Harley $$ loss

 

http://tinyurl.com/yehsp54

     A motorcycle would be one of the last things I would buy if times
were tough.  I like riding but eating comes first.

 

On Jan 23, 3:15 pm, totallydeadmail...@yahoo.co.uk (The Older
Gentleman) wrote:

You have to give them credit for gritting their teeth and marketing
huge toys like the 2.3 liter Racket III and the 1.6 liter Thunderturd
Twin to American riders who would never be seen on a "toy" bike like
the 675cc Street Triple R, for example.

It's been a hugely successful marketing ploy for them, even if the
first [Hinkley] generation Trident triples and Triumph Trophy 1200
I4's were *much* better motorcycles.

At least they still sell the Bonneville, Speed Triple, and Street
Triple....

 

On Jan 23, 6:42 pm, totallydeadmail...@yahoo.co.uk (The Older
Gentleman) wrote:

I'm afraid you missed my point, or I failed to make it properly.  The
Street Triple is a great motorcycle (as is the Speed Triple) and the
Rocket III and the Thunderbird 1600 are big, heavy, ponderous, slow
steering, low, poor ground clearance, lumbering, behemoths.  So the
latter appeal to American riders (thus Triumph's most recent success
in the U.S.) and sell well, even though the older Tridents and
Trophies were actually better motorcycles.

I wasn't saying that the older Tridents and Trophies were better
motorcycles than the current Speed Triple or Street Triple.

And I think the current Bonneville is a fine bike, it's just not
cutting edge or filling the same marketplace niche in today's
motorcycle world that the original Bonneville did; but one that didn't
exist back in the 60's or 70's.    I wouldn't buy one, but I think
anyone who does is getting an eminently more sensible machine than the
Rocket III or the Thunderbird 1600.

If you think the Bonneville is too big (and it *does* look like a
1.25:1 scale replica of the Meriden twins) then you can only describe
the Rocket III and Thunderbird 1600 as monstrous.

 

| Cubes aren't everything. It reminds me of the time when I downsized from
| a liutre-bike to a Yamaha RD350 Power-Valve. Just immense fun and
| capability.

Second that!  Only street bike I ever owned that I could intrepidly slide
(drift) tires on.
| >
| Bonneville: a triumph (hah!) of marketing over function. Nice enough
| bike, but too big, too slow and the Scrambler is awful.
|
Like Tom said, a 1.25 scale replica.  Wonder why it is impossible to
make/sell real Bunnyvilles using modern materials and mfgring.  I'd buy one
...

 


It's actually been done, but not by Triumph.  Research the 1999-2000
Kawasaki W650.  Great bike, terrible sales (in the U.S.)