LEGENDS REVISITED: Ducati GT1000 vs. H-D Sportster 1200 Roadster vs. Triumph Bonneville T100

They may not look like it, but these are three very special motorcycles. What makes them special isn’t mind-fogging performance, space-age technology or avant-garde styling; these bikes are extraordinary by virtue of their heritage. They are direct descendants of three of motorcycling’s mechanical and spiritual legends, icons that redefined the sport in their respective decades.

Harley-Davidson’s Sportster thundered onto the scene in the late 1950s as a fire-breathing, 883cc hot-rod that could blow the sidecovers off anything else on two wheels. In the Sixties, the 650cc Triumph Bonneville became the most longed-for motorcycle on the planet, setting a standard of style and grace that has influenced motorcycle design ever since. And in the 1970s, Ducati rewrote the streetbike rulebook with 750cc V-Twins that offered a level of big-bike handling previously found only on racebikes–actually, only on good racebikes. So in one way or another, those machines had a seismic impact on motorcycling that is still rumbling through the industry today.

Although the three bikes seen here all are latter-day incarnations of those landmark motorcycles, each one goes about it in a different manner. The Sportster is the most faithful to the original, still powered by an updated version of essentially the same engine and riding on a chassis that’s not hugely different than it was in 1957. These days, the motors are rubber-mounted, fuel-injected and drive through five transmission speeds rather than four, but the basic Sportster profile, appearance and architecture are unmistakably the same. In fact, though our testbike is a 1200cc model, Sportsters are still available in the original 883cc displacement.

Conversely, the least authentic of this threesome is the Triumph. Styling-wise, the T100 mimics the Bonnevilles of the Sixties exceptionally well, with shapes and contours and graphics that leave little question as to what they are emulating. But mechanically, this Bonneville is no closer to the original than it is to your lawnmower. Whereas those legendary Triumphs built in the long-since-demolished Meriden works were 650cc, ohv, pushrod, two-valve-per-cylinder Twins with four-speed transmissions, these Hinckley-built Bonnies are 865cc, dohc, four-valve-per-cylinder Twins with five-speed boxes. They still breathe through carburetors, though, a pair of 36mm Keihin CV mixers, and like the Ducati and Harley, the engines still are air-cooled. Our test T100, incidentally, came equipped with $580 worth of optional accessories: a two-tone seat ($295), a chromed passenger grab rail ($220) and kneepads on the sides of the gas tank ($65).

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As far as authenticity is concerned, the GT1000 splits the difference between the other two. It’s reminiscent of those first Duck V-Twins but doesn’t really look all that much like them. As Ducati’s own literature puts it, the shapes of this bike are “modern interpretations of the classic lines of the original GTs of the ’70s.” That modern interpretation includes an inverted fork, huge front-brake rotors, big air between the rear tire and fender, and propulsion via Ducati’s current 1000cc Dual Spark, fuel-injected, sohc, two-valve V-Twin with belt-driven cams rather than the original’s 750cc carbureted, bevel-gear-drive engine.

There’s no difference-splitting in performance, though. At 443 pounds dry, the GT1000 is 52 pounds lighter than the T100 and 132 below the Sportster; plus, its 75 horsepower tops the Harley’s output by 14 and the Triumph’s by 17. So it’s no wonder that in every measure of performance, the Harley and Triumph can’t compare. The GT is about 1.5 seconds quicker in its 0-60 acceleration and quarter-mile E.T., and its measured top speed is 11- to 13-mph faster.

Obviously, those WFO numbers mean nothing when you’re just bopping along at a relaxed pace. All three of these retro rides hum down the road effortlessly at legal speeds or even considerably above. Their only meaningful differences when riding in this mode are in how you like your cruisepower delivered: the H-D’s narrow-angle V-Twin rumble, the GT’s 90-degree V-Twin bark or the T100’s parallel-Twin thrum.

Neither the H-D nor the Triumph has even the slightest glitch in its fuel-delivery program, but the Ducati has two. It occasionally spits back and quits as you attempt to pull away from a dead stop, a problem that occurs most often when the engine is not yet fully warmed. Plus, off-idle throttle response can be abrupt, which is most annoying in the lower two gears. Neither of these conditions is bad enough to be a deal-breaker on what, as we will soon learn is such an exciting motorcycle, and some minor remapping with any of several EFI aftermarket products should clean up both problems.

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Aside from the Duck’s minor fuel-injection issues, any of these three purrs along the highways and byways as capably as the other two. But as soon as you turn up the wick, the Ducati leaves the H-D and Triumph like they’re anchored in cement. The ratios in the six-speed gearbox are perfectly spaced to take advantage of the motor’s flat torque curve, allowing the GT to run up through the gears like it means business. While the Ducati may be a retro bike, it’s powered by a modern engine that pulls like a freight train from idle to its 8600-rpm redline.

Can’t quite say the same about the Sportster. Its long-stroke, heavy-flywheeled motor is all about what it’s always been all about: low- and middle-rpm torque. It only revs to 6000 rpm, but along the way it pumps out 11 foot-pounds more torque than the Ducati and a whopping 22 ft.-lb. more than the Triumph. It will rev to redline without complaint but not a lot happens during the last 1000 rpm or so. If you want to make time on this bike, it’s best not to spin it much higher than 4500 or 5000.

It’s a genuinely pleasant engine, though, particularly when just rumbling around town or gliding through the turns on a scenic backroad. You just roll the throttle open and the engine delivers smooth, predictable, manageable acceleration, very often without the need for a downshift. It has lots of flywheel, very little driveline lash and a light clutch-lever pull that make riding the Sportster smoothly a piece of cake for just about anyone.

