[djpeesh]

The backstory:

Everyone's got a backstory. Here's mine:

I've always loved motorcycles. From the time I was a little boy, I dreamed of riding something bigger than the toy motorcycles they had near the park where I played. I dreamed and I dreamed and I dreamed.

When I went to college, I asked my dad for a motorcycle. He shot me down. He said if I wanted one, I had to buy one myself. My mother on the other hand, just said no bikes flat out. At 18 and with no money, that idea quickly passed and yet, I drooled when I saw my friends riding big bikes (then imported).

A few months later, I decided to get a job and get some money. My first job paid me the princely sum of 3,000 rupees a month. It was enough. Six months down the line, I saved enough to eventually buy air tickets (God bless Air Deccan) to visit my then girlfriend, stay in a hotel and what I thought was enough to buy a motorcycle. So I learnt how to ride on a borrowed unicorn.

With 8,000 rupees in the bank, I went hunting. I browsed the then new concept of online advertisements. On a long dead site called kijiji, I found a guy selling a Yezdi Roadking for 7,000. Relatively new (1994), in decent shape, single owner and most importantly in my budget. I went to Thane just to have a look. Instead, I found myself wheeling a motorcycle down the Eastern Express Highway. From Mulund to Vikhroli. At noon on a hot day.

A changed CDI from a friendly mechanic who lived under one of the flyovers and I was on my way. Only for the number plate to vibrate itself off somewhere between Ghatkopar and Byculla, where I was informed by the traffic police that I owed the government money for the violation. Not a good start to biking then.

A few months of hiding and riding later, my mother found out. And she was livid. So to placate her, it went onto kijiji again, without ever having been in my name. I took a hit on the price. I sold it for 5,000. To an idiot.

And then two years later, the bike bug hit again. And I didn't want a reliable Japanese commuter, because where's the excitement in that. The joy of not knowing how much you'll be walking today, the anticipation of whether you'll make it to that meeting. Or whether walking along the highway, you'll see millions zipping past and curse the idiotic idea of buying a Yezdi. And of course, I still didn't have money.

So yezdi two came along.


This time I found on yet another long dead site which I can't even remember. This time she was in Vasai and I thought to myself, Ah. I haven't walked on the western express Highway so why not. Picked her up for 15,000 (this is 2008) and she thankfully made it to my home without incident.

Rode her for a year and then some and then I went to the US for further studies. I came back bigger, flabbier and rounder, with plans to live the American dream. Yes. That was around the time Harley Davidson opened shop here in India.

I test rode the Iron 883 sometime in 2011 and while it was a super fun, loud bike that attracted attention, it just didn't reach out to me and grab me saying buy me buy me. And also I had no money so that plan quickly went the way of the BMC's plan to rid Mumbai of potholes and the Shivaji statue in the sea.

Why the Bonne:

I first laid eyes on the Bonneville at the Auto Expo in 2008. While everyone was going gaga over the Nano, I found solace at the Triumph stand.

I managed to score a couple of Triumph stickers and one of them made its way to my bedroom door, where ironically enough it still stays stuck.

Without any India launch plans, the Bonneville dream remained that. In 2011, I got an email about Triumph entering the Indian market. Boy was I excited. And then there was nothing. No news at all.

The Auto Expo 2012 rekindled the love and I was sold. I finally had the means to take a loan and actually have it in my garage. The pricing then announced of 550,000 rupees was in my budget. And then it went quiet again. Ashish Joshi, who had been appointed the head of Triumph India quit and suddenly there was uncertainty about whether they would come to India at all.

The up-and-down cycle of Triumph's India plans were getting to me. And that's when I thought maybe I was better off with Harley. So after test-riding the Iron again, I made up my mind to buy it. But I just couldn't get myself to sign that cheque. Something just didn't appeal to me. So that phase passed and I went about my life, redoing the Yezdi and picking up the XUV500. Riding was limited to short trips on weekends.



