1969 Norton Commando Fastback ABOVE: 1969 Norton Commando Fastback MODEL DESIGNATIONS The 1969 Norton Commando came in one additional model...
1960 TRIUMPH TWENTY-ONE HAS BATHTUB STYLING. The British home market had been hungry for cheap transportation after WWII, and commuter...
INTRODUCING THE 1938 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN It’s hard to overstate the significance of the introduction of this bike. Until the moment of its launch, just about every British motorcycle manufacturer was producing mostly big air cooled pushrod singles, but as displacement and performance grew, so did engine vibration. They’d reached...
CROWDED MARKET The Norton Dominator was Norton’s entry into the crowded vertical twin market, & it was intended to capitalize...
1947 TRIUMPH 3T DELUXE BACKGROUND Triumph production reverted to civilian machines in 1946, following the end of World War II....
1959 TRIUMPH TWENTY-ONE HAS BATHTUB STYLING. The British home market had been hungry for cheap transportation after WWII, and commuter motorcycles helped fill that role. But England being…well, England, was wet and rainy and to prevent rust an owner needed to wipe his bike down each night after getting home...
1946 TRIUMPH 3T BACKGROUND As Triumph production reverted to civilian machines immediately after the end of World War II, the...
Les Harris Bonnevilles Rise from the Ashes The story of the Les Harris Bonnevilles is one of the more fascinating...
EVOLUTION OF THE ATLAS The Norton Atlas evolved from the Norton Dominator line, which had grown since its inception in 1949 from 500 cc to 600cc then again to 650cc with the fire-breathing twin-carb Dominator 650SS. The Norton Atlas was the next logical step. The venerable Bert Hopwood-designed vertical twin...
1961 TRIUMPH TWENTY ONE HAS BATHTUB STYLING. The British home market had been hungry for cheap transportation after WWII, and...
THE TRIUMPH TWENTY ONE MISSION There are two schools of thought on the name ‘Triumph Twenty One’. It’s either honoring...
1959 AJS MODEL 31 BACKGROUND AJS and sister-brand Matchless were late to the vertical twin party. Triumph started it all with the 1938 Speed Twin, the world’s first ‘modern’ vertical twin (aka: parallel twin). It took the world by storm, and suddenly every other British brand had to have one...
ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new model, the 700 Interceptor in...
MY 1979 TRIUMPH T140D BONNEVILLE SPECIAL I own a ’79 T140D myself. It’s pictured above, on display at the Quail...
Sweet 1970 Triumph TR6 Trophy, with high pipes (on the other side). THE ORIGINS OF THE TR6 The story of the Triumph TR6 starts, as does virtually every British vertical twin, with the seminal 1938 Triumph Speed Twin. This 500cc cast iron twin started it all & after WWII when...
1961 AJS MODEL 31 BACKGROUND AJS and sister-brand Matchless were late to the vertical twin party. Triumph started it all...
Hinkley Triumph Motorcycles Hinkley Triumph Motorcycles have a rich and interesting history, despite being a fairly young company. The classic...
THE VELOCETTE LE – A BEST-SELLER? Immediately following World War 2, there was a pressing need in the UK for simple, inexpensive, utilitarian personal transport to get to-and-from work. Velocette attempted to tap into this market with their radical new “LE” in 1948. LE stands for “Little Engine”, and it...
NORTON NAVIGATOR BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the Manx and the Commando. But they...
1977 Triumph Bonneville Silver Jubilee US-Market Version ABOVE & BELOW: The US-spec version of the 1977 Triumph Bonneville Silver Jubilee...
BEST EVER The 1970 Triumph Bonneville T120 was not only the high water mark in Triumph 650 development, and the year that most people favor as ‘the best Triumph Bonneville ever built’, it was also the last year before the dreaded Oil-in-Frame bikes arrived, and all the problems with...
NEW MODEL DESIGNATIONS Starting with the 1961 Triumph Bonneville, the T120 model designation was followed by either an “R” for...
SLOW STEADY REFINEMENT The 1965 Triumph Bonneville T120 650 was again more or less a carry-over from 1964, which itself...
ABOVE: 1980 Triumph Bonneville T140E in Steel Gray & Black. SLOW SALES HURT CO-OP By 1980, what was left of the “Triumph magic” had evaporated. Large numbers of 1979 Triumph motorcycles were still sitting unsold in dealer showrooms & factory warehouses. For the first time since the end of WWII,...
ABOVE & BELOW: This 1978 Triumph Bonneville is a T140V, which still has the Delta-style head with splayed intake ports...
ABOVE: This 1971 Triumph Bonneville was restored to ‘better-than-new’ condition. It won “Best of Show” Award at the Clubman’s All-British...
ABOVE: The 1959 Triumph Bonneville had the big fenders and nacelle of the Triumph Thunderbird. Not a popular move with Americans, many of whom swapped it out for the more svelte TR6 bodywork. ALL NEW BIKE When it was introduced, the 1959 Triumph Bonneville 650 was one of, if not...
1962 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE -MODEL DESIGNATIONS The 1962 Triumph Bonneville again came in two basic model designations: T120R was the Road...
MORE POWER, SCOTTY! By the release of the new 1966 Triumph Bonneville T120 650, Meriden had had a few years...
ABOVE: This 1975 Triumph Bonneville is rarer than you might think. While it looks very similar to the 1973 & 74, very few were made due to the workers strike. MERIDIAN CO-OP FORMS The ’75 Bonneville is practically non-existent. So few were produced that it hardly counts as a model...
COMPETITION FROM ABROAD The 1969 Triumph Bonneville had its work cut out for it. It seemed like the Triumph Bonneville...
ABOVE: The 1981 T140ES Executive was a factory touring bike, with sport fairing & saddle bags (panniers). MORE SPECIAL MODELS...
ABOVE: 1979 Triumph Bonneville in T140D Bonneville Special guise, with Dark Blue & Silver paint scheme. SPECIAL EDITIONS HELP SALES Triumph motorcycles’ new owners, the employees, known as the Meriden Co-operative, or the Co-op for short, had hit on a new idea almost by accident: a limited edition special. 1978...
2009 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE THRUXTON BACKGROUND The 2009 Triumph Bonneville Thruxton has a rich heritage. The classic Triumph Bonneville 1959-1983 was...
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, but nearly every part was new and/or improved. Gone were the days of adjusting the primary chain by loosening the gearbox then swiveling in its mounts, only to have to...
1972 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE CARRIES OVER Coming one year after the major redesign that came in 1971, and one year before...
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 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 out of...
ABOVE: 1983 Triumph Bonneville TSX, factory custom in Gypsy Red. 8-VALVE HEAD As close as they were to the brink...