With the young, rock-and-roll influenced demographics of the '60s looking for more thrills than a slow-rolling cruiser could offer, many turned to the 1960 Triumph Bonneville to fulfill their need for speed.
One of the great, the very great, icons of motorcycling is the Triumph Bonneville. Epitomizing the heart and soul of the sporting motorcycle, the first Bonneville was the apogee of the 1950s motorcycle.
The Bonny was the right bike, in the right place at the right time and we owe its birth to the American market. More specifically, California.
Eleven years after the end of the Second World War, Europe was still suffering the traumas of the immense conflict, with food rationing in Britain only ending in 1954. By contrast, California was in its golden period. Thousands of fit young men were back safely from the War with smiles on their faces and dollars in their pockets. There was sun, freedom and excitement in the air.
It is a fallacy, but one which is becoming an ever-stronger myth, that American servicemen came back from Europe filled with an enthusiasm for Grand Prix-style racing. In fact, they didn't, if only because there was very little chance for them to see road racing. But what they did bring back to the States was the joie de vivre of active, wealthy, well-fed young men wanting a good time.
This customer base did not want a big, heavy, dull Harley - or even worse, an Indian. The apostles of the rock 'n' roll era demanded light, fast, exciting bikes, and the one marque which ticked every box was Triumph.
Triumph's sporting interests in America were driven, certainly in the 1950s, by the demands of their Western distributor, Johnson Motors. Bill Johnson was a close friend of Edward Turner, the supremo of supremos, who ruled Triumph as a dictatorship. Johnson had a huge influence over Triumph factory policy and it was he who pressed Turner for ever-hotter road bikes.
The idea to utilize the area on the top of the tank for storage space is nothing new as the Bonneville was noted for what Melling calls its 'bread slicer parcel rack.'
In fact, the Bonneville, as the eponymous 650cc vertical Twin became known, had very little to do with the World Land Speed Record-breaking streamliner which whistled down the Bonneville Salt Flats at 214.7 mph in 1956. The "Texas Cee-gar" was a home-built effort using a Thunderbird engine, not a high-tech factory project. The road-going Bonneville was far more of a heavily upgraded Triumph T110 featuring, for the first time, a combination of a much up-rated bottom-half, hotter cams and a twin carburetor cylinder head.
As with all Edward Turner concepts, the clever bit was that the engineering was cheap and well proven. This was not a six-cylinder Honda CBX nor a Suzuki Wankel. On the contrary, Triumph understood every part of the new Bonneville from experience with previous models and they knew it would work from day one. Equally, and of critical importance for Turner, it was cheap and simple engineering. Later, this would be his downfall, but when Triumph engine man Frank Barker was working on the Bonneville concept in 1957, the received wisdom said keep the engineering simple and the tooling investment low if you wanted to make money.
Europeans and Americans had slightly different views of the new hyper sports bike. The Bonneville gave a genuine, rock solid 44 hp and this dominated the sales pitch to the American market. The power needs putting in perspective. A standard Manx Norton, capable of winning a Grand Prix, produced maybe 4 hp more than a road-going Bonny. The Bonneville was the equivalent of getting Nicky Hayden's Honda and being able to run it, legally, down to the shopping mall.
Away from the stop lights, the Bonny was simply incredible. It didn't just destroy Harleys; it reduced their owners to nervous wrecks. To be king of the stop-light dragstrip you had to have a Bonny.
The powerplant for the Triumph Bonneville was a 650cc vertical Twin with a claimed 44 hp that was only 4 horses shy of the GP-worthy Manx Norton.
In theory, Triumph's new Twin could manage 120 mph, but to do this speed a Bonny needed a lot of help in terms of meticulous engine preparation and ideal conditions. What was certain is that a Bonneville would run up to 100-plus mph regularly and reliably straight out of the box - anywhere and any time. These speeds were, again, Grand Prix territory.
The four-speed gearbox was excellent too and was complemented by a first class clutch. Ignition was by a reliable magneto, which was ideally suited to competition use.
The bike was also light at only 430 lbs which, again, helped its outstanding performance. What irked Europeans was that most of Triumph's efforts had gone into the motor. Frank Barker was a good engine man but cared little for chassis development, so the handling and braking of the new Triumph was distinctly marginal. Pressed hard, it was often a lot more demanding than just marginal and the Bonny soon developed a reputation for biting hard-riding Europeans who put much store on cornering ability.
Two years after its launch, Turner gave the Bonny an even raunchier look with the competition-type styling shown on our test bike and in doing so, produced the best of the pre-unit construction Bonnevilles.
The Triumph Bonneville was the motorcycle of choice for many a GI returning from World War II with money in their pockets and the reckless abandon of youth the sporty Bonny appealed to.
Almost 50 years on, original Bonnies are never ridden to their limit and this makes them one of the most exciting classic bikes in the world. A well restored Bonneville still has that edgy eagerness which makes it stand out as the sports bike of its generation. The motor revs freely, the power wallops in and it's down the PCH to a Beach Boys concert. Truly, as good as classic motorcycling gets.
The only downside is the breathtaking cost of an original early Bonneville. Expect to pay $15,000 for a basic early Bonneville and $10,000 more for a stunning restoration.
For more information contact:
info@robinjamesengineering.com who undertook the superb restoration of the Bonneville featured here.
What are your experiences with the Triumph Bonneville? We'd lik to hear them in the MCUSA Forum.
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