Triumph T120 v CB1100a

[Ulvetanna_imp]

An interesting thread over on the Triumph Forum. Thought I would share.

http://www.triumphrat.net/water-cooled-t...1100a.html

Cheers

I noticed your posts there, of course, and you exemplified perfectly why the CB1100 is no longer for sale here in the USA.

The perception is that for some reason an air-cooled bike does not do as well in traffic or heat.

I have had a lot of air-cooled bikes and cannot support that notion which is why I call it a perception. I've owned and ridden plenty of air-cooled singles, all dual-sports such as the XL600 Honda and a few XT Yamahas. I was much younger and rode them hard. None ever overheated or failed. I had a 2006 Dyna Glide, air-cooled, and rode in extreme heat and traffic all the time. It never gave me the slightest trouble.

Yesterday I rode my CB1100, hard, 250 miles, in temperatures exceeding 102 degrees F. I bounced it off the rev limiter once and held sustained speeds on the freeway of 80 mph plus, keeping it tached in the twisties between 6-8K much of the time. The bike never hicupped, stumbled, or twitched. It also did not use a drop of oil. The valves were all perfect at 8000 miles as well.

So that is an erroneous perception, but people buy based on perception.

I understand these are the usual way those words are used, but in fact the experience of riding - unless the bike is a museum piece eliciting nostalgia - is what evokes a soulful and emotional response. If the experience is not a good one, the way the bike looks is not going to make up for it.

Soul and emotion can't really be provided by the machine, they are human qualities. What I look for, myself, is a machine that I can interact with effectively and intuitively. I am the one with a soul, I experience emotion. I can describe my experience in those terms but the motorcycle cannot provide them and doesn't have them.

To my eye, the Thruxton 1200 looks cooler than the CB1100. Way, way, cooler. But I'm pretty sure I will be happier riding the CB1100. And like a horse that may be long in tooth, and a bit swaybacked, but is reliable and easy to manage, the CB1100, despite its lack of bling and cache, will eventually win the rider over if given a chance.

That chance is not often given when the solutions aren't readily at hand and the next bike is gleaming on the showroom floor.