Triumph’s Bonneville was the cultural and motorcycling icon of the 60s that became the mainstay of our home industry in the 70s before becoming a two-wheeled legend. Tim Britton has a look at the new millennium version.

There is just enough hint of the Meriden version to fool casual observers.

Slithering about in six inches of snow, with the bars whipping from side to side and the back end trying to overtake the front I can’t pretend that going out in the snow on a truly dedicated road bike was the brightest of moves. But, I had to be somewhere and the only transport available was the Triumph T100 that is rightly the long term test bike of CBG’s sister publication – The Classic MotorCycle. How does it handle in the snow with round profile road rubber on the wheels? Not well I must admit and struggling back into my place I didn’t feel as though I needed the insulated riding gear I’m wearing in the picture. Having a breather I came to the conclusion that perhaps the Hinckley vertical twin wouldn’t be quite so easy to convert to ISDT or scrambles use as its Meriden ancestor.

Just jumping track here I’d like to try the new scrambler version with some serious enduro rubber on there and see what it’s like in such conditions. But it’s the T100 that concerns me here and straight up front I’m going to say that I like it. And though it doesn’t do ‘snow’ very well generally speaking it handles all other conditions with the minimum of fuss. Whenever my colleague James Robinson on TCM hasn’t needed the T100 I’ve blagged it. Sometimes this has meant saying “youusingtheBonnieforafew days?No?Cheersthanksbye” in a stronger north east accent than I normally have and disappearing out the door like a rat up a drainpipe before he realises what I’ve said. Cruel, I know but hey… I like the bike. So, maybe it doesn’t do a zillion miles an hour or 0-60 in a nano second, nor does it turn you into an instant Valentino Rossi either and, because of this it’s fashionable in some circles to decry the T100 and the rest of the Bonnie range. Usually this decrying is done by the fast lads who imagine themselves the equal of GP stars and would certainly put the UK on the racing map if they were on the grid but are off down the pub because, there’s a corking new bit of tottie behind the bar. I’ve ridden with these heroes before and… well…

OK, so I’ve told you what it doesn’t do, what does it do? Everything you’d expect from a brand new motorcycle and on top of that it does it with style. From the easy way it starts – click on the choke, press the button and the 865cc dohc motor burbles into life – to the handling on the twisty lanes where I live. It is a nice motorcycle. I know that sounds twee in these days of streetfighter urban commando riding but realistically what you want from a bike is for it to work without having to think about it and the T100 does just that. The clutch is light enough and gear selection is easy and the power – 64bhp – will help you mix it at the legal speed limit on a motorway. It will also zip past the speed limit and go way over the 100mph mark – which we found out on a private ground test track in case you think I’ve been naughty. As it’s doing all this it returns about 120mptf – mptf? Yes, mptf, Miles Per Tank Full – of modern pseudo petrol.

It’s fairly common knowledge that the T100 and its Thruxton stable- mate are based on the basic new Bonneville – despite being in the Triumph range for several years the Bonnie still gets tagged with the ‘new’ label – though this really should only be used to distinguish it from the ‘old’ – Meriden or Harris – Bonnie.

I suppose, unless you’ve been a resident of Mars for the past 20 years, the history of the two Triumph companies should be reasonably familiar to you. But for the odd Martian reading this, in an interstellar WHS, the Triumph company that produced stunning twins under the guiding hand of autocratic Edward Turner came to an end in the 80s. It made a valiant attempt at keeping going and producing updated machines each season but sadly the end came and the assets were sold off. One of these assets was the name and rights to make Triumph machines, which was bought by property developer and builder John Bloor. After an announcement that he intended to make motorcycles when he was good and ready the shutters came down and work continued in secret. The press of the day was full of speculation about the form these bikes would take and the readership cried out for a new Bonnie to ‘save the British industry.’ The new company did issue a limited licence to LF Harris in Devon to produce the sporting twins and so the name lived on for a year or two more.

Wisely the Hinckley Triumph company decided that the way forward was to go for modern machines rather than update a classic. This showed that the company had its sights set firmly on the mass market rather than pandering to those of us who like the older bikes. This is as it should be in a commercial world but they were not blind to the heritage behind the Triumph name and once production started in Leicestershire models with names that classic enthusiasts recognised began to emerge. From the factory came Daytonas, Tridents and Tigers but no Bonneville though there were always hints, rumours, suggestions that… well… maybe the factory were planning on a Bonnie. Speculation was rife. What would it be like? “Of course it would have to be a 650, they wouldn’t dare do anything different,” said some. Others said it would have to be a 750 and a pushrod motor, too. How wrong ‘they’ were. There were some similarities with the old one – parallel twin, 360 degree firing, twin carbs – but gone were the pushrods, vibrations and oil leaks. “Sacrilege” cried the die-hards, “boll**ks” said I. Triumph actually produced a good looking machine that traded on the heritage but provided it in a package that was bang up-to-date and could survive in the modern sales climate. Not only that but apart from a few Luddites the Bonnie has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of the public just as the original did and the aftermarket accessory people have taken to it as well.

Go on, admit it, you've done daft things too.

Thankfully not all of my riding on the T100 was done in the snow, some of it was actually in quite pleasant weather. Especially in the summer when Lincoln photography student Katie Heath spent a few weeks with Mortons, to gain experience of work in the field, and we took the new Bonnie out with the CBG Triumph to get some shots. But life isn’t all about posing for cameras and I’ve largely treated the bike as anyone would. I’ve gone to work on it, covered events on it and even done the shopping after fitting panniers to it. My first trip out involved going to the Gold Star Owners Club Rally over in Stratford upon Avon and it was this trip – the thick end of 300 miles – that highlighted probably the only weaknesses that the bike appears to have...

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