VOLUME ISSUE JANUARY , P99
O
ne must give credit where credit is due.
Triumph's Bonneville is one of the
longest-running motor vehicles of any
format, having first seen the light of day way
back in late 1958, when the T120 was shown
to the motorcycling public at the Earls Court
Bike Show and named after the Bonneville Salt
Flats, where Triumph set land-speed records.
Those heady days of land-speed-record
chases are long in the rearview mirror, Tri-
umph instead having perfectly crafted the
Bonneville into everything from a rogue
outlaw's ride in the seminal film The Wild One,
to Steve McQueen's famous fence jump on a
TR6 in The Great Escape, to being the ultimate
in modern-retro coolness under first the new
owner, John Bloor, and now his son, Nick.
As time has gone on, the Bonnie range
has swelled somewhat to five: the arrogant-
looking Bobber, classy Speedmaster, Scram-
bler 1200, T100 and two of the big daddy
120s in the base and Black editions.
For 2026, Triumph hasn't reinvented the
Bonneville brand but has given each model
subtle improvements, namely in rider aids
and ergonomics, and as part of Triumph's
biggest ever international press launch held
in Southern California at the end of 2025,
we got a chance to throw a leg over each
of them.
One big happy family, but which one is your favorite?