And then I went to cover the Triumph India launch in November 2013 and I saw the Bonne again. Boy was she an elusive lady. I spent my interview with the India head asking him when the Mumbai dealership would open, to which he said that they were still looking for dealers and they hadn't firmed up the Mumbai guys. It was around then that I noticed mobike008 and other talking about test riding the Bonne and the Hyderabad and then Bangalore dealerships opening up. Was she testing my patience or what?

I used to religiously Google "Triumph Mumbai" every Monday morning when I got to work in the hope that they had finally setup shop in Mumbai. I was thrilled when I found a number on one such search, only to find that it was the WRONG Triumph. No, I didn't want women's underwear, even if it was edible

Finally I found a Facebook page for Triumph Mumbai and rang the number listed on the page promptly. They hadn't yet opened up the dealership but they promised they would soon.

So sometime in March, when the dealership opened up, I decided to make the dreaded trek to Jogeshwari, which is honestly harder to get to than Mangalyaan's trip to Mars in evening traffic. Yes, it was brave.

I finally reached the showroom at 630 pm and of course, they didn't give test rides post 5 pm. So I managed to convince them to let me ride it in their building complex (which is essentially a 100 yard stretch of cobbled pathway in front of their store). Boy, was I in love. I vowed to come back. At a time when I could actually ride in a higher gear than first.

Life went on but I was itching for another ride. So one rare Saturday, I woke up at 10 am and woke my girlfriend up and we donned our helmets and rode on the Yezdi to the showroom. She loved it and said, "Yes. Get it." Those magical words. When we got back home, she changed her mind and said "I don't like the thought of you riding."

I wanted to cry. Jogeshwari and back and you're saying no? What a cruel world. But then I thought she'd agree over time. Which she did and then she didn't and then she did again and then she didn't.

In one of those "she-did" phases, I called the sales executive and told him to come pick up the check, and if you will, bring the Bonne for another test ride. Which he did. So quickly, on June 10, I surreptitiously booked myself a black Bonneville SE with a 100,000 rupee cheque.

When the girlfriend came home from work and saw the cheque book on the dining table, she knew something was wrong. The smile on my face confirmed that. Grudgingly I told her what I'd done.

Obviously she was furious. She didn't talk to me all week and I came home to silence every evening. I should have asked in hindsight, but then again, my hindsight is way better than present thought. I thought about cancelling the booking after a week of silence, but then I decided to just play the waiting game. I didn't plan to take delivery before the monsoon anyway.

And then we went on holiday. To Russia. Where every evening, while sitting in street side cafes, we'd see loads of bikes roaring by and me looking wistfully at them and she looking wistfully at me looking at them. That melted her heart and in the heat of the moment with Harleys rumbling by, she said get the Bonneville.

Those magical words. When we got back to Bombay, I forgot all about the Bonneville until the sales executive called to inquire about my booking and whether it was still on. I said it was and he said that the prices were going to go up by 40,000 rupees in August so if I wanted I should pick it up now.

And so, I decided to take it. Again unilaterally. So I told him to come and pick up the cheque on a rainy evening. After writing out a cheque for 5,69,012/- only, I felt woozy. That was the biggest cheque I'd ever written out. What was I doing? I had a panic attack and wondered if I was crazy. And then after the exec left, I panicked because I hadn't asked the girlfriend. This time I quickly put back the chequebook into the cupboard. It was done. Too late to change things.

As usual, there was drama again. Entirely my creation of course, but I managed to stave off the silent treatment and the lovely girl finally came around. The 5 days to delivery were the longest days of my life.

The weekend dragged on for the first time. Monday was dreadful and Tuesday evening just couldn't come soon enough.

AUG 12: D-DAY aka Delivery Day

At 830 am, I got a text from the girl. "Today is your bike day". Yes. Yes. Yes. I had already been at work 3 hours and I was dying to leave the XUV at home and get to the showroom already.

