So in many ways, it is also great to ride in the great outdoors and not see animals flying away when you pass them. In the city, it is reasonably nimble, though you do feel the weight of the batteries. But it does really feel like a great naked to play with.

@Lee; I think there is a lot of nonsense going on in the world of EVs and anti-EVs that makes it hard to get a clear picture of what the impact of EVs is. Let's say that I have seen a lot of those stories of batteries being buried, giant diesel generators to power superchargers and hundreds of EV's left abandoned in a field, that have all turned out to be hoaxes.
What I do know, is that the impact of all of my gas burners is hardly denyable anymore. Though you can hardly say that producing an EV is completely without emissions, I doubt that there is more emission there than in the production of a regular car. Plus you keep all the emissions in 'controlled' spots where you can work on them, unlike with a couple of billion exhaust that just spray it wherever they just happen to be.  We will just have to see where this whole thing takes us.

On the whole, I am pretty positive about EVs. I think they are a way to at least structure emissions while giving us great power numbers and instant torque. That is a positive in my book. At the same time, right now my budget does not (yet) stretch to a Zero or Energica to sit in the garage. For most of my riding either one would be fine. When I really go on a three day 1000km ride with a friend, I might need to reconsider how we do that.  One thing I would like to do, is to replace our van with an EV as soon as they can get the weight they can pull sorted out. When that is done, there will be one less diesel burner in our household. 

But enough about EVs. How about the bikes in the poll? Who has ridden them side by side and what was you experience?

[London_Phil]

Aesthetically, I just don't like the Speed Triple style, any iteration.
I'm more of a traditional look sort of guy, so at a push the Scrambler, but as a daily, the Bonnie, if it was a straight choice.
We all look for different things in our rides/drives, so its totally subjective.
Buy a RE Meteor 650, and  confuse us all... ( really dislike the look compared to the Bonnie, don't know why. I don't like the look of the new Himmy either, must be just me being an old git)..
Kaneda's bike from Akira on the other hand....

[ghulst]

When I see Kaneda's bike, it feels a bit tired to me... As if it has sagged in the middle. 



But Ryan F9 has obviously convinced all of us that feet forward is a much safer bike.  

I do prefer the looks of the Scrambler over the Bonneville in a way. That slightly more rugged look and feel does make it more of a tough motorcycle in my opinion. But I have always really enjoyed modified bikes along those lines as well. I used to be a big Bike Exif reader. I do like the Bonneville black edition and some others. I did look at the Newchurch version, but I found that to be a bit too retro for my liking.

I just need to ride all of them. The interesting thing is that the Bonne and the Scrambler are just keeping their value a bit better, which makes them more expensive to purchase as well. But I have a feeling the Street Triple might be a bit more playful and a bit more agile in cornering. Again, I will have to find a way to test that theory in some way.

At the same time, I just heard that UK dealers are selling model year '21 used Pan America's for around 9K, which is insane as those bikes still command around 15-16 around here. 

[London_Phil]

As long as you don't get Stan's old Pan America that threw a balancer within 6 months of buying it and wrote of the engine.....
He got a new bike out of it, but still

[ghulst]

I doubt they would be re-selling that at a dealership with full service history.

[London_Phil]

I doubt they would be re-selling that at a dealership with full service history.

You'd like to think so...

[ghulst]

I am a complete optimist Phil... 

[ghulst]

Ok, so this is what might just be happening tomorrow... I made a cheeky offer on this Street Triple R and it has been accepted. Weather looks to be good tomorrow, so I decided that it would be best to go and pick it up before the current owner reconsiders.

[Lee337]

Niiiiice!