A modern motorcycle. Sometimes you will find one. And then your love for classics doesn't seem so crazy. We saw one Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster. A motorcycle where the unimaginative marketers with stubborn hands must have giggled: "We just pick everything out of the history books and make everything just nice and bigger and heavier! Then we have a retro hit again! ”That is actually unworthy of the brand's history. But marketers do not dignity.
Bonneville Speedmaster. The naming alone
In the Beginne there was the Bonneville. And everyone saw that it was good. De Bonneville appeared in 1959 as a staged version of the Tiger T110. The Speedmaster name has also been around for more than half a century Triumph connected as an export model for the USA market. If you link those two names together, you already have a solid basis for your 'product placement'.
The headlight has very close in inspiration to the headlight unit of the Triumph 6T Thunderbird hung. The harmonica rubbers around the fork legs are also a bow to the past. The tank logo could also just be 'NOS'. The rear brake hub is conical. Think of the very beginning of the seventies, but with a disc instead of a drum.
Seems air cooled
The engine block, really a 'power source', does its utmost to resemble such a once famous push rods' pre-unit parallel twin with air cooling. It also just looks nice. But that is all set work. It is liquid cooled and the fuel injectors are disguised as genuine old-fashioned carburetors.
Good looks
That the Triumph optically succeeded and drives well? That makes up for a lot. But such a thing costs more than € 16.000. And for that money you can also choose from the most beautiful Bonnevilles of all time: the 1968-1969 models. Then you have 46 instead of 77 pk, 650 instead of 1200 cc and 165 kilo instead of 245 kilo Triumph Twin. That is more than enough for the most beautiful, effortless journeys on the most winding roads. And if your choice falls on a 'Real' one, then you just have another miel or six. And then an oil in frame restored by Onno Ruttenberg would be even cheaper.
And when it comes to 'dropping out', you don't have to worry about a good classic British classic anymore. After various rebirths, these classics were really stripped of their teething problems and carelessness at first production. A good British classic is just a very reliable classic. Add to that the spare parts supply for those machines is affordable and optimal and that there is still a lot of craftsmanship among countless specialists.
Still goodbye
That will remain Triumph the only English motorcycle brand that is still on the market today. And that does Triumph with very thoughtful and good machines. And that they sometimes refer very boldly to their past? Oh well, that past doesn't actually have anything to do with Hinckley. The real thing Triumph era ended with the Meriden models. But we cannot help but be the savior of the name and the brand, John Bloor, very grateful.
Of course, past results don't count. We are still waiting very carefully to mention the rebirth of Norton. 🙂
The only? You don't forget the youngest reincarnation of Norton, right? ..