The day dragged on. And on. And on. And on. Till it was 5 pm. I got home and geared up. After pacing around the house for about 10 minutes, I just couldn't wait any longer. I planned to get an Uber to get to the showroom but of course, I forgot to fire up the app and book it. I was in a daze.

I found myself on the road outside my house with my helmet in my hand, another in my bag (for the girl), riding boots on my feet, jacket on my back and wondering what the hell I was doing.

I found an autorickshaw and sputtered Jogeshwari. "Waste ya East?" the driver asked and I said highway. Even though Schumi was driving my rickshaw and I considered wearing my helmet in the auto, it was a long ride. And then I was there.

Slowly I walked into the showroom and pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I felt woozy. Really woozy.


I felt chicken


In the showroom, she was standing there. Parked near the doors. I knew it was her. She was the one.



I asked if that was my bike. She was. Oh boy. I was in love. LOVE. I just stood staring at it. Apparently about an hour passed in that position and then I wandered about the dealership into the service bay, sat on various models, talked to customers. But all I wanted to do was ride into the sunset, which had at that point turned into night.

Finally, my sales exec showed up. OK. I was ready to roll. Not quite. I still had some papers to sign. Signing the papers, and getting a briefing about the bike with further instructions to read the manual carefully and not to ride on temp plates, I was off. But then it began pouring before I even made it out of the doors of the showroom. So I waited.

Finally, at about 8 pm, the rain let up and I was off with 1 km on the ODO. Open highway. What a blast I thought. Until I reached the first traffic jam 200 metres down the road. Oh boy. Andheri. Getting onto the flyover, the Bonne got a lot of attention. "Wo Harley hai,'' one Activa rider told his pillion. "Nahin. Yezdi hoga,'' his pal said. "Yaar, RD jaisa sound hai.'' And then the traffic eased up a bit. I opened up the throttle a little bit to 60 kmph and stayed between 40 and 60.

The plan was pick up the girl from work and then go straight home. But when you have a Bonne between your legs, it clearly isn't going to happen. The girl had strict instructions. "I better be the first one to sit on it,'' she said. And I wasn't going to anger her. After waiting for ''5 minutes'' outside her office, she finally appeared. "Oh my god. It's so sexy,'' she said. "Oh my god. I can't believe it.'' "It looks so much nicer in real life than in the photos.'' "Where are we going to?" and so we set off in the Bombay traffic. After buzzing around near Shivaji Park, we went and got coffee. And then we decided to go on the flyovers on the Eastern Express Highway towards town. So we did.

Lalbaug was a hoot, especially going towards South Bombay. Unfortunately, JJ flyover is closed to bikes. I didn't want to break the law so we went under the bridge and boy, was that a bad decision. It was hot and loud and smokey and all round disgusting. I was riding jerkily. "Do you know how to ride this bike?" my girl asked? "Is something wrong?" But nothing was wrong. It was just a question of getting used to the clutch action. Finally we made it to town. We then rode to Marine Drive and rode up and down a few times. And then finally we rode home.

Distance from the showroom to home: 12 km
Distance we took to get home: 60 km

Finally, at about midnight we got home. Bottoms were sore. We hadn't ridden that much in a while. Legs were creaky. I was exhausted having been awake since 5 am and yet I couldn't sleep. I was so excited.


Now for a quick (since it's only been 12 hours since I got her) pros and cons:

Cons (let's get these out of the way)
1. She gets hot. Like HOT. Since she's the first big bike I've owned, I can't really give you a comparison. But my jeans did burn a teeny bit in traffic.
2. The 5th gear comes in a little too early and you're left wanting a 6th gear.
3. It seems like it's going to be a task to keep her clean and spanking new
4. I can't find neutral easily. Any tips and tricks that I should follow? Everytime I slot into neutral, it goes to first or to second.
5. The ground clearance isn't enough to scale the Himalayan speed breakers near my house and regardless of how slow I go, I just can't avoid scraping them. Three scrapes already and I wanted to cry every time I see them
6. WHY, in God's name, why can't Triumph give you one key for everything.



