Triumph Bonneville T100 & T100 Black: Double up

Triumph’s new Bonneville range includes a pair of T100s, one Black, the other less so. It’s all a matter of choice…

Words by Alan Cathcart Photos by Jason Critchell

After five years of diligent development in what Triumph’s technical boss Stuart Wood says has been the largest engineering project the company has yet committed to under John Bloor’s ownership, Britain’s No.1 bike manufacturer has now completed the total overhaul of its born-again Bonneville range, which for 2017 comprises an array of 10 different models, on two distinct platforms.

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Even the mean black machine appears unscary to the natives

So, alongside the five big-bore 1200cc variants (T120, T120 Black, Thruxton, Thruxton R and Bobber), the 900cc entry level Street Twin introduced a year ago has now been joined by the Bonneville T100 and T100 Black plus the Street Scrambler and Street Cup café racer, in the line-up of bikes powered by the smaller capacity single-cam version of Triumph’s new generation liquid-cooled eight-valve parallel-twin motor.

The two T100 models are the only 900cc bikes in Triumph’s catalogue to carry the Bonneville label denied to the less expensive Street Twin starter model. Yet all three have exactly the same mechanical specification, save for revised, slightly rangier steering geometry on the Bonneville T100 duo, which are also a not insignificant 15kg heavier than the Street Twin, with twice as many chrome-bezel clocks, and wire wheels instead of cast aluminium.

Read more in February’s issue of CBG – out now!

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