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...
ABOVE: 1982 Triumph Bonneville T140E Electro, with electric start. This one has the optional 7-spoke cast aluminum “mag wheels”. MODEL DESIGNATIONS As the skies continued to darken at Triumph, the resourceful fellows at Meriden Co-op needed to come up with ever new ways to dress up the same old antiquated...
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...
2016 TRIUMPH THRUXTON BACKGROUND By 2016, the Triumph Bonneville had grown from 800cc to 1200cc. And starting in 2016, the top of the Bonneville food chain was the Thruxton and the Thruxton R. While they had identical engines, now producing 96-horsepower, the Thruxton R sported better suspension, brakes and tires,...
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...
1949 VELOCETTE MAC IS A TOP-SELLER The Velocette MAC debuted in 1933. It had an air-cooled OHV 350cc single cylinder engine that was capable of hustling the 280-pound MAC to 75mph. It was developed out of the 250cc Velocette MOV by lengthening its stroke for the 1934 model year,...
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...
1972 TRIUMPH TR6 BY THE NUMBERS 1972 was the second year for the Oil-in-Frame. There were four models for 1972: TR6R (the standard Roadster with low pipes); TR6C (with high pipes running along the left side); TR6P (Police version); and TR6RV (a Roadster with optional 5-speed gearbox). Engine & frame...
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...
THE NEW 1952 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 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...
THE NEW 1949 MATCHLESS G80 1949 was the first year for the Matchless G80S, the company’s top-line 500 single, the addition rear suspension. 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...
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...
1968 MATCHLESS G80 BACKGROUND Matchless de-stroked their big 500 single down to an 86mm stroke, creating what they called the “short stroke” engine. The G80 was what they called back then a “scrambler”, which later might have been defined as an ‘enduro’, and today would probably be called a ‘Dual...
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...
1959 MATCHLESS G80 BACKGROUND As was the case with virtually all Matchless motorcycles, sister-company AJS had a nearly-identical version which they called the Model 18. Matchless had cut its teeth, and built its reputation fielding fast, robust and reliable big singles (ie: 350cc and 500cc). The Matchless G80/AJS Model 18...
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...
1973 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE MODEL DESIGNATIONS 1973 was a big year for the new Oil-in-Frame Triumph Bonneville. Starting the model year with Engine #JH15366, the T120 Bonneville 650 soldiered on for another year (it would finally be dropped in 1976), side-by-side with the new T140 Bonneville 750, which started with Engine...
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...
1954 Triumph T15 Terrier 1954 TRIUMPH T15 TERRIER BACKGROUND While Triumph was known exclusively for single-cylinder bikes in its first 30 years, the introduction of the 500cc Speed Twin in 1938 and Tiger 100 in 1939 changed how the world saw the brand. After World War II, Triumph focused on...
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”...
1951 Vincent Black Shadow 1951 VINCENT BLACK SHADOW BACKGROUND Brilliantly designed by doubling up the 499cc Vincent Comet single-cylinder engine into a 50-degree V-twin, the Vincent Black Shadow was introduced in 1949. It followed on the heals of the Vincent Rapide, which was more of a touring bike. The buying...
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...
1956 Triumph Speed Twin 1956 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN RELEGATED TO THE BACK SEAT The 1938 Triumph Speed Twin was the first vertical twin to hit the market, just prior to WWII, and it changed everything. Almost the entire British motorcycle industry rushed to copy their success as soon as the...
1943 BSA M20 Basics The 1943 BSA M20 was part of BSA’s massive wartime contribution to Britain’s war effort. Designed...
1975 Norton Commando ABOVE: 1975 Norton Commando MkIII Roadster in Union Jack paint scheme. TROUBLE BEHIND THE SCENES While the...
1962 Norton Navigator Deluxe 1962 NORTON NAVIGATOR DELUXE BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the Manx and the Commando. But they also had a very ambitious line of smaller bikes that they originally built to respond to a change in British motoring law that was...
1941 BSA M20 HELPS SAVE DEMOCRACY BSA was already one of the world’s largest producers of motorcycles, when World War...