"Triumph Bonneville. ” Those were words that gave a lot of youthful moped riders a somewhat glazed look in their eyes. And the men who owned such a machine? They were almost Gods. The Triumph Bonnevilles were heavy, super-fast, perfectly steerable machines in their time. They were certainly no commuter bikes, no bicycles for commuting.
The Bonneville T120 is one Triumph T110 with two carburetors
The first Bonnie saw the stages in 1958. And the type designation? Test driver Percy Tait reached a top speed of 120 miles per hour (193 km / h) with this machine. Hence 'T120'. The name 'Bonneville' was chosen because Johnny Allen in 1956 on the Bonneville Salt Flats with a streamlined Triumph had reached a top speed of 345 km / hour.
En Triumph genius and dictator Edward Turner was not happy with it
Because he found high-powered motorcycles and motorcycle races nonsense and a waste of money. He regularly grumbly informed the Bonnevilles Triumph lead directly to bankruptcy. The brand had the Triumph Bonneville not needed.
Management in the overall British motorcycle industry and then all-powerful unions prepared that job in a much more dramatic way. The Bonneville, however, became a huge success in the States, the "country" from which most British and Italian motorcycle manufacturers derived their existence.
The American importers often passed on their wishes in 'orders to the factories'. The Triumph Bonnevilles were so successful that Harley-Davidson felt cornered during the home game and the Sportster line developed as a counterpart to all that British violence.
Meanwhile, for many Harley riders, Sportsters are 'bitch bikes' and the Bonnevilles have been very successful. Only over the years, just like most of us, have they lost their youthful slenderness.
A Triumph Buying Bonneville was serious business
Bonnies were expensive machines and they may have been at the beginning of the idea of financing motorcycles. At a certain moment the big ones arrived Triumphs second, third to umpteenth hand sale of course.
And the suppliers had an impressive package of beautiful things Triumph Make Bonneville even faster or make it appear. New, better and lovingly manufactured frames were even offered.
But other exhaust silencers (which damped less) swept back pipes for more ground clearance in bends, other carburetors or at least 'gullies' instead of air filters, sportier tanks, aluminum mudguards, tight handlebars, other front brakes (Robinson supplied front brakes with eight ascending brake shoes), rearsets to move the feet further back, sport seats and all kinds of beautiful, cast aluminum covers and caps. Star-shaped exhaust bend clamps the size of a teacup saucer full-blown? No, it is not! You had to have them!
In the meantime, we are in a time when successively restored and authentic are the norms
In that area of tension there are still many motorcycles, not only Triumphs, which are simply not interesting to the 'market & experts' because they are 'encrypted'. Bringing such engines back to original ZGAN is financially not a sensible idea, even with rare and sought after 1968-1969 models. But what's wrong with such a machine?
If it is not a deadly leaking carcass, but a machine that owners have been working on to their own taste? In such cases, you can buy a Bonneville that is time-original rather than factory-original. And that can just be a motorcycle that has always had its maintenance.
After all, they date from the time that many motorcyclists were much more technically skilled than they are today. It is not for nothing that the reader tests of the late weekly magazine 'Motor' (in black / white and on newspaper) showed that most motorcyclists had a professional background.
In addition, such a 'real' but renovated Bonneville is more useful and cheaper than a beautiful Tribsa or Triton
Because recently someone who had built such a 'bastard' according to the rules of art and with an open budget, noticed that his knees didn't bend as much as forty years ago. His masterpiece, which has not even been entered yet, is therefore perfectly highlighted in the living room.
The engine on the pictures is from a comrade
He had actually forgotten the thing. The machine has restarted and is running fine. And he makes a lot of noise. That used to be a pure plus. But in the hyper-correct Netherlands, the degeneration has now gone so far that he saw during a test drive that children were crying and running away with their hands in front of their ears.
During a stop, he was reproachfully addressed by a not-looking thirty-star. He did not feel concerned about the crying children. He saw the plus points of being addressed by a young blonde.
But the Triumph Bonneville can go. Because finding the twin was funny, but didn't feel like the return of the Lost Son. And Sander also has another classic that also has such a good voice. And two screaming in the barn? That is asking for a fight in the tent.
But his find made us think how important originality is. It will be pretty well. But in our opinion nothing can beat the fun.
