[ST] New models in the flesh

["barry.croft" <barry.croft@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

First note the following website with details of all new 2002 models:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/detail?sectionID=67356&documentID=90510&n
avID=9

I was up at Jack Lilley's this lunchtime (to buy a new front brake lever for
the RS ... please don't ask) and was delighted to see that the new models
were already in. So, risking the wrath of my boss, I spent about half an
hour longer than planned having a good look round.

The new Bonneville America is quite an eyeful. It'll suit anyone into lots
of chrome, a low look, highway pegs etc. Ideal for anyone who wants to run
with a Harley-style crowd but also wants to be 'acceptably different'.
Although that's not my usual sort of bike I have to admit this looks like a
good example of the type. It was parked next to a UK model so I had a direct
comparison. A very clean look. Bates-style headlight. A large chromed
white-faced speedo.  Wide comfy bars with chunky controls. A raised tank
panel with the other idiot lights. A tasty two-bracket top yoke. Wide-Glide
style 100% plated forks. Splayed and thick (double-walled?) header pipes.
Chromed cases. Nice details around the carb inlets and so on. Battery on
show. Feet-forward pegs. Straight slash-cuts. A very low and comfy single
seat plus bum-pad, over a deep mudguard. Underslung rear brake caliper.
Small and fat rear tyre. Two-tone paint. Fatter indicators. You get the
idea. Not bad at all. To my mind they've also left lots of bits unchromed
that should be, no doubt to encourage folk to buy them all as extras!

Except ... why couldn't they have used the Thunderbird as the base, which
would have taken the style even better?!

They also had the new blue/silver UK-style model, a paint scheme looking
very reminiscent of the old 60's bikes.

The new ST looks just like the old one. I didn't see a Tiger or Thunderbird.
But the RS now has a silver frame and the new (black) engine, very tasty
indeed. Maybe next year they'll get it perfect - a black engine AND a black
frame AND black wheels!

The new Speed Triple is, I'm sorry to say, ugly. However, what made it ugly
was lots of tacked-on useless plastic bits, which may well have been extras
that you do not have to buy. In which case the basic bike shape looks pretty
unchanged. But that plastic! A weird angular belly-pan with a perforated
front panel. A carbon fibre front mudguard with the brackets showing
outside, that looked home-made. Strange fragile-looking bits of plastic
(wind deflectors?) poking out like ears above the front of the cylinder
head. The only new bit I liked was the dinky screen, in a new and
see-through shape.

The new 1200 Trophy looks great in blue. BMW-class fit and finish. Still has
the chain drive though.

Barry
00 RS


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