ABOVE: The 1981 T140ES Executive was a factory touring bike, with sport fairing & saddle bags (panniers). MORE SPECIAL MODELS...
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ABOVE: 1979 Triumph Bonneville in T140D Bonneville Special guise, with Dark Blue & Silver paint scheme. SPECIAL EDITIONS HELP SALES...
2009 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE THRUXTON BACKGROUND The 2009 Triumph Bonneville Thruxton has a rich heritage. The classic Triumph Bonneville 1959-1983 was easily Triumph’s biggest name, then and now. After the death of the old Triumph (by this time the worker-owned Meriden Co-Op) in 1983, British developer-billionaire John Bloor bought the brand...
MODEL LINE-UP The 1967 Triumph Bonneville T120 650 continued to be developed and refined in incremental steps, sometimes one forward...
A WHOLE NEW MOTORCYCLE! The 1963 Triumph Bonneville was essentially a brand-new bike. Not quite designed from a clean slate,...
1972 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE CARRIES OVER Coming one year after the major redesign that came in 1971, and one year before the major redesign coming in 1973 (displacement bump to 750cc, shorter barrels, front disk brake, 5-speed and fresh styling), Triumph sort of ‘took a break’ for the 1972 model year....
ABOVE: 1982 Triumph Bonneville T140E Electro, with electric start. This one has the optional 7-spoke cast aluminum “mag wheels”. MODEL...
2008 Triumph Bonneville Background The 2008 Triumph Bonneville has a rich heritage. The classic Triumph Bonneville 1959-1983 was easily Triumph’s...
ABOVE: 1983 Triumph Bonneville TSX, factory custom in Gypsy Red. 8-VALVE HEAD As close as they were to the brink of extinction, the optimists at the Meriden Co-operative still believed it could be turned around, and the only way was through product. Nothing like an entirely new DOHC 4-cylinder or...
2016 TRIUMPH THRUXTON BACKGROUND By 2016, the Triumph Bonneville had grown from 800cc to 1200cc. And starting in 2016, the...
SECOND YEAR CARRYOVER The 1964 Triumph Bonneville T120 650 was pretty much a carry-over from 1963 and at the same...
1960 TRIUMPH TR6 NOMENCLATURE 1960 is the first year when Triumph TR6’s received -“A” or -“B” suffixes. The TR6A became the Roadster with low pipes, and the TR6B retained its former identity as a dirt bike/desert racer/enduro/street scrambler with high pipes. 1960 Triumph TR6 engine & frame numbers came in...
1949 VELOCETTE MAC IS A TOP-SELLER The Velocette MAC debuted in 1933. It had an air-cooled OHV 350cc single...
NEW LOOK The 1957 Triumph TR6 debuted with a new tank badge that was prominent across the entire 1957 Triumph...
1968 TRIUMPH TR6 NOMENCLATURE For years, every Triumph TR6 was referred to as a Triumph Trophy, but that was soon to change. For the first time, for the 1968 model year, the name “Trophy” was dropped. By the following year, the new name of Triumph Tiger would be adopted. Since...
1972 TRIUMPH TR6 BY THE NUMBERS 1972 was the second year for the Oil-in-Frame. There were four models for 1972:...
1964 TRIUMPH TR6 BY THE NUMBERS While model years 1962 & 1963 saw only one model designation for all Triumph...
THE NEW 1950 MATCHLESS G80 1949 was the first year for the Matchless G80, the company’s top-line 500 single. Typical of British bikes of the era, it used pushrods and a small bore/long stroke (undersquare). The new bike also had a new frame with a swing arm rear suspension, and...
THE NEW 1952 MATCHLESS G80 1949 was the first year for the Matchless G80, the company’s top-line 500 single. Typical...
THE NEW 1953 MATCHLESS G80 1949 was the first year for the Matchless G80, the company’s top-line 500 single. Typical...
