Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• " 1 • ONE YEAR TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE ROAD TEST D' ES .Hle ESSAG " By Bill P etUcrew & th e Cy cle News Starr After one full year and some 9,000 miles testing Triumph's 1967 Model 650cc Bonneville, the time has come to gi ve it our honest appraisal. It's far and away the best buy in the large displacement clas s offered in this country! A s more and more Americans ar e turni ng to the bigger and more po werful motor cy cl es, T ri umph's Bo nneville see ms to fulfill thei r inner d esi res as witnes s 55% i nc rea se i n Trium ph sales in the W estern Stat es last year . Honest 42 hp At Rear Wheel Tri umph has been building the verti cal twin engi ne for quite a fe w yea rs now, with no ti ceable i mproveme nt s ye ar after year . T he Bo nneville's engine di spl ac es 650cc ( 40 c ubic inches) . T he bor e and strok e dimensi ons wo rk out to a 71mm bore with a 82mm st rok e and wit h suc h a l en ghty stro ke the throttle respon se at l ow speeds is mu ch more positi ve. The Bo nnevi lle' s pis tons spo rt a rather hi gh crown for a street machi ne at 9 to I compressio n. Th i s rat i o seems to be ve ry fie xi ble tho ugh with great accel er ati o n and ping-free c rui si ng , althou gh 11. 2 to l's are avai l able to the all-out Banzai guys. With the 9 to l ' s the engi ne i s · cons er vati vel y" rated at 52 ponies with peak pow er comi ng on at around 6500 rpm. Most factories lie about hor sepow er figur es. A good Triumph ac tually delivers about 42 horsepow er at th e rear whee l - the same as a good 883 Spor ts ter, or Honda 450. A very nice feature on the B onneville is the induction balance tube that connects the two car bs together to better bal ance the i dle . With the tube the engi ne's per sonalit y wins many frie nds in rou gh city tr affic. The 13:/16 th-l nch Amal c arbs need little i n troduction ; they are well proven as to th eir serv ice and reliability. Stock Trophy Winner .Eq uippe d stock with heavy dut y valve sprin gs, hemi-head desi gn, and light push rods, the Triumph proved to be a more than equal match to anyt hing in its class. A f t er a full ye ar of road and tr af fic testi ng, we made off to the Sunday Dr ag s at Lions Dr ag Stri p in-Lon g B eac h, California. Witho ut eve n so much as pulling a plug we fired up to the line and blasted a 14:54 E .T. and 88 mph for the first run. Incidentally . tha t was the best tim e i n the Open Str eet class that Sunday. Wi th ful l stock street tri m we co ul d manage to l ay a good 15 to 20 fe et of rubber every run with no resistanc e at all from the sw eetly si nging engi ne. The quart er mile time s could very easily be I nc re ased by fiddling with plugs , ti mi ng, and gener all y havi n g the bike servi ced . Goodye ar intend s to st ay in motorcy cl e rac in g. Ln fa ct th e ti re and r ub ber company wi ll n robably be more invol v ed in the speed sport this ye ar than last. That i s the word from Mik e B abi ch of th e company 's raci n g d i v is io n. Mike, you might remember , made t he hop to the I sle of Man l ast ye ar af t er the c ar races at L eMans and gave some of th e European boy s a c hance at using Goodye ars . T hi s yea r Mik e s ays he will be at Dayto na for s ure and he , or someo ne el se from Goodye ar , will mak e a det ermined ef fort to get to another bi g Ameri c an ro ad race, too . A t thi s point Mik e, who wa s i n Clev eland fo r a spo rts ca r ba nquet , sai d Goodyear i s researching onl y road raci ng ti res . Th e general th eory behind a ti re compa ny getti