h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is a novel, by a writer from Texas, which features a Triumph Bonneville in a minor recurring role: "The Boyfriend School", by Sarah Bird. It is listed in Amazon.com but is out of print. Most libraries in the US seem to carry it, though. It was the basis of the little seen movie, "Don't Tell Her It's Me" featuring the acting talents of Steve Guttenberg, Kyle MacLachlan (forgive the spelling!) and Shelley Long (the name of the lead female character escapes me, however). Unfortunately, the motorcycle was mis-cast in the film as a Harley Davidson. Ironically, it is a "romance novel" from about 85 degrees off center and a truly hilarious book (the movie I leave uncommented on, although I found it somewhat amusing). Enjoy the read if you can find it!

Soon as I saw "Triumph Bonneville" on the FP I thought "That'll be Austin Morris!" Very nicely written entry .

Cheers. W

Hi There SpaceRhodes, Thanks for the comments. I will try and look that one up, I do like a good book when I'm not tapping away at this thing..
Actually there's been a number of of Bonnie appearences in films, I remember reading an article on it someplace. Most noteably was Richard Geare in 'An officer and a Gentleman' and (I think) Clint Eastwood in one of the 'Dirty Harry' films. Also I think Marlon was on a its predecessor, a Thunderbird (or it might have been a Tiger 110) in 'The Wild One.
All the best A.M.

Hi Waxer, Thanks muchly for the comments, much appreciated, I didn't realise I was that obvious though.
BTW, The other Film Quotes thingy is under review by a 'subbie' at the moment so we might just both be up in lights soon if it gets accepted.
All the best A.M.

From the 60s to the mid 80s every self-respecting "bikie" in NZ/Aus rode Bonnies. After that Harleys and Ducatis took over.

Still no Jap crap allowed in those circles.

There's nothing wrong with Jap bikes, but it sure takes a lot of years for them to develop any character (ususally around 20 years).

Once a jap bike has been on the road for 20 years, it gets more interesting because you wonder "Am I going to pass this truck or is the motor going to throw a rod?". My old XL-350's (1976 and 1978)had as much character as any Triumph. One used to produce its own smoke-screen (never put synthetic in a motor that clapped-out 'cause it smells terrible when it burns), while the other used to produce its own oil-slick.

I tried riding an 883 Sportster (yeah, I know its a girls bike). While it was better than magazines said, I don't think it was any faster than my Honda 350's. I think Harley should have died with the Shovelhead and iron sportsters (I still want a sportster with XR heads).

Does anyone know anything about the TSS Boneville? -an 8 valve Bonneville couldn't have been all bad.

The very late 8 valve kits (Nourish?) were apparently very lively and when the factory adopted a similar design they did sometimes go very well and quite smoothly combined with the new crank type (as adopted by many of the Harris Bonnevilles) they did however suffer from the traditional late Triumph quality control in that the all alloy top ends were frequently porous castings and leaked THROUGH rather than round the metal.