Birthday BONNEVILLE
Three years ago Triumph reinvented its entire Bonneville range of twin-cylinder retro-inspired models, by presenting five new motorcycles powered by all-new liquid-cooled parallel-twin engines, the 900cc Street Twin, and four 1200cc big twins. These were joined a year later by a revamped version of its existing Street Scrambler, as the second model in its 900cc entry-level line-up.
Now Triumph has commemorated the 60th anniversary of its first-ever Bonneville road bike’s debut at the 1958 Earls Court Show, in belated recognition of Johnny Allen’s September 1956 feat of setting a new World Land Speed Record for motorcycles at 214.40mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, by introducing upgraded versions of both the Street Twin and Street Scrambler, which are essentially the entry-level models to its entire range. 17,500 examples of the Street Twin alone have been built and sold in the past three years, making it the British firm’s best-selling single model, and a hit with both novice and experienced riders alike.
The chance to spend a 140-mile day riding both new Triumphs along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean from the resort of Cascais west of Lisbon, before diving inland to the hills and valleys of the Portuguese countryside further north, revealed the noticeable step forward which the new bikes represent over what was already a pretty good dynamic package. But even before that, the subtle updates to the styling, especially on the Street Twin, deserve attention.
Triumph likes to use the word ‘premium’ a lot in its sales pitch for these bikes, but that’s actually fairly justified. Though a mass-produced product made in its trio of factories in
