2016 Triumph Bonneville T120
I have previously reflected on the nostalgia and sentimentality that I have for all the old Triumph motorcycles – particularly the Bonnevilles and specifically the 1968 to 1970 model years. I have written about my affection for my 1969 Bonneville and all its wonderful attributes. I was recently reminded of these attributes when I viewed the video that Jay Leno put together on his 1964 Triumph. He spoke of the combination of features that make it such a pleasure to ride. Pull it up on YouTube and you’ll hear him speak of the beauty of its design from any angle. On the riding portion of the video Jay talks about the comfort of the riding position, the light weight and precise handling, the great sound, and the high torque power delivery. I also agree that if I just want to go for a short ride, find a few curves and a few straightaways, the Bonneville is on the short list of the most enjoyable motorcycles ever for this purpose.
So what’s not to love? As I pointed out in my essay regarding my 1969 model, all is not perfect with these motorcycles. A lot of fundamental engineering problems need to be sorted out or just plain lived endured. These problems include plugged up carburetors that won’t let the bike start or run properly, bad electronics that won’t let the bike start or run properly and vibration from the 360° crankshaft that eventually breaks things or causes parts to fall off that won’t let the bike start or run properly. If you try to extend your short ride to a longer ride that might include some miles of freeway doing 65 MPH or more you will soon vibrate your fillings out or develop some neuropathy. I will admit that one can often find a particular speed/RPM where those vibrations can magically disappear as the reciprocating parts of the bike find some harmonic balance with the non-reciprocating parts – but finding that spot can be elusive.
So how do you solve the problem? How could we have a truly beautiful motorcycle using the template of my 1969 model that gets around all the above-mentioned problems? Simple – make it look as close as possible to that model but engineer all the problems out of it! Triumph attempted to do this with its first retro styled “modern” version of its Bonneville in 2001. It was a good effort but not a great one. I was very much looking forward to this model introduction 15 years ago, but when I saw the bike in person my pulse minimally quickened. It was hard to determine exactly what was bothering me about Triumph’s initial retro design. The exhaust wasn’t right, the seat wasn’t right, the rear grab rail was missing, there was no painted stenciled Triumph logo on the back of the seat, the subtle angled relationship of the rear section of the bike relative to the front section of the bike wasn’t right, and it didn’t sound right. So I didn’t purchase it.
15 years later at the Progressive Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, California, Triumph introduced the new 2016 Triumph Bonneville T120. I had seen pictures of it in the magazines and thought that this might be the one – the one that combined all of the positive virtues of my 1969 bike but solved all of the problems discussed earlier. By golly – they did! When I approached the bike I knew I had to have it. It had all the visual cues and relationships and attention to detail that made it the modern incarnation of the old Bonnevilles. They ingeniously fixed the exhaust and hid the catalytic converter under the frame. They added fuel injection the made the throttle bodies look like old Amals. They got the seat right. They added the grab rail. The attention to detail is amazing and includes beautifully brushed finished engine cases, old-school analog gauges, beautiful spoked wheels, the perfect shape of the fenders and side cases and the red scallop painted silver tank. The new water cooling unit was so beautifully placed between the front down tubes that it practically disappears from sight. Simply put, as I walked around it at the display at the motorcycle show my pulse definitely quickened. As I analyzed the machine that day I knew that I was viewing the natural evolution of Triumph’s vertical twin development from Edward Turner’s 1938 Speed Twin to the current day.
So now the question became – how did it ride and how has it evolved? To answer that question, after purchase I brought it home and prepared for my first ride. I decided to ride my 1969 Bonneville first to reestablish the baseline for comparison. I pulled the 1969 Bonnie out of the garage and did the usual pre-ride check: brake and clutch free play – check, no gas leaks and the usual small oil leaks – check, lights work – check, tire pressures are good – check, a quick wrenching on the nuts and bolts that tend to loosen and a couple retightened – check. I turned the petcocks on and waited for the float bowls to fill while keeping an eye on these old Amals to ensure the float valve turns the gas off without overflowing which the Amals are known to do – requiring one to tap on the bowl to get the needle valve to seat properly and turn off the flow. There is no problem today however. I now pressed down on the two ticklers which allow a little overflow of gas into the intake manifold’s which enriched the mixture. I then flipped the kick starter lever out 90° and kicked through a few times gently so I felt the pressure of the piston being near top dead center. I then turned the ignition key on and turned the throttle one quarter turn lifting up on the carburetor slide just enough to get some good airflow in to allow for the properly rich air to gas ratio to get this cold beast started on one or two kicks. I raised up a little bit off the seat and come down with my right leg on the kick starter pushing it all the way through to spin the motor quickly. I could feel and hear the engine start to combust and gently opened the throttle – and the familiar “broom- broom” sound enveloped the airspace around me. I then did a few gentle revs of the throttle and then allowed the engine to settle into a loping 600 RPM cold idle. As I put my helmet, gloves, and jacket on I could see the bike gently moving on its suspension as the two pistons of the 650 cc motor rose and fell together. The bike appears like a lean wide receiver ready to move easily to the inside or outside.