ng very involve d in racin g i s developme nt of st ree t tire s . ego i f a tire i S~ilPo d i n the al l o ut s pee d of a Dayton a wi n it sho ul d l ead to some very int eres tin g tread s for the guy who r i des to grandma's e very Sunday on hi s Hond a. An oth er surprise fi nd at the sporty ca r gatheri ng was Marv i n Druck er, a road course owner with more than a passin g in teres t in bik es . Thi s yea r Mar vi n has at l east four A sso ciat i on of Ameri can Moto rcycle Ro ad Racers ( A A MRR) event s sc he dule d for the Steel Citi es I ntern ati on al Raceway he runs and if they come off any thi ng like l as t ye ar's it s ho ul d be somet hi ng big. Spor t s c ars , of course, run on th e Warren, Ohio track too. but Marvin sai d hi s biggest succes se s hav e been wi th bike s . · T hey outd rew every thi ng last ye ar ,· he to l d me , · and i t shoul d b e eve n bet ter this ye ar, " Thi s wi n ter the Horne ts MC from Ken t , O hi o has been runnin g har e sc rambl es at th e cour se . · T hey can par k their c ars ri ght on the road co urse, - Mar vin sai d. · and 1 don't ha ve to t ell you it's unique to have a paved place to park at a mo tor cycl e rac e, " The event s have been s uccessful , he sai d, wi th abo ut a hund red ri ders showing up for each ra ce. - I ' d like to get mor e motorcycle ra cing st arte d there in th e summer," Marvi n told me. He said he 'd like to find a club willing to sponsor night sc rambles , which would he a rarity In Ohio . H e indic at ed if a club was willi ng to spo nso r the r aces he' d be willing to build the course and light it. It sounds very i nteresting and wo ul d gi ve a lo t of scrambl es ty pes a c hance to run twice a week end . In terest ed clubs shoul d contact Mar vin care of Steel Cities Int ernational Rac eway, Warren , Ohio. If you 're thinking about runni ng t he first nati on al enduro of th e y ear , Sto ne Mountaln, and yo u haven't ent ered yet yo u migh t as well forget it. Mor e than a mon th bef ore the ev en t's March 10 da te t he Geo rgi a Crack ers Mo torcy cle Club has the limi t of 400 ri der s signed up and ready to tak e off I nto th e booni es.If yo u haven't entered and b een ass igned a startin g positio n you ' re out of l uck. Ju st' ask me. I mi ssed my c hance , too . One featu re that not every one pay s much attention to but is ve ry much a n i mportant i t em is the chai n. ,A chain ne eds cons t ant and proper lu brication to k eep i t from cr acki ng rollers and eventual ly doing itself dama ge. Tri umph has a cont rollable rat e tube from th e 3-quar t oil ta nk that drips proper l ubric ati on o n the chain. ~ Maintenance Slight Our attenti on to maintenan ce was probably much l ess than the av era ge own er would provid e. Wit h proper ser vi ci ng and easy mai nte nance that shoul d be done at home, the b ik e sho uld crank off mi ddle 13 E.T. ' s with spe eds in the 90 's. Rider po sition i s excellent for street ridi ng and hi ghway c ruisi ng espec i al l y wi th the ai d of th e rubb ermoun ted handlebar s and comfor t abl e seat . Th e bars on our particular model were a bit too l oose due to the rubber mounti ng. How ev er , this point is o ne of personal prefer enc e only . Triumph probably has the fi ne st design fo r getti ng to your battery or too l kit. T he Bonneville' s seat i s hinged on the l eft si de so all yo u have to do is ya nk a co nve nient knob o n t he ri ght side and nip up the seat to expose tools and ba ttery . An oth er nice feature we fo und of interest was th e l ack of a bul ky regul ator . I n pl ace of the regu lator was a small