Triumph Bonneville Street Twin first look

Triumph recently launched no less than a full brigade of Bonnevilles, set to replace the currently on sale models from 2016. Triumph is offering five new Bonnies, under three models, namely the Bonneville Street Twin, Bonneville T120 and T120 Black, and Bonneville Thruxton and Thruxton R. Out of these, most affordable will be the Street Twin, which as you can imagine, will almost certainly become the most popular of these famous Triumph classic bikes in India.

Keeping classic

The Street Twin offers relatively contemporary styling, by Bonneville standards. Despite being a classic motorcycle at the core of its design, it rides on a set of 10-spoke alloy rims. Much of the lower bike, including the nicely detailed engine and wheels are to see a black finish. The round headlamp, and classic fuel-tank help keep the spirit of the famous classic intact, while a smartly designed instrument cluster, that is read from a single pod display, the alloy rims and well designed seat make it feel modern.

Street cred

New for the Street twin is a four-stroke, 900cc, parallel-twin powerplant, running four valves per cylinder, and making 8.16kgm of maximum torque. Triumph has managed to extract about 18 percent more torque over the previous engine, at an amazingly low 3,200rpm. All this torque, we’ve been told by Triumph, is distributed evenly across the rev range, so you can expect it to be easily rideable in urban Indian traffic.

This new engine is controlled via a ride-by-wire throttle management, and mated to a six-speed transmission. Not only is the engine more torquey, but Triumph also tells us that the new Street Twins are going to be 36 percent more fuel efficient on the go.

Also read: 2016 Triumph Bonneville line-up revealed

List of new

There’s also an improved riding saddle, a thoroughly reworked chassis geometry, a slimmer ‘waist’ line, and longer travel for the suspension. Also offered with the Street Twin are a set of smoothly profiled, brush finished exhausts, that we heard output an exciting and throaty beat.

Equally important as the engine upgrades on the new Bonneville, is the addition of riding aids. Triumph has loaded their new Bonneville Street twin with a switchable traction control system, a slip assisted, lighter action clutch, and also switchable ABS brakes. The motorcycle comes with a single disc rotor in front. In terms of features, the Street Twin gives you a gear-indicator, USB socket and engine immobilizer.

We expect the Triumph Bonneville Street Twin to be priced aggressively, close to the present- day Bonneville, while clearly offering so much more. This should help the Street Twin take back lost ground that Ducati has managed to win over with their superbly priced Scrambler. However, with the segment both these new motorcycles compete in shifting into overdrive, it is only the customer who is in for a world of exciting motorcycling.

Arpit Phillips

Also read: 2016 Triumph Bonneville line-up revealed