Taking off from my home, I accelerated away and immediately noted the strong low-end torque and the beautiful sound emitting from the P shooter exhausts. Turning left into the first turn, I felt the ease of the turn in and the lightness of the bike. Hitting the apex, I accelerated out of the turn feeling the pleasure of the power especially between 3500 and 5000 RPM. I pushed it a little harder on the long straightaway and noted some of the vibration starting to come through the foot pegs – not bad for short bursts but also not acceptable for the long haul. Coming up on a stop sign, I pulled on the front brake lever and realized I had better use a little bit of the rear brake to ensure that I came to a stop in time. The double leading shoe front brake utilized on the 68 to 70 model Bonnevilles were wonderful for their time but were still drum brakes with limited surface area. I rode around a little longer and then came back home. I turned off the bike’s ignition, turned off both petcocks, checked for any parts that may have come loose, and then spent a couple minutes appreciating the beauty of the bike.
Next I pulled the 2016 Triumph Bonneville T120 out of the garage. I started to go through my pre-ride check: brake and clutch free play – unnecessary, they’re both hydraulic, gas and oil leak check: unnecessary – it’s just not going to happen, light check: unnecessary- whereas the bulbs in the 1969 lights often vibrate loose or vibrates the filaments in half, this has halogen upfront and LED in the rear – no issues, nut and bolt check: unnecessary – this 1200 cc motor has a 270 crankshaft and counter balancers that smooth the engine out thereby not vibrating everything loose. Doing a general look over revealed the fit and finish to be top-flight. This machine looks like it’ll go forever without any significant maintenance beyond the usual oil changes.
So then I initiated the starting procedure: no petcock, no tickling of the carburetors, no kick starter, no throttle, no thinking was necessary. I turned the key and hit the button. A couple of engine revolutions later the engine settles into an easy 1000 RPM idle. I could then imagine the ignition module’s central processing unit interacting with the O2 sensor to create the perfect air fuel mixture for this initially cold motor and could hear the subtle adjustments it was making to the ignition with a subtle rise and fall of its idle RPM. After about 10 seconds it settled into a very happy 900 RPM stable cold idle. The only decisions I had to make was which ride mode I wanted – regular or rain and whether it was cold enough to use the electronically heated handgrips!
Taking off from home I immediately felt the substantially increased size of this motorcycle. The 2016 Bonneville had evolved into a performance enhanced/steroid influenced version of the old bike. The very lean tank had mushroomed into a much larger facsimile of the original. I had noticed that the rear tire was 50% wider and the swing arm was 2 to 3 times the thickness of the 1969 model as was the rest of the frame. Hitting that first left turn required significantly more input to initiate but at the same time felt phenomenally surefooted and under complete control. I then hit the apex and accelerated briskly-and I mean briskly! This bike feels more like a football tight end than a wide receiver. Big and brawny, it can’t cut and make turns quite so fast but it is still very athletic and once it turns up field you don’t want to get in its way! This modern motorcycle at 1200 cc was nearly twice the displacement and possessed twice the horsepower and torque of its progenitors. Despite being nearly 100 pounds more than the 1969 model, the doubling of power makes this machine much faster. Labeled the “high torque engine”, the increased torque is available from 2500 RPM on up and I felt it strongly pulling this motorcycle in a thrilling burst of acceleration onto the straightaway. All of this was occurring with no vibration of any significance. The 270° crankshaft may not be as “thump-thump” feeling as the 1969 and feels almost like more of a three cylinder machine in terms of its power delivery. What is lost is some of the charm of the old school feel but what is gained is more power and more reliable power and less vibration and a motorcycle that feels like it will last forever.
Because the EPA was created in 1971, 1969 bike has a sound that reflects its era. But the sound of the 2016 Bonneville is amazingly satisfying and deep throated given the EPA requirements of our day. As I approached the stop sign I inadvertently applied the same amount of pressure to the front brake lever as I had done previously with the 69 model. This essentially put me into an instantaneous stop. I could feel the antilock braking system kicking in as there was some granular material on the road. The big twin front disc brakes are amazing and require two fingers in all but panic stops. I pushed the information button on the left side switchgear and toggled through some of the computer information: miles to empty, average miles per gallon, and trip and total mileage. There were a lot of differences indeed between this and unscrewing the gas tank cap and looking inside and doing your best estimates.
How can I summarize the new bike relative to the old? Simply put, if I want to take a 150-200 mile ride over a variety of types of roads including some longer stretches at 60 to 80 miles an hour there is no doubt that the choice is the more evolved and the more comfortable and the more reliable 2016 Bonneville. But if I want to take a 25-100 mile ride over mainly curvy roads my choice would be the old bike. Now I know what you’re thinking – what about a 101-149 mile ride? The answer is you can’t go wrong with either one! Another way of summarizing the difference is similar to the difference between the world of yesteryear and today’s.
Imagine a farmer growing his grain from seed and his chickens from eggs. When he sits down at the dinner table he knows everything about where his chicken sandwich came from. He thought through and planned out every step of the way. In today’s world, a man pulls up to a restaurant’s building and orders a meal through a square opening in its wall. He eats it on his way home not thinking or planning about his next meal. Owning the 1969 Bonneville requires that you understand its structure and its function and plan ahead to ensure that the next ride will happen without mechanical problems. The new Bonneville does not require that you understand much more than turning on the key and hitting the button. It’s a product of our specialized world that allows you to not have to spend precious time on careful maintenance and preparation for the next ride. The downside is a loss of the experience of a direct mechanical connection with the machine. The upside is a gain of more limitless horizons and time to fill them with new experiences and new ideas.