1961 Triumph Bonneville T120R 650cc Motorcycle

Description

With origins dating back to 1902, Triumph established a long and proud tradition of building powerful and rapid motorcycles.  It wasn’t until the Thirties that Triumph, under new ownership, began to build a series of truly successful machines, beginning with the Tiger range of singles and moving on to the Speed Twins in 1937.  The Bonneville, launched at the 1958 Earls Court Motor Show, was a development of the Tiger and featured a twin carburettor 650cc engine housed in a single downtube frame.  Named after the famed Bonneville Salt Flats where Johnny Allen set records aboard the famous “Texas Cigar” streamliner earlier in the Fifties, the Bonnie established itself as the fastest production motorcycle of the era and went on to become an all-time classic.  Addressing the controversial styling of the original T120, Triumph came up with an entirely new look for 1960, starting with a redesigned “duplex” frame with twin front downtubes, a new QD headlamp and slimmer mudguards, along with various mechanical improvements including an AC alternator in place of