New Triumph Bonneville India review, test ride

While Triumph Motorcycles had unveiled its line-up for India at the Auto Expo way back in 2012, the journey from showcase to showroom has taken rather long. But if our first ride impression of the hugely famous Bonneville is anything to go by, the wait was worth it. As you may know by now, the Bonneville serves as an entry point to Triumph’s vast Indian line-up, with a starting price of Rs 5.7 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

For the money, you get arguably one of the best turned out retro street bikes on sale today; the Bonnie is an attention magnet with almost universal appeal. Classic details abound in the round headlight, chrome-rich twin exhausts and simplistic tail-light, while the dual-tone paint and smart alloy wheels only add more character to the design. Triumph has even maintained the vintage look by giving the Bonnie a fake carburetor body that camouflages the fuel-injection hardware. There’s a single analogue speedometer too (with a digital display for the odo and dual tripmeters) but a tachometer isn’t part of standard equipment. Also, all Bonnevilles to date have had a common quirk - the ignition key slot is positioned beside the headlight and is inconvenient to access.