Modern Vespa

...then you should go take a look at the special edition Thruxton which Triumph has announced. It's pretty sweet.

God dammit that's sexy.

That is very nice looking ... and I am not (particularly) a fan of bikes. Very nice indeed!

Oh f**k that's lovely

Debt, anyone? Ok just me

100% Cafe Racer goodness. Like.

very nice bike. I'm glad they keep making those retro bikes.

i shoulda held out for that instead of getting my S 150

It pretty nice, but the tank on all new Triumph twins is too bulby, not nearly as graceful as the 60s.

PS--here is the most beautiful and sexiest machine to bear the "Thruxton" title, ever.

Damn you, John!

<---- Currently on double-dog bike restriction

deservedly so!

I need a towel.

Oh putain!!!!!!!!!!!

That is simply..... orgasmic!!

it is a stunning bike. i love that they are putting out editions like that right from the factory. my next toy will probably be a motorcycle, if i can pull it off financially.

Yes,

I think it is really cool that the manufactures are coming out with some retro bikes. I think the cafe style bikes have so much class and with the modern technology what a combination.

Joe

Drool...

Bears more than a slight resemblance to the special edition Guzzi V7 announced at EICMA.

My thoughts exactly!!
I rode the V7 Cafe in Ca back in October... loved it!!

Apparently, the V7 Clubman is vaporware at this point. "Nowhere near production," says Piaggio.

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/11/oh-noes-piaggio-intern-strikes.html

'Beauty' is certainly in the eye of the beholder. IMO, the vintage Velocette Thruxton looks like a parts bin special, with awkward proportions, odd angles on just about everything, and the butt-ugliest, seamed muffler (silencer?) ever inflicted on a non-agricultural, road-going machine of any type.

It has nice paint, though....and the engine is visually more 'interesting' than the Triumph's is.

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. I guess you weren't 18 in 1970, boiling with lust for the baddest, most hardcore, finicky and gorgeous machine you've ever seen. I guess you never banged through the gears on a powerful, rev-happy thumper. I guess you never sat on a bike that was as narrow as a schwinn bicycle.

I like mine...and I WAS the correct age in 1970. My Thruxton is stone-reliable, fast enough, and never fails to garner comment in a crowd of motorcyclist.

Love it, always did. I always had a mental battle between the NEW Triumph Classics and the NEW Ducati Classics. No matter what they claim now days, the Triumphs require a lot less maintenance then the Ducs.

Triumph for me if I ever get a bigger garage.

I was 19 in 1970. I was most certainly 'boiling with lust' for the baddest, most 'hardcore', gorgeous machine I'd ever seen...but it wasn't a 30hp Velocette dinosaur, it was a Honda 750 four cylinder.

I've owned forty motorcycles up till now, but our 'thumper' gear-banging has been limited to a Kawasaki KLR 650, a Yamaha SRX 600, and a Yamaha XT550....all of which were as narrow as a Schwinn bicycle.

I just generally prefer my motorcycles to be relatively large, good handling with excellent brakes, RELIABLE, and usually (but not always) multi cylindered, and hopefully.....grossly overpowered.

Now there's a bike that was underappreciated in the United States. Not so in other countries, esp Japan. Here's an appropriate pic of one to drool over.

Do the Japanese call it Nutcracker?
I like a lot of the Japanese cafe style bikes, especially since you can still get some of them for fairly cheap here. The Yamaha XS650, Kawasaki W650 (Bonneville copy, pretty much)...

But above all the Honda GB500. Yes, please!

Here's ours at BIR running in the CRA ultralight class...future wifey riding..


One winter she took it apart in our basement and painted it red and white, by this time she had earned her 'expert' plates (white is 'expert', yellow is 'novice')...

all that style AND electronic fuel injection is a great combo.

Well, I had a CB750K and it was porky and appliance-like. Definitely not lust-inducing. The Thruxton made 45hp, weighed about 370lbs had a low center of gravity and an impeccable racing pedigree. It was hard to start, wouldn't idle and first gear was as high as 3rd on most bikes.

It was intended as a true club racing bike--you could ride to the track, switch mufflers and be competitive in any class.

A 350cc Velocette single held the 24 hr record for 350, 500, 750 and unlimited bikes well into the 70s. The Venom (500cc) won the Isle of Man TT in its first try, despite not starting on the line for about 3 or 4 minutes. If they had started on time it would have been faster than the 750cc winner. A Venom held the 500cc standing start 1/4 mile record for many years.

P.

PS--If my finances were better, I'd get the Triumph in a heartbeat--it's quite sexy.

I may have lusted for the CB750 only because in 1970 it was just about the sexiest, most exotic motorcycle ever put into production to that date, and was perhaps arguably the first 'modern' superbike....but I never did own one....nor even ride a single cam Honda 750/4.

I ended up with a 1973 Yamaha TX750 (a true Japanese turd), then a 1974 Suzuki GT750, which was a wonderful bike, and one of my favorites to this day (I eventually owned five of them over the years).

I must admit that 45 hp for an old world 500 single like that Velocette is a very respectable number, but other than interesting musuem pieces, I will never find much to like in such machines, having been thoroughly spoiled by much more competent modern bikes, where they start easy, idle perfectly, and generate more thrust than a human can almost hang on to.

But I too would buy a new Triumph, not a Thruxton however, but a T100 Bonneville.