All Tests – Triumph Street Twin test: the little Bonneville of the 21st century – Street Twin, the conquering little Bonnie …

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Triumph Street Twin test: the little Bonneville of the 21st century

All Tests - Triumph Street Twin Test: the little Bonneville of the 21st century - Street Twin, the conquering little Bonnie ...

With its new 900 cc water-cooled engine, its neat look and its completely revised chassis, the new Triumph Bonneville Street Twin has everything to appeal to bikers looking for a real classic motorcycle, easy and pleasant.. Test.

Street Twin, the conquering little Bonnie…

By completely renewing its range of classic 2016 motorcycles with no less than five Bonneville (read and our), Triumph wants to target both young trendy bikers sensitive to the charms of neo-retro motorcycles, while continuing to seduce those nostalgic for the 60s..

If the oldest will probably turn more readily to the T120 and Thruxton of 1200 cc, the youngest seduced by the vintage spirit should certainly find their happiness on the handlebars of this Street Twin. Perfectly legitimate in the neo-retro segment as it descends from a long line of "Bonnie", this 2016 novelty becomes the gateway to the Bonneville family and intends to beat the pawn to the news, to the or – in a register slightly different – at the .

Two wheels, one motor and one handlebar

"The lines of the Bonneville are those of a motorcycle as it is spontaneously drawn", underlines Miles Perkins, head of brand management at Triumph. And it is clear that the Bonneville illustrates the motorcycle as it is immediately conceived in the collective imagination: two wheels, an engine and a handlebar..

"The target of this Street Twin is very wide, because it is an easy bike but with a lot of character.", observes Eric Pecoraro, press manager of Triumph France:"it is access to the Triumph range as was the Street Triple and according to our first observations in, older bikers who are getting back to motorcycles are more sensitive to the Bonneville T120".

Legacy obliges, Triumph worked a lot on this new "small" Bonneville intended to make discover to the greatest number of bikers the range of English motorcycles. Impossible indeed to miss with a motorcycle which bears such a name and which marked several generations of bikers since the 50s, before being reborn from its ashes in 2000 !

Relaunched in 2000 with a 790 cc engine, the Triumph Bonneville increased to 865 cc in 2006 and adopted injection two years later … which the Hinckley engine manufacturers cleverly concealed inside a cover in the form of a carburetor to maintain the illusion of a classic motorcycle (read. It is equipped with stick wheels in 2009, then comes in T100, T100 Black and Thruxton (read and our) then in three versions Newchurch, Spirit and T214 (read ), before reappearing completely revised in 2016 with two displacements (read): a 900 cc engine (Street Twin) and a 1200 cc engine (T120, T120 Black, Thruxton and Thruxton R).

"Not a single identical value"

The British engineers therefore spent more than four years developing the cycle part and the new engine of this Street Twin, basic model of the Modern Classic (neo-retro) range of the English manufacturer. Because if "in 2000 most of the Bonneville buyers were older bikers some of whom had even owned the original model, today they are still around but there are also young bikers", remarks David Lopez, chassis engineer at the Triumph research center in Barcelona (Spain).

"Between the old Bonneville and the Street Twin, we did not keep a single identical chassis value", he confides to us: the wheelbase is reduced by 45 mm (1439 mm), the angle of the steering column closes by 3 degrees (25.1 instead of 28), the chase goes from 110 at 102 mm, etc. The 18 "front wheel has been retained"so as not to lose the spirit of Bonneville".

Result: with a steering column closer to the engine – despite the presence of the radiator, which is also so well integrated into the bike that it becomes almost invisible – Triumph engineers have managed to accentuate the weight distribution on the front. (48.5% instead of 45.5%).

Thanks to the shortening of its fuel tank, the Street Twin also allows the rider to place himself further forward on the motorcycle. It thus benefits from a better feeling, closer to the front wheel and the flat handlebars, similar to those of the Speed ​​and Street Triple. Anything beneficial, in short? No, because this shorter tank is also less bulky: its capacity goes from 16 liters to a tiny 12 liters.

80 Nm of torque at 3230 rpm

On the engine side, the goal was to make it "more flexible and easier", continues David Lopez, former Spanish Sprint Championship (CEV) and European Superbike rider, now development rider at Triumph:"our key point was to reach a torque value of 80 Nm, which explains a drop in power (55 hp instead of 68 on the previous model, Editor’s note). We wanted to favor low-end torque, which was not compatible with an increase in power.".

For this purpose, the displacement was first increased by 35 cc, from 865 cc on the old Bonnie to 900 cc on the Street Twin. By the way, the dimensions of this now water-cooled engine become practically "square", with 84.6 mm of bore and 80 mm of stroke against 90 x 68 mm previously. Latest technical change aimed at promoting low revs: the vertical twin is set at 270 ° (360 ° previously), as on the version of the Bonneville or the .

Thus, the Street Twin is satisfied with a maximum power of 55 horsepower at 5,900 rpm while the 1,200 cc – the exact values ​​of which will only be communicated during the press presentation in early March, to be followed on MNC – are announced as "much more powerful".

"The maximum power is down because it was not in the specifications", note the engineers Triumph:"According to an internal study, Bonneville owners do not care about the power of their engine and some do not even know it".

Note, however, that up to 6000 revs, the power of the Street Twin would be greater than that of the old Bonneville, whose 68 hp tumble in full – but without forcing too much … – at 7500 rpm. At this stage, MNC is just hoping that Triumph has managed to introduce character into its engine, as the previous version was sorely lacking (reread in particular our).

Euro4 standard requires, this new engine announces lower polluting emissions (see technical sheet on the last page) and lower consumption (3.7 l / 100 km in mixed use according to Triumph, 4.8 l / 100 km recorded by us at the pump during this first contact carried out at a good pace on the secondary network, a few expressways and a little downtown). Service intervals are spaced from 10,000 to 16,000 km.

To us little Bonnie !

Available in red, gray and three versions of more or less metallic black, the little Bonnie is perfectly successful visually, attractive down to the smallest detail. The venerable classic from Triumph has always known how to cultivate elegance and meticulous finish and this 2016 vintage is no exception to the rule. !

It offers an excellent degree of finish that its technological leap forward (electronic ride-by-wire accelerator, anti-skating and ABS) has not altered in any way. Its classic lines hit the mark, far from more or less inspired attempts to mix the old and the modern, as some …

Its retro look is timeless, so much so that it gives the impression of having always been there with its perfectly designed engine and well highlighted by its superb black casings (chrome optional at 340 €), its speedometer unit well integrated above the front optics, its redesigned saddle which retains the classic lines at will, its LED rear light, its nicely perforated brake disc at the front, its double exhaust in brushed metal, etc..

The brake and clutch levers are both adjustable in spacing while the ignition key – coded – takes place in the center, under the large round counter (no tachometer). No more remote contact on the headlight support, the old-fashioned way: we gain in comfort what we lose in originality … Ready? On the way next page !

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