2014 Royal Enfield Continental GT 2014 ROYAL ENFIELD CONTINENTAL GT BACKGROUND At the time of its introduction, the Continental GT was Royal Enfield’s lightest, fastest, most powerful motorcycle in production. To this end, they started by increasing displacement from 500cc to 535cc, adding a larger throttle body and a hotter...
THE NEW 1949 MATCHLESS G80 1949 was the first year for the Matchless G80S, the company’s top-line 500 single, the...
THE NEW 1949 MATCHLESS G80 1947 was the first year for Matchless G80 civilian production following World War 2. The...
1966 MATCHLESS G80- LAST OF THE LINE The G80 was Matchless‘s top-of-the-line 500 single. Launched in 1949, just as civilian production was ramping back up after World War 2, it was soon competing against an entire field of new vertical twins from Triumph, BSA, Norton, and the rest. On the...
1968 MATCHLESS G80 BACKGROUND Matchless de-stroked their big 500 single down to an 86mm stroke, creating what they called the...
1967 MATCHLESS G80 BACKGROUND Matchless de-stroked their big 500 single down to an 86mm stroke, creating what they called the...
2014 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE STAYS TRUE TO ITS ROOTS The first Triumph Bonneville came out in 1959 and instantly became one of the fastest vehicles normal people could buy, on 2 or 4 wheels. The “Bonnie” became the stuff of legends, and a sign of being cool. Movie stars and rock...
1959 MATCHLESS G80 BACKGROUND As was the case with virtually all Matchless motorcycles, sister-company AJS had a nearly-identical version which...
1937 BSA WM20 Background The 1937 BSA WM20 was part of BSA’s massive wartime contribution to Britain’s war effort. 1937...
1999 HARLEY-DAVIDSON MT500 BACKGROUND It’s rumored that Harley built just around 500 MT500s for the US Military. The design genealogy is quite convoluted. To begin with, it has an air-cooled 500cc single-cylinder Rotax engine (made in Austria). The design of the overall bike originated in Italy in the early 1980s,...
1973 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE MODEL DESIGNATIONS 1973 was a big year for the new Oil-in-Frame Triumph Bonneville. Starting the model year...
1942 BSA M20 HELPS WIN WORLD WAR 2 BSA, already a manufacturing powerhouse, built 126,000 M20s that served during the...
1946 BSA M20 History The 1946 BSA M20 was the first year of production following World War 2 and BSA’s massive wartime contribution to Britain’s war effort. 1937 was its first year of production that would last until the late 1950s. Designed to be simple, rugged and reliable, the WM20...
1954 Triumph T15 Terrier 1954 TRIUMPH T15 TERRIER BACKGROUND While Triumph was known exclusively for single-cylinder bikes in its first...
1954 BSA Gold Star 1954 BSA GOLD STAR BACKGROUND Throughout the 1930s, BSA created and developed a strong line of...
1941 HARLEY-DAVIDSON WLA – WHAT’S IN A NAME? The nomenclature “WLA” stands for something, as you probably suspected. The “W” signifies the ‘family’ of motorcycles within the Harley family tree. The W-series was their 45 cubic-inch flathead (side valve) single (only one seat) that was their entry-level V-twin in the...
1951 Vincent Black Shadow 1951 VINCENT BLACK SHADOW BACKGROUND Brilliantly designed by doubling up the 499cc Vincent Comet single-cylinder engine...
1968 Norton Commando ABOVE: The first 1968 Norton Commando was the Commando Fastback, pictured here in this British racing green,...
1951 Norton International 1951 NORTON INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND The International was sort of the road-going version of Norton’s factory racer, the Manx. It came in two sizes: the 490 cc (500) Model 30 and the 349cc (350) Model 40. Both came with the Manx’s exotic shaft-and-bevel-gear-driven single overhead cam in a...
1956 Triumph Speed Twin 1956 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN RELEGATED TO THE BACK SEAT The 1938 Triumph Speed Twin was the...