Z e ner Di o de that co nt rols the rechargi ng rat e of the ' 12 volt ba t tery , The new brak e sy s t e m was worthy of credit also, wi th a fu ll 8 inch e s i n the fron t hub . T he back brak e i s now up to 7 in che s up with bot h hubs fully fin ned. On The Road , After checking the machi ne out on both fr eeway and hi ghway we found no appr eciabl e fad e on har d s tops , no bad area s of vi bration at any legal cruising speed, or any degree of dimi nished co ntrol at speeds few wi ll get to on mos t any ' crui sing/ sport bike. If y ou do not wat ch yo ur spe edo or t ach you can fi nd yo urself goi ng 10 0 mph or better before yo u k now it. A noth er fac tor that we particularl y liked was the one-kick star ting routine . T hi s one-ki ck method could be pul l ed off most any ti me , wh ether the engi ne wa s hot or not. Ju st ti ckl e the carbs , set your th rottl e onequart er open and gi ve it a goo d healthy ki ck . P res to ... life! Overal l appearan ce of the bike ra tes very well; the mufflers , unli k e some of the be t ter J apanese Imports , are goo d l ooking besides efficient. Joseph Lucas Strikes Again T he Lucas I i ghti ng sys tem i s the one area we fou nd any faul t with at all . The li ght s are good f or the most pa rt but l ac k i n a few ar ea. The wi ring is atrocious . the bulbs su ppli ed aren' t wo rth a di me , and th e ammet er int egrat ed i nto the he adligh t never see ms to work right. Mileage on the Bon neville was reporte d to be 40 mpg. In f act , i t us ual ly ran aro und 35 to 38 mi l e s per gal lon altho ugh sometim es hi gher . T he bright ne w stainles s s t eel fend er now dep l oy ed o n the new B onnevilles are extremely good l ooki ng and well fini sh ed. With th e new seI f-l ock i n g rock er box co vers ( fi nned) th e t otal overall l ook of th e new Triumph B onnev i lles i s increasingly sat isf yi ng t o avi d ent husi ast s like ours el ves. Th e 1968 Bonnevill e i s different f rom our one-ye ar roa d test bike in o ut ward appearan c e onl y . T he' 68 s sho ul d deli v er t he same hi gh- c ali ber per formance . T he Tri umph B onneville Is not f or the weak at heart . It' s a st rong. pow erful , smoot h-r unning motorcycl e t hat will give you al l yo u want in comf or t, safe t y , reli abili t y, po wer, fun and the n some. It ' s not th e perfec t motorc ycl e but comes ju st as close as any to pl easing a nyo ne who mi ght happ en to b ucky enou gh • to straddle thei r l e g ove r this fine pi ece of Briti sh machinery to ri d o ff into he sunset and live happily ever after: • ~ USED M/C PARTS: THREE MILLION WE PAY CASH FOR USED PARTS - ALL MAKES DISMANTLING 66 65 64 64 64 YAMAHA lOOcc twin HONDA S9lI HONDA CB77 305cc YAMAHA YGI BOcc HONDA CA17 300 Drean WE SH IP ANYWHERE, WR ITE OR CA L L FOR OUR PROMPT SERVICE - MOTORCYClE SAlVAGE 835 W. FOOTHILL BLVD. AZUSA, CALIFORNIA PHONE: (213) 334-5912 ••••••••• UWASAII Headquarters BEACH aTIES CYCLES 525 N. EI ~ .. Ino s... CI_nte, Rell ~ lIIarnll me 49Ml41 KASUMIOIL Deslgaed Exclusively for air COiled engiHS. The ONLY 011 spacificilly "Ide lor 10,000 plus rpm perfonnlllc" Distributed Nalionally by KASUMI OI L CO, 25th Aye, 511I "Iteo, CIIII, Phone· Arel Code (415) 585-6240 or 771-4535 FOR DEALER INFORMATION METRIC & W mTW ORTH ~I'u. 230lt 2{ing Imparted Bolts for I mported Motorcyc les Del ler Inquiri es Inylted (213) 934-1517 6057;2SanVicente BIYd.,L.A., C1.90036 BULTACO & GREEYES Fi bergl ass Tanks '40. w/cap PLUS I co"", I" line 01 FlIMrIIaIS pitts for Bultlco Mail Order 10: VEGAS CYCLE CENTER 1020 FffSllODt, ~as Veps, Nev. 891 0 1 ';:: ~

• Cover