I bought my Bonneville in October 2007 and since then I have commuted back and forth to Key West more times than I'd care to count. I've ridden across and around Florida a few times as well and we completed two iron Butt rides together. All without the trace of a glitch. 
I think the Bonneville is the best motorcycle I have ever owned. I remember with great fondness and nostalgia the motorcycles I rode in the past. As time has gone by motorcycles have become more reliable and easy to use with better brakes, better tires and better suspension than we ever dreamed possible in the 1970s. I read other people's remembrances but I am not swayed because nostalgia is a false friend if relied on too heavily.
The Bonneville needs an oil change every 6,000 miles and it never burns a drop. The 8 valves need checking every 12,000 miles and if they need an adjustment it is a job for professionals- shim changes are beyond me- and that is the only disadvantage of a double overhead camshaft in my book. The lovely bikes of my youth seemed to need attention all the time, but they mostly did repay the attention with a reliable ride.
When it comes to motorcycles I feel I am an oddity in this world. My bike is a tool, it is a means to make the least, most boring journey into something fun. Even and perhaps especially, a ride in the rain becomes an adventure and when I drive the car I always miss my bike. Yet what you see here is a standard Bonneville with luggage and windshield added, but no increase in power, no post factory mufflers, no added chrome, nothing that doesn't add to the practical use of the machine. People seem to buy new motorcycles and plan to add shit before they've even ridden the bikes. It takes me about 5,000 miles to get used to a new ride and figure it out. Other people decide the factory specs are never enough and plan to mess with the bike right from the start. I trust the factory and I like reliability.
Critics will tell you the modern Bonneville is bland and uninteresting, a jack of no particular trade basing it's popularity on it's name and the history of the marque which is one of spectacular racing, spectacular failure and mediocre daily performance in a motorcycle that leaked oil, vibrated and dropped nuts and bolts everywhere. But nostalgia is a powerful mistress and in memory the Bonnevilles of old were superbikes. 
With 60 modest horse power this air cooled twin will take me where I want to go and if that includes gravel roads there will be no problem. It will cruise the freeway at 80mph and on an average day will return 43 miles per (US) gallon of regular gas. The original Bonnevilles, in 1959, when I was barely one year old displaced 650cc's but this motor bike has 865cc's, to compensate for the stifling effects of modern noise and air pollution laws. The British Classic Bike magazine tested an original Bonneville against a modern version and they had about the same performance, close enough that the skill of the rider counted for more than anything else. It's time in the saddle that gives you skill if ride and think and pay attention to what you are doing. 
In a country where motorcycles are counted as toys my dedication to the usefulness of the ride comes across as headstrong and eccentric but I'm not a trick rider or a daredevil. I ride for pleasure and the pleasure of the ride gets me in the saddle. I am astonished by the low mileage of so many used motorcycles for sale in this country. Otherwise rational people buy bikes, take a couple of rides, sell them, get a bigger machine and then fail to pile up the miles on the new bike. I'm always reading about how people want the latest model year to maintain the resale value of their bikes. Screw resale- I buy the bike to ride it which is just as well because with 52,000 miles on the clock of a not-yet-four-year-old bike there is no resale value. I guess I'll keep it and keep riding.
Above all else the bland boring new Bonneville commits the ultimate crime of being easy to ride, so easy that I can't think of any reason not to get on the thing and go. How could I not love a simple machine with the good looks of a 1960s classic, that brightens the dullest of days and the worst journey? If you have a motorcycle and you are looking for excuses not to ride when the opportunity arises do someone a favor and sell it on cheap. Motorcycles deserve to be ridden, thats the secret to keeping them, and yourself young.
I think the Bonneville is the best motorcycle I have ever owned. I remember with great fondness and nostalgia the motorcycles I rode in the past. As time has gone by motorcycles have become more reliable and easy to use with better brakes, better tires and better suspension than we ever dreamed possible in the 1970s. I read other people's remembrances but I am not swayed because nostalgia is a false friend if relied on too heavily.
The Bonneville needs an oil change every 6,000 miles and it never burns a drop. The 8 valves need checking every 12,000 miles and if they need an adjustment it is a job for professionals- shim changes are beyond me- and that is the only disadvantage of a double overhead camshaft in my book. The lovely bikes of my youth seemed to need attention all the time, but they mostly did repay the attention with a reliable ride.When it comes to motorcycles I feel I am an oddity in this world. My bike is a tool, it is a means to make the least, most boring journey into something fun. Even and perhaps especially, a ride in the rain becomes an adventure and when I drive the car I always miss my bike. Yet what you see here is a standard Bonneville with luggage and windshield added, but no increase in power, no post factory mufflers, no added chrome, nothing that doesn't add to the practical use of the machine. People seem to buy new motorcycles and plan to add shit before they've even ridden the bikes. It takes me about 5,000 miles to get used to a new ride and figure it out. Other people decide the factory specs are never enough and plan to mess with the bike right from the start. I trust the factory and I like reliability.
Critics will tell you the modern Bonneville is bland and uninteresting, a jack of no particular trade basing it's popularity on it's name and the history of the marque which is one of spectacular racing, spectacular failure and mediocre daily performance in a motorcycle that leaked oil, vibrated and dropped nuts and bolts everywhere. But nostalgia is a powerful mistress and in memory the Bonnevilles of old were superbikes. With 60 modest horse power this air cooled twin will take me where I want to go and if that includes gravel roads there will be no problem. It will cruise the freeway at 80mph and on an average day will return 43 miles per (US) gallon of regular gas. The original Bonnevilles, in 1959, when I was barely one year old displaced 650cc's but this motor bike has 865cc's, to compensate for the stifling effects of modern noise and air pollution laws. The British Classic Bike magazine tested an original Bonneville against a modern version and they had about the same performance, close enough that the skill of the rider counted for more than anything else. It's time in the saddle that gives you skill if ride and think and pay attention to what you are doing. In a country where motorcycles are counted as toys my dedication to the usefulness of the ride comes across as headstrong and eccentric but I'm not a trick rider or a daredevil. I ride for pleasure and the pleasure of the ride gets me in the saddle. I am astonished by the low mileage of so many used motorcycles for sale in this country. Otherwise rational people buy bikes, take a couple of rides, sell them, get a bigger machine and then fail to pile up the miles on the new bike. I'm always reading about how people want the latest model year to maintain the resale value of their bikes. Screw resale- I buy the bike to ride it which is just as well because with 52,000 miles on the clock of a not-yet-four-year-old bike there is no resale value. I guess I'll keep it and keep riding.
Above all else the bland boring new Bonneville commits the ultimate crime of being easy to ride, so easy that I can't think of any reason not to get on the thing and go. How could I not love a simple machine with the good looks of a 1960s classic, that brightens the dullest of days and the worst journey? If you have a motorcycle and you are looking for excuses not to ride when the opportunity arises do someone a favor and sell it on cheap. Motorcycles deserve to be ridden, thats the secret to keeping them, and yourself young. 
3 comments:
Get a Beeza. Wimmen like 'em.
Cantankerous on Fleming,
Chuck.
Hear, hear! The GTS is approaching the 20000-mile mark, though it had 3400 on it when I bought it... it was not a garage queen. And it's sure not going to win any "best in show" prizes at a concours d'elegance. It's an honest-to-God beater.
Most people don't realize "performance" enhancements on such small engines yield a very small increase in performance, at the cost of a very large increase in fuel consumption, and a very large *decrease* in reliability. And most performance pipes for Vespa's GT/GTS make them sound like a DR Chipper/Shredder...
__Orin
Scootin' Old Skool
Riding along- what rebels we are!
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