Triumph Bikes Expert Reviews

Triumph has taken an as-yet-unexplored neo-retro route with the Bonneville Bobber. Do the 60s design and modern mechanicals mesh well?

Meet one of the more popular adventure touring motorcycles in the country, the Triumph Tiger 800. This one is the mid-range XRx model, which means unlike the top-spec XCa, there's no 21-inch front wheel, no wire-spoke rims, no heated seats or grips, and no LED fog lamps.

There is a special breed of motorcycles, motorcycles that feel just right. Right from the way they look, to the way they sound, and in the way they ride. 

The girl-next-door. This is a sweet-natured, dependable and low-key motorcycle, one with whom you would want to have a deep and meaningful relationship rather than a casual fling. With the expansion of the Bonneville range, the Bonneville T100 has now become the new entry-level model in the family. It offers best of both world, the powertrain of the Street Twin with the elegance of the big daddy – the Bonneville T120. 

I am doing 230kmph. And, I know the bike can go faster still. But, I back off because I can barely hold on. The windblast is intense. The turn of speed, intoxicating. And the noise, well, it’s fabulous. This is the brand new 2017 Triumph Street Triple RS. And I am charging down the main straight at the legendary Circuit de Catalunya.

The Speed Triple 1050 is Triumph’s only litre-class naked motorcycle that is sold in India as well as in the rest of the world. It is also one of the few Triumph motorcycles that hasn’t been updated since a long time. The Indian market got this motorcycle at a time when its Japanese competitors got their latest machines to India. The Japs brought in safer and better equipped products.The Speed Triple, unfortunately, got lost in the world of litre-class nakeds. While the bike has been priced really well, it failed to appeal to the Indian buyers. The Speed Triple has almost the same power output like its Japanese counterparts and looks and feels like a big bike. But, it shares the design and styling with the Street Triple and that’s a problem (we’ll talk about this later).

Big, bulky, heavy – three aspects that are usually related to cruisers and it’s no different with the Triumph Thunderbird LT. LT stands for ‘Light Touring’ and that’s the only ‘light’ attribute about this cruiser. Launched to take on the Harley Davidsons, especially in the American market, the Thunderbird LT focuses on the same aspects like other cruisers – comfort and long distance riding. It was launched at a time when the Indian market had a good number of cruisers to choose from.

There are quite a few forces at work here trying to tug a prospect in their respective directions. There’s brand, origin, genre, technology and character. One must make a choice between air-cooling versus liquid-cooling; simplicity vs electronics; cruiser vs street; American vs British; Harley-Davidson vs Triumph. With Rs 10-11 lakh to spare and an eye firmly trained at the 1200cc-twin layout, one must choose between the Harley-Davidson 1200 Custom and the Triumph Bonneville T120. It isn’t an easy choice to make, unless, like us, you decide to go for the better product. And to find out which of the two is the better motorcycle, we headed to our favourite road; only the rain gods decided to play havoc. But, we soldiered on…

In the world of retro motorcycles, Triumph has a stronghold, thanks to its iconic brand – Bonneville. Since its inception, the Bonneville hasn’t changed much design-wise but mechanically it has.  And that’s what makes this bike special. It has managed to contain its character, feel and its fan following. The Bonneville T120 in its latest avatar, still manages to be the same old retro motorcycle outside, but inside, it is the one of the most advanced premium bikes to be ever sold in India. And thanks to this, the Bonneville T120 isn’t the most affordable Triumph bike in India anymore. The Street Twin has taken this mantle.

I know what you are thinking, and I agree, the Triumph Street Twin and the Kawasaki Versys 650 are such different bikes, they just can’t be compared.