The ignition has one key, the steering lock another and I bought (for 3500) a lockable fuel cap that has a third key.



Pros:
1. She can pick up in 3rd from as low as 30 and go all the way to 100.
2. The acceleration. Woosh. It is mindblowing
3. You don't need to buy stuff like pillion seats, rear foot pegs and a grab rail. It all comes standard.
4. The exhaust note is pure music. I found myself a little while ago standing in the parking lot listening to her idle. I'm still in a daze it seems
5. The tires are excellent. Grippy and how.
6. The shockers are great when you're on the move although I'm going to screw them up soon enough as every road in Bombay has potholes.

More later. Need to get some more pics that will come up soon.





Some pictures from my ride home from work this evening:







The pipes have already started blueing... Is that normal? I mean I know they blue but didn't think they do so fast.

Hope you enjoy reading this and I promise to update this thread regularly.

[deetjohn]

Hi djpeesh, nice story developing here. Love your style of writing and eager for to know how you landed the Bonnie.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Motorbikes Section. Thanks for sharing!

[mobike008]

Congrats Sid !!! Pretty interesting story and looks like your enjoying your Bonnie right from the word GO !!

Pipes getting bluish even if so early is quite normal and infact, I think it looks cool. Btw, did you buy the bike full cash down?

Look forward to regular updates and pictures

Enjoy your ride !!!

[Haroon]

Congrats buddy. Indeed its been a long journey to taking delivery of the bike...but hey, thats the fun part of 'earning' a bike rather than inheriting it.

Wish you many many happy motoring miles on her. Ride safe

[Dust_Harl]

Many Congratulations on your Ride.

Ride Safe!

[batterylow]

Your back story + forward story is hilarious

The bike looks fabulous, enjoy the ride.

[abhinav.s]

Congrats on the bike mate! Wishing you many happy miles on it. Loved the write up that led to the buying and delivery experience!

[djpeesh]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Congrats on the bike mate! Wishing you many happy miles on it. Loved the write up that led to the buying and delivery experience!

Thanks so much Abhinav.

Originally Posted by batterylow

Your back story + forward story is hilarious

The bike looks fabulous, enjoy the ride.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading my story sir. It was from the heart. My first real ownership thread.

Originally Posted by Dust_Harl

Many Congratulations on your Ride.

Ride Safe!

thank you. Are you going the Triumph way anytime soon? :-P

Originally Posted by Haroon

Congrats buddy. Indeed its been a long journey to taking delivery of the bike...but hey, thats the fun part of 'earning' a bike rather than inheriting it.

Wish you many many happy motoring miles on her. Ride safe

Haroon Sir - you're one of the reasons for this colossal spending money. All your threads from riding your BMW to living with superbikes got me hooked in the first place.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Congrats Sid !!! Pretty interesting story and looks like your enjoying your Bonnie right from the word GO !!

Pipes getting bluish even if so early is quite normal and infact, I think it looks cool. Btw, did you buy the bike full cash down?

Look forward to regular updates and pictures

Enjoy your ride !!!

Hey Avi. Forgot to thank you in the post. Thank you for dealing with my incessant questions both online and offline. I'm sure I wouldn't have been so eager, had it not been for pesky people such as you (read as one of the villains in a Scooby Doo episode).

Yes, I didn't take a loan for it for a number of reasons, although now I have to take a loan to buy petrol till the end of the month.

Wiped out my bank balance with this. It helped that my bike Recurring Deposit, started during the Harley flirting days matured earlier this year. I saved 10,000 rupees a month for 48 months. Together with the interest, you'll find yourself with a saving of 5,00,000 plus at the end of 4 years.

It's a wholly different story that my parents think I could have reinvested the money and not spent it on a motorcycle.



