Description
By: Steve Wilson .
The Triumph Bonneville has been one of motorcycling's most enduring Great British icons. The name comes from the glaring salt flats of Utah where a streamlined, twin-cylinder, twin-carburettor 650 Triumph captured the World Speed Record at 214.47mph in 1956. Then, for 1959, came the big, bad T120 Bonneville, the Ayatollah of rock'n'roll - the bike that would leave stains on the soul (and sometimes the laundry) of a rebel generation.
In all, 300,000 'classic' Bonnies were built, from the original 'Tangerine Dream' pre-unit to the 'earthquake-maker' T120TT American track racer of the sixties and the commercially disastrous oil-in-frame 'tall trouble' Bonnie of 1971.
In this book Steve Wilson lovingly yet realistically details the boss Triumph's development, with the widest spread of models captured in dedicated top-class colour photography. The thoroughly researched and readable text includes reminiscences from experienced dealers, tuners and riders as well as rockers and restoration experts who flesh out the bones of the story.
This is a legend that has come to life again with the modern Hinckley Triumph's successful, retro-styled 790/865cc Bonneville twins. In this second edition, a full new chapter details the evolution of the Hinckley Bonnevilles.
So stand by to rekindle the glory days, when leather boys took it to the limit on the North Circular, and Bonnies smoked off hot rods and Harley Sportsters down in the parking lot of the local diner.
Steve Wilson is a leading classic bike journalist and author of the definitive six-volume British Motorcycles since 1950. Photographer Garry Stuart is a world-renowned freelance who has contributed to all the major motorcycle publications in the UK, USA and beyond.
