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Message started by LostArtist on 09/13/11 at 10:37:33

Title: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by LostArtist on 09/13/11 at 10:37:33

On Saturday, 9-10-11, I went to go trade in my Suzuki S-50 for a 2010 Triumph Bonneville.

The ride up started at 5am and was cold even with my fullface helmet and mesh jacket and gloves on. Until I got to Houston, then it was like driving through a warm air bubble so I thought, okay, I'll be okay, then I left the Houston area and was freezing again, so cold that I was shivering on the bike, my hands were fine with the gloves so that was a blessing. I finally got to College Station area and pulled off at a Whataburger for breakfast where I actually ordered coffee, I hate coffee, but I was so cold! After I ate, I walked over to the Wal-greens right beside the Whataburger and saw that they had Texas A&M t-shirts for sale, had to buy something to put on over my t-shirt just to do anything to help layer my clothing up a bit, and for $5 why not. that's pretty much the only thing that happened on the way up.

After an half hour or so more my back started to ache, then my neck really started to hurt, at the next gas stop I got some motrin IB and that helped my neck a lot, back still kinda ached but not terrible.

Rode into Ft. Worth, found the Eurosport Cycle place really easy, and by then I'd warmed up so I felt pretty good. Went in, did the trade got the new Bonneville and left, everything was so simple. There was a guy getting his Scrambler serviced and we talked a bit, he was really chatting the place up good, so if you are in the Ft. Worth Area, this is apparently the shop to deal with.

They had every model of Triumph and Ducati, they had 2 Bimotas, very pretty bikes, they didn't have any Moto Guzi's in there showroom, but had a used one for sale outside.

anyway, so I picked up my Bonneville and transferred all my stuff from my saddle bags to my back pack and started the ride home.

rode about 10 miles stopped and ate lunch. then rode another 10 miles or so and stopped and got gas, and at the gas station an older gentleman walked over and started talking about triumph's, and showed me an old picture of his dad with a scrambler looking triumph (I was told this would happen, old guys talking about their old triumphs and their experiences with it) it was cool, I love history so this is all good to me.

Then rode another idk, 20-30 miles and pulled over into a rest stop area where I took this picture.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0001.jpg

okay, so it's a thistle or something kinda like that, Thistles are my favorite kind of flower, and purple was my mom's favorite color and yellow is my favorite color. So that struck me as something cool then.

The next picture I took was of the bike:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0002.jpg

better photo of the flower:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0005processed.jpg

after that stop, away I went again, trying to be careful with breaking in my new bike but also trying not to get run over, used a lot of feeder roads, as much as I could. found out after about 50 miles that the stock seat is not meant for such long rides.

other side of the bike:
Also, my sense of humor, waco wrecking, I was worried the whole time that I'd be wrecking my new bike by riding it 300+miles in one day. on freeways, well not really freeways but no one was going less than 70mph on them but I did vary my speed a lot and stopped about 10-15 times (man that seat was hard!)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0014.jpg

FIRE! well, at one time there was one here. with all the wildfires in Texas I took this route to go around them, it was a good choice, there were a bunch of spots like this on the route, one was even in the median between the lanes.

Also, the train tracks link to my father who has a good set of model train stuff and was always one of his never finished projects. . .

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0018.jpg

on getting the picture of the burnt patch I had to walk through some pretty tall dried out weeds and grass hoppers were jumping all around, I used to catch grasshoppers a lot as a kid in our back yard and all over.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0027.jpg

stopped in Calvert, Texas for these pics:

My best friend has a current project of a '53 chevy truck, no where near this though

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0038.jpg

and

My brother in law is a huge bicyclist fan so had to take a photo of:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/mxr199/TriumphStory/DSC_0040.jpg

So in 300 miles theres a connection.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by Drifter on 09/13/11 at 11:31:23

Nice bike I had an 04 Bonnie black, looking for a Speedmaster now. Having people come and talk is cool at first but after the 50th time it gets old....i had the same question answer sessions eveytime i rode the Norton. Usually i would listen bob my head a few times say something nice and move on but if your in a hurry you dont want to listen to someone talk about a 3rd uncle that had a triumph or Norton or HD or Bsa or......but i usually did anyway....alot of bikers have a bad rap because of the loud pipes so talking to someone for a few minutes is good pr...never forget most of those folks vote!!

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by Serowbot on 09/13/11 at 11:44:54

kinda' long,... but kinda' fun to read...

Thanks for letting us ride along... ;)...

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by arteacher on 09/13/11 at 15:05:50

6F59424D5F4E592B0 wrote:

+1- I had a Land Cruiser and after they quit selling them in Canada (89 was the last year) people would stop on the road, blocking traffic, to give me their card in case I ever wanted to sell it. The S40 gets comments too and I am glad to talk about it to anyone who will listen.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by Midnightrider on 09/15/11 at 18:28:20

Nice story LA. Now for the good news, the Triumph seat will break in. Bad news, it takes 7 or 8000 miles.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by Boule’tard on 09/15/11 at 18:34:07

Good grief, in 7 or 8 thousand miles you could break in a Corbin :o

Great story, pics and bike!

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by SuperSavage on 09/15/11 at 22:09:38

Beautiful bike, LA. How tall are you? Is the bike about the same length as the savage?

ps... My Mustang Fasback seat was incredibly comfortable from the minute I put my keister down upon its heavenly curves.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by LostArtist on 09/16/11 at 10:01:49

I'm 5'1" short, but I can get one foot flat on the bonneville and both balls of my feet down on each side if needed, it's very well balanced so flatfooting it is not a huge issue.

I'm going to have to just deal with the set for a while, my car just cost me $800 in service for it so there goes my accessories money. for now.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by Fish on 09/16/11 at 12:38:49

Cool. Thanks for sharing.
That is a great looking ride.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by Midnightrider on 09/16/11 at 13:37:25

54776B6C596A6C716B6C180 wrote:

I havent had a Triumph in a long time but Corbin use to be the only aftermarket seat manufacturer. Corbin seats are as firm or firmer than the stock Triumph seat.

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by LostArtist on 09/16/11 at 13:43:44

yeah corbin seats are hard. triumph now has lots of different kinds of seats, and there are quite a few aftermarket seats as well now. going to ride for a bit, maybe I should get shocks instead, idk, no money right now anyhow

Title: Re: My Triumph Story (kinda long)
Post by bill67 on 09/16/11 at 13:55:24

I thinks shocks is the biggest part of how the seat feels,I thing if I was going to get a Corbin seat I would tell them I weight 20 pounds less than I do,That way I don't think the seat would be as stiff.