Owning anything British, especially anything on wheels from the 40's-80's, specifically 70's, requires supreme levels of passion as well as patience. On one level, the act of starting, riding and maintaining such a machine creates a bond as it is so far removed from what most of us are used to in motorcycles ie; anything Japanese.
On another, many times it foments sheer madness and anger that you want to get on a plane and confront the designers face to face so you can slap them with a pair of soft Italian calf skin leather gloves and mention the marriage status of their parents while calling them schweinhunds and challenging them to a duel of trying to start a bike with only 2 kicks.
I have a '79 Triumph 750cc Bonneville Special, the special in the name separates it from the other bikes in that it has special paint, pipes, wheels, ignition, not Lucas, and, best of all, starting method, kick only, yaaaaaaay! The previous was said in a sarcastic way for those who are not as quick witted as me, sarcasm seems to be a lost art today.........I'll point it out with future icons for reading enjoyment.
The Triumph Bonneville was for some time the fastest thing on the road, on two wheels, some may say the H-D Sportster was faster, and it may have been but the Triumph ruled really till the Honda CB750 came along.
Edward Turner designed the Triumph twin back in the 30's, and, like the H-D twin, did not change the design dramatically for almost 50 years, or, until they went out of business in the mid-80's. You could, like the H-D use parts from the 30's on your 80's bike, not many but some. H-D used marketing to stay alive and sold more clothing and "lifestyle" items to make money in the 80's. Without going into too much here, Triumph slowly went down in the 70's, absorbed by non-bike companies, bad decisions, strikes and bad build quality, with the last bikes sold here in 1982. They weren't bad but the damage was done and folks were buying up GpZ's, GS1100's and the like.
To make a long story short, for every hour you may ride a Brit bike, it can be said that you may spend an hour maintaining it. Parts are easy to come by and with the internet it's much easier now than when I got mine in 1986 as virtually a basket case with 8000 miles on it, so boogered up as to try to make it faster almost destroyed the bike. This is common with old Brit bikes. You can make them scream, but it takes much knowledge and a lot of money and time and patience to do. Then there's the frame and brakes, refer to the 30's design features previously mentioned. It took me more than a few years to get this bike to where it's at today and it's still an ongoing work of art. Beautiful to look at and hear running, solid on the road, but, many things have to be in place for that to happen, it's nowhere near like riding anything else. It's hard to fathom my '79 is only a few years older than my '82 KZ and the original design ideas of the '86 C-10. When you realize this, you realize why they stopped selling bikes. The ironic thing is that the Japanese started copying the Brit bikes in the 60's and 70's. W650, XS650 etc...They were better, didn't leak, more reliable, started every time, easier to work on with metric wrenches, not Whitworth's, another reason for madness. Sarcasm
So, in closing thanks for reading this Brit bike primer, the reason being, I just ordered a new fuel tap as the old one was done, and I felt compelled to revel and my madness-sarcasm. BTW, there are two taps, main and reserve, the Brits call them petcocks, our Puritan culture refrains from such terms-sarcasm. It's the ongoing saga of owning a bike that creates a love/hate relationship that endures the test of time. 
On another, many times it foments sheer madness and anger that you want to get on a plane and confront the designers face to face so you can slap them with a pair of soft Italian calf skin leather gloves and mention the marriage status of their parents while calling them schweinhunds and challenging them to a duel of trying to start a bike with only 2 kicks.
I have a '79 Triumph 750cc Bonneville Special, the special in the name separates it from the other bikes in that it has special paint, pipes, wheels, ignition, not Lucas, and, best of all, starting method, kick only, yaaaaaaay! The previous was said in a sarcastic way for those who are not as quick witted as me, sarcasm seems to be a lost art today.........I'll point it out with future icons for reading enjoyment.
The Triumph Bonneville was for some time the fastest thing on the road, on two wheels, some may say the H-D Sportster was faster, and it may have been but the Triumph ruled really till the Honda CB750 came along.
Edward Turner designed the Triumph twin back in the 30's, and, like the H-D twin, did not change the design dramatically for almost 50 years, or, until they went out of business in the mid-80's. You could, like the H-D use parts from the 30's on your 80's bike, not many but some. H-D used marketing to stay alive and sold more clothing and "lifestyle" items to make money in the 80's. Without going into too much here, Triumph slowly went down in the 70's, absorbed by non-bike companies, bad decisions, strikes and bad build quality, with the last bikes sold here in 1982. They weren't bad but the damage was done and folks were buying up GpZ's, GS1100's and the like.
To make a long story short, for every hour you may ride a Brit bike, it can be said that you may spend an hour maintaining it. Parts are easy to come by and with the internet it's much easier now than when I got mine in 1986 as virtually a basket case with 8000 miles on it, so boogered up as to try to make it faster almost destroyed the bike. This is common with old Brit bikes. You can make them scream, but it takes much knowledge and a lot of money and time and patience to do. Then there's the frame and brakes, refer to the 30's design features previously mentioned. It took me more than a few years to get this bike to where it's at today and it's still an ongoing work of art. Beautiful to look at and hear running, solid on the road, but, many things have to be in place for that to happen, it's nowhere near like riding anything else. It's hard to fathom my '79 is only a few years older than my '82 KZ and the original design ideas of the '86 C-10. When you realize this, you realize why they stopped selling bikes. The ironic thing is that the Japanese started copying the Brit bikes in the 60's and 70's. W650, XS650 etc...They were better, didn't leak, more reliable, started every time, easier to work on with metric wrenches, not Whitworth's, another reason for madness. Sarcasm
So, in closing thanks for reading this Brit bike primer, the reason being, I just ordered a new fuel tap as the old one was done, and I felt compelled to revel and my madness-sarcasm
. BTW, there are two taps, main and reserve, the Brits call them petcocks, our Puritan culture refrains from such terms-sarcasm. It's the ongoing saga of owning a bike that creates a love/hate relationship that endures the test of time.
Last edited:
