Not so Bonnie

When the new Hinckley Triumph Bonneville first became available , I felt the same way about it as I do about all these Retro re~makes of classic vehicles (Leyland Mini, VW Beetle, Fiat 500 etc. ) , that is , I hated it . When you try to do an updated version of a design people really love , it`s always going to disappoint, because you can`t better the original .
Over time , however , I found myself coming around , the bike is aimed squarely at competing with Harley`s Sportster and from a design point of view it does that very well . It seems to occupy that space in the market for people who want an old bike but don`t want maintenance hassles or to have any more input than bolting on a flyscreen and adding a few stickers . But isn`t this kind of missing the point ? Some old bikes are cool because they`re beautiful , but they`re also cool because it takes dedication to ride one , you have to understand its little flaws , you have to connect with it.
I think the new Triumphs annoy me also , because so many people don`t seem to realise they aren`t connected to Meridan Triumph in any way . I blame the Classic bike mags for this , they all seem to love running features on the new ones , because it attracts the kind of advertisers who will pay top money . This reinforces the idea of a connection between the new company and the old that simply isn`t there.
What I`d really like them to build is a skinny lightweight 500 Twin , the kind of bikethat the old Triumph company built it`s name on , not those overweight bulky Tourer/Commuters they`re building now , they seem to me to be the antithesis of what a Triumph should be.
Anyway , the reason for this rant is , I got overtaken by one of them today , I wound down my van window `cos I could see he had aftermarket pipes on , the exhaust note was somewhere between a diesel truck and a damp fart , now that just ain`t Triumph.