Nothing screams classic like the English-born Triumph Bonneville. In 1959, it kicked off the cafe racer movement and became even more famous when Marlon Brando straddled his own Bonneville in The Wild One.
The Triumph Bonneville’s parallel-twin four-stroke engine, well known for its power and speed, was famously combined with Norton featherbed frames to create the elusive Triton. In 2008, fuel injection replaced the need for the dual carbs, but throttle bodies were redesigned as dummy carbs to maintain the original look of the engine.
The Triumph Bonneville has retained its stylish, quintessentially British looks through several generations: production started in Hinckley in 2001 and continues today.
The current ‘Modern Classics’ range was launched in 2016 with the Street Twin, Street Cup and Street Scrambler at the lower end of the range. The Bonneville roadster is available in the traditional T100 and T120 variants, and the Thruxton and Thruxton R are modern day cafe racers. A ‘factory’ 1200cc Bobber completes the range.
The modern Triumph Bonneville T120 is a true sleeper. Its gentlemanly aesthetic follows the traditional Bonneville formula, but its rumbling parallel-twin motor kicks out 105 Nm of torque at just 3,500 rpm. It’s handsome and remarkably comfortable—and it’s not shy about getting down. This Triumph Bonneville T120 street tracker from China’s Mandrill Garage is an…
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Mirrors are the bane of any custom motorcycle builder. They’re useful for seeing what’s behind you and keeping the authorities off your back—but the wrong mirrors can easily ruin an otherwise tidy cockpit. I’ve tried my fair share of cheap and nasty bar-end mirrors, many of which are now scattered around various corners of my…
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It’s easy to get stuck on the big ticket items when you’re personalizing your motorcycle, but it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Most bikes ship from the factory with unsightly lights and turn signals, and swapping those out is a quick way to tighten up your bike’s overall look. My 2012-model Triumph…
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The Spanish workshop Tamarit Motorcycles has been in business for a decade, focusing almost exclusively on Triumph modern classics. So they know the Triumph Bonneville inside out—and they know how to transform it into just about anything. Tamarit Motorcycles has used this experience to build a stacked catalog of bolt-on Triumph parts and a handful…
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It’s common to see custom bikes with swanky high-end shocks propping up their tails. Swapping out the rear suspension on a twin-shock…
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One of our favorite modern classics has just received a major update for 2025. Triumph has refreshed its popular Speed Twin 1200—but…
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“This is not a project bike” is a lie I frequently tell my significant other. But the truth is, I can’t help…
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Leading the charge this week is the unusual combination of a rare French vintage scooter with a modern Honda powertrain. We also…
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Metallic green is the flavor of the week, with our first two bikes—a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 café racer and a…
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I got lucky when I bought my 2012-model Triumph Bonneville SE last year. A single-owner bike with less than 1,500 miles on…
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Mentioning ‘Triumph’ and ‘Steve McQueen’ together conjures up images of the iconic desert sleds that the King of Cool kicked up Californian…
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If you’ve got money to burn, there’s a super-rare MV Agusta 750S America with your name on it this week. But if…
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