Here's the odo after two days of riding. No riding this weekend as I'm out of town, so I'm pretty upset.

[Ricci]

Congrats ! It's raining Bonnevilles everywhere these days, instead of cats and dogs!

Originally Posted by djpeesh

I wanted to cry. Jogeshwari and back and you're saying no? What a cruel world. But then I thought she'd agree over time. Which she did and then she didn't and then she did again and then she didn't.

When the girlfriend came home from work and saw the cheque book on the dining table, she knew something was wrong. The smile on my face confirmed that. Grudgingly I told her what I'd done.

Obviously she was furious. She didn't talk to me all week and I came home to silence every evening. I should have asked in hindsight, but then again, my hindsight is way better than present thought. I thought about cancelling the booking after a week of silence, but then I decided to just play the waiting game. I didn't plan to take delivery before the monsoon anyway.

Completely understand your predicament. I wonder if it's because women don't understand passion for something(or someone?), even though it appears the ladies are very passionate about some stuff themselves , handbags , high heeled shoes for example.

We should play the same game, counter her complaints with her passions !
Very important to have a partner who doesn't grudge your passions (as long as you're not starving or unable to pay usual bills !)

Originally Posted by djpeesh

Distance from the showroom to home: 12 km
Distance we took to get home: 60 km

Finally, at about midnight we got home. Bottoms were sore. We hadn't ridden that much in a while. Legs were creaky. I was exhausted having been awake since 5 am and yet I couldn't sleep. I was so excited.

I pretty much couldn't sleep either, the night before the delivery of my D675, then woke at 5 today for the ride. I guess the adrenalin keeps you up.

Originally Posted by djpeesh

5. The ground clearance isn't enough to scale the Himalayan speed breakers near my house and regardless of how slow I go, I just can't avoid scraping them. Three scrapes already and I wanted to cry every time I see them
6. WHY, in God's name, why can't Triumph give you one key for everything.

I noticed that the Storm cruiser is even lower, the Bonnie seemed visually adequate. It's 140mm , isn't it ?

Originally Posted by djpeesh

The ignition has one key, the steering lock another and I bought (for 3500) a lockable fuel cap that has a third key.

As for the fuel tank lid, that is the first thing I mentioned to Triumph/dealer rep as must be standard for India, to have lockable fuel lid.

Originally Posted by djpeesh

3. You don't need to buy stuff like pillion seats, rear foot pegs and a grab rail. It all comes standard.

was that a dig at Hardly Davidson ?

Originally Posted by djpeesh

The pipes have already started blueing... Is that normal? I mean I know they blue but didn't think they do so fast.

Quite normal on chromed pipes. I'm sure there are gyaanis who can tell how hard you ride, how many kms the bike is ridden, and even who sat on the pillion seat just by examining the color of the pipes !

[sammyboy]

Congratulations on the Bonnie dj and I admire your negotiation skills and risk appetite .
What more can i say about the bike, rather than its absolutely brilliant and does most things perfectly.

Have a wonderful ownership and ride safe.

[pratap.pratu]

Hello Guys,
My friend recently picked up a T100 and is planning to get a protective tank guard (Lamination something like we see from 3M quality type) to prevent accidental scratches on tank surface. Can any T100 owners suggest or recommend any places in Bangalore where they do a good job in this or even link me to that post.
Thanks in advance.

[Cyborg]

Congratulations Djpeesh on your ride!
Loved your storytelling prowess on the before and after.
Ride safe!

Cheers

[r_nairtvm]

Dipesh,

Congratulations and Welcome to the Bonneville/Triumph family. The pipes at first would turn blue and then turn back a bit but eventually it will acquire an almost permanent blue sheen

It looks like now its the turn of MH to rain Bonnevilles after AP and KA
Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[argchoff]

Congrats Dipesh. An excellent choice of bike. Do ensure you follow the running in instructions till the 800km mark to make sure the bike gives optimum performance in the long run.