Opinion of new Triumph vertical twins?

 What do owners of the older Triumphs (80s or earlier say) think about
the various incarnations on the new (00s or later say) vertical twin
Triumphs?

 wrote:

Looks like the new ones are about 100 pounds heavier,
which is a real shame. Most likely several orders of
magnitude more reliable though.

 

a lot of the retor lookers have less power despite being
bigger motors.
my 69 tr6r puts out 48 hp. even with the 4 speed, it cruises
effortlessly at 75.

 
A mate's got a modern Bonnie. I don't get it. It's way bulkier and
heavier than the old twins, sounds like a Honda 250, and is
unbelievably slow for such a big twin (Harley Sportster 'performance',
really).

The old twins were small, light, neat revvy, funky. I cannot see why a
parallel twin has to be as big as the modern Bonnie series.

But I suppose the new ones will be immeasurably more reliable,
smoother, better built, etc etc.

(I always rated the 650cc Trumf twin as being the capacity of choice:
the 750s were too harsh)

 wrote:

I just sold my lovely, light, nimble, beautiful, well-balanced, low-
mileage, well-set-up, all original 1972 Triumph TR6RV Tiger 650 5-
speed.   It was a nice old bike, started easily with the kick starter,
idled smoothly with the single (drippy, leaky) Amal carb, stopped
adequately with the perfectly and painstakingly set up full width drum
brakes (after I'd applied the scarce and hard-to-find factory
recommended actuation lever extensions) and could run with modern
traffic - just barely - with less vibration than the later 750cc
version of the bike did.

Compared to the admittedly larger, heavier, less focused modern
Triumph twins from Hinckley, it was a a beautiful piece of junk.

So what if contemporary road tests (which almost all lied) claimed
that the old bikes could do the 1/4 mile as fast as (faster in some
test reports) the new bikes?  The old bikes couldn't maintain the
state of tune to run that fast without constant and meticulous
fettling.  The new bikes rip off the same 1/4 mile times, the same
0-60 mph times, and the same top speeds day after day, day in, day
out, continuously, with as little maintenence or owner attention as
any other modern motorcycle.   They're quieter, cleaner, and they
vibrate a WHOLE LOT less.  You can actually see what's behind you in
your mirrors.

The old bikes are wonderful if you have the room, time, and love to
spare for their character and their beauty.  It also helps, if you are
a motorcycle RIDER, to have another motorcycle in the fleet, as you
will spend a LOT of time working on your old Meriden twin for each
hour you spend riding it.

Of course, the short-lived Kawasaki W650 was a better modern
interpretation of the classic British twin than any Hinckley twin to
date - smaller, lighter, leaner, revvier, and most surprisingly, much
more "British" in profile than any of the latter day Bonnevilles or
variants.

That said, I think the best of the "classic" styled modern Triumphs
wasn't a twin at all, but the 3-cylinder Triumph Thunderbird Sport.
Scrumptious!