So too is the Triumph’s engine user-friendly. In terms of all-out performance, the 360-degree Twin is just a tick slower than the Harley, but it also is 335cc smaller. Given that considerable disadvantage, the T100 hangs in there admirably. It never cuts loose with a big surge of power anywhere in the rpm range, instead just accelerating smoothly, consistently and predictably all the way up to its 7000-rpm rev ceiling. It’s fast enough to outrun most cars, and it even feels and sounds a lot like those Bonnevilles of the 1960s.

Except that it’s smoother. The Triumph’s counterbalancers isolate the rider from most of the engine vibes up until the grips start buzzing lightly around 70 to 75 mph. The Ducati, despite the inherent primary balance of its 90-degree V-Twin, also emits a few tingles through the grips at higher road speeds. The Harley is the smoothest of them all, with no engine vibration finding its way to the rider at any road speed or engine rpm. Chalk one up for rubber engine mounts!

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That smoothness is a major contributor to the Sportster’s comfort quotient. Its riding position is cruiser-standard, with the lowest seat, the highest handlebar and the most forward foot-control location. You sit “down in” the Sportster rather than “up on” it, knees high, arms fairly straight ahead, butt plopped into what is arguably the best saddle of the group. The riding position is comfy if you aren’t taller than 6 feet and don’t ride much faster than 65 or 70 mph. Exceed that speed and your arms begin to tire from resisting the force of the wind pushing against your bolt-upright torso.

Not so on the Ducati, which cants the rider slightly forward, just enough to help offset that high-speed windblast. Its footpegs are higher and more rearset than those on the other bikes, as well. The end result is far from a racer-replica riding position, but the ergonomics do reflect Ducati’s sporting heritage. Despite its seemingly generous width and thickness, the GT’s seat starts to wear thin after an hour or so.

Meanwhile, the Triumph has a middle-of-the-road riding position. It sits the rider neither as upright as the Harley nor as tilted forward as the Ducati, its footpegs not as forward as the Sportster’s or as high and rearward as the GT’s, its seat marginally better than the Ducati’s and almost as cushy as the Harley’s. The Bonnevilles and BSAs of the 1960s and ’70s helped establish what has become the accepted “standard” riding position, and those ergonomics are clearly evident in the T100. As such, it is the most comfortable of the lot overall, its riding position unlikely to prove offensive to anyone.

Neither will the handling of these three–although the Ducati’s ability to shred a corner might easily offend anyone riding the other two. When it comes to straightening out a twisty ribbon of backroad, the GT1000 is in a different league altogether. It has the stiffest chassis, the most cornering clearance, the sportiest suspension, the quickest steering geometry, the shortest wheelbase, the stickiest tires and the most powerful brakes. Toss in the lightest weight and the most powerful engine, and it’s obvious why handling is a no-contest here. If this were a knife fight, the Triumph and Harley both showed up armed with Popsicle sticks.

Not that either of those two handles badly. The Sportster is very willing and able to zip through the turns until it runs out of cornering clearance–which takes place pretty early in the event. Plus, its rear springing and damping both are comparatively light, which does little to aid hard cornering. The Triumph has more bank angle in its repertoire before the footpegs start autographing the tarmac, but it’s quite stable and controllable up to that point.

On the Ducati, though, the pegs don't ground until the bike attains serious leanage, and it seems like the faster it is whistled around corners, the happier it feels and the better it behaves. Steering remains neutral, the chassis never twitches or wiggles and the tires stick like Elmer's finest. It's fair to say, then, that while the H-D and the Triumph tolerate fast cornering, the Ducati loves it. It's that sporting heritage thing again.

But it comes at the cost of suspension compliance. The same stiff springing and damping rates that help make the GT so stable during aggressive cornering on smooth pavement give it a choppy ride on bumpy surfaces. The Sportster is just the opposite, with soft rates that yield a nice ride over all but the cobbiest of roads. And once again, the Triumph slots into the middle, its suspension

a near-ideal compromise–not soft enough to be wallowy, not stiff enough to give a harsh ride.

So, what does all of this mean? In this “shootout” of three latter-day icons, which is the King of Classics?

Finding an answer to that question is what prompted this comparison in the first place, but as it turns out, one of these motorcycles really doesn’t belong here. The Ducati is a ringer, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, if you’ll excuse the fairy-tale cliché. It is dressed, labeled and marketed as a classic, but beneath it all is a modern standard. By most performance criteria, it’s almost as capable as one of Ducati’s own Monsters, the bikes that launched the naked-sportbike movement.

So, yeah, if you go strictly by the go-fast numbers, the GT1000 wins by a mile, no contest, hand over your pinks, please. But people drawn toward retro bikes usually have little interest in backroad brawling and stoplight-to-stoplight contests. For them the joy of riding is in experiencing the simpler pleasures of a bygone era in a package that offers the reliability and convenience of current technology.

By that measure, the Sportster 1200 Roadster edges out the T100 Bonneville by a nose. In overall performance, comfort and appearance, they are extremely close, running neck-and-neck, just as they did, ironically, some 40 years ago. But the Sportster has a valuable quality the Bonneville does not: authenticity. The Roadster is not a remake of the real thing, it is the real thing, an evolution of the original that’s been built by the same company non-stop for 51 years. There’s even a few part numbers on this 2008 bike that date back to that first 1957 model. And even though the Sporty is $296 more expensive than our mildly accessorized T100, it’s a Harley-Davidson, which means it won’t depreciate as quickly. Top that off with the huge Sportster aftermarket, including H-D’s own Parts & Accessories division, that enables owners to personalize their XLs to their hearts’ content, and it’s easy to see why in this competition, the Sportster gets the Gold Medal while the Triumph earns Silver.

Oh, and the Ducati? Technically it’s not a true retro but it is a classic–a classically good motorcycle, period.