Syncing two carbs is easier than syncing four.

Changing the cam chain and roller on a Honda is a PITA.

An OIF Bonnie weighs 50+ pounds less than your Thruxton.

Buying used parts on the interwebs is great. But sometimes you have to walk into a knowledgeable shop, lay your part on the counter and get some advice. Bob Raber is 1,000 cooler and more knowledgeable than a-certain-someone at the popular used Honda joint.

I could buy brand new repop fork tubes for my Bonnie. I could not find new repop fork tubes for my CB350.

Not that I'm a good mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I could help you with an OIF bike. I don't know much about Hondasakis. However, James does.

I am, by no means, down on old Hondas et. al. They are cool-ass bikes. However, I've found the '70s Brit twins to be very straightforward and easy to work on. And parts are plentiful.

This 450 was hot shit (till it broke down a mile from this picture). I'd do my CB350 like this if I were keeping it:


Let Dave, Ryan, and James comment here. They all have/had CBs.

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1964 Norton N15CS
1971 Triumph T00R Daytona
1979 Triumph T140D Bonnie

+1 to what Paul said. I did dump a bit of money into my OIF Triumph, but damn that thing runs like a fucking top now. I talked shit about OIF Triumphs for pretty much forever... but damn I got mine.. I rode the new bonnie to Sacramento and rode home on the 73. Took the 73 up in the santa cruz mountains and it handles better than the new bonnies. The frame geometry is just better. You can take corners faster and tighter on a PIF Triumph than you can on a new bonnie. Put some retro sidecovers on and some older style pipes and it looks like a late 60's bonnie. EP's Bonnie with the high pipes looks awesome

I'm shooting for a purchase late April or May... Let me see how finance are and Ill harass every one on this forum to see about what I can get the better deal on at the time.

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--RYAN!
ryanrobot99.blogspot.com

Owning an OIF Triumph I can definately agree with Paul and Germ. They are fairly straight forward to work on, parts are available all day at Rabers and you can get all the free advise you can handle from Bob on how to work on the bike. I have nothing agaist the Hondas, but I think there are fewer Triumphs out there which means they will continue to grow in value. I think the Hondas will hold there value but dont quite know when they will become collectors and gain value. Lets put it this way, we all love our bikes regardless of the make and the value of the bike. we ride them because its what we like, but it does make you feel good to have something that is gaining value rather than something you are dumping money into and will never get anything out of it. There are a lot of nice late 70's Triumph out there for 3-4k that are fairly stock, get one and spend a few more bucks and make it your own and you will be super happy