Driving report Triumph Bonneville

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Driving report Triumph Bonneville

BONNIE IN OCEAN

A comeback that has washed up: Triumph brings the legendary Bonneville back to the future, and the British kingdom is submitting land.

The ignition lock is on the front left of the headlight, the choke is on the lower left of the carburetor. Electric starts? right hand. The rain comes straight from above. In very considerable quantities. Place of the event: Oxford, England. It’s the end of October. Autumn. A huge storm raged over the Empire while Triumph launched the new Bonneville.
The NEW BONNEVILLE, yes. A splendid example of early Christian mechanical engineering. A tight 205 kilograms dry weight. 790 cm3. Two-cylinder through and through, extremely sentimental. Quotes the pioneering spirit of the wild 50s ?? when a daring Texan named Johnny Allen thundered over the dry salt lakes of Bonneville / USA on his methanol-fired 650 twin-cylinder Triumph at 344 km / h. The strict FIM never officially recognized the record, but the civil-bourgeois speed faction ran into Triumph and wanted a superbike all the time.
And got ?? s. In 1959. In the form of the T120. Surname ?? logical: Bonneville. Two cylinders, two carburettors, 650 cc, 46 hp and 177 km / h. “The best motorcycle in the world” was the headline of the British. They called her Bonnie ?? the Greta Garbo of the two-wheeler scene. Entire generations longed for her. When the last curtain fell on Triumph in 1983, the name Bonneville was still on the program. And today, ten years after the resumption of production, the old lady is celebrating her comeback. On the outside largely natural, on the inside enormously rejuvenated. Camshafts instead of push rods, balance shafts instead of vibrations. Oil cooler, fuel preheating, secondary air system, U-Kat. Pop meets classic.
The wide legs of my hurricane-tested rain suit get tangled with the thick rubber footrests of the modern Bonnie. Not cool. Extremely uncool. But when looking for a side stand or ground contact, little people can hardly find a way past the powerful outriggers. The 775 millimeter seat height and the royal space in the box are forgiving. Court is held confidently at the wide handlebars, the handling and the faithfulness to the line of the amazingly docile mass are enjoyed.
Nominally 60 HP rule in the lower house, the meager 62 Newton meters at 3500 / min drum together and bravely fight against a very long selected secondary transmission. With moderate success. The Triumph doesn’t seem underpowered in any area, but it feels like it is expecting a huge boost at any moment. Only – nothing comes of it. During the raster search one learns to appreciate the accurately working transmission. Still no trace of the “certain something”. The Reihenzwoier is very neat, always on the politically correct tone and rejects its fundamentalist past. It comes across as too synthetic for a cult object.
Slowly but relentlessly, fate takes its course. First water ingress on the bottom of the pants. The top priority: keep breathing! Stop all unnecessary movements. Run the emergency program. Engage fifth gear, control the rest with the clutch. Goes well. The Bonneville is roped down to just above idling speed with impunity on the long belt and then pulled up again with a gentle hand. Shifts are only made when overtaking.
Next leak: on the boots. It is thanks to the sweeping crankcase that the shuffles held tight for so long. As big as Buckingham Palace, it divides the world into a front and back and provides unexpected protection in its slipstream. The Bonnie’s swimming safety is guaranteed by Bridgestone. With the BT 45 ?? one of the very few cross-ply tires suitable for the sea, but which has a big weakness for longitudinal grooves.
Between Woodstock and Broadway, my old Arai experiences his Waterloo. Stormy wind drives the spray behind the ailing visor. Have sun in my heart? you don’t drown that quickly. And the blows of the conservatively adjusted rear struts won’t kill you either. At the original Bonnie, it was about classes tougher. In addition, everything feels much worse in this lousy weather anyway, because you are stuck in the saddle cold and stiff like a toad. Think of a hot bathtub and father’s saying: When the weather is nice, everyone can drive.
M.he new triumph works in the rain because the feedback is basically right. Except for the thing with the brakes? no, no, there is no more drumming. But the free travel of the front single-pane system is definitely too long. And when the two pistons finally grab, the brake lever is almost on the handlebars. Mind you in underwater operation, with carefully chosen timid service. On the dried up salt flats of Utah, the plant would probably collapse. In any case, Johnny Allen would have come to a halt in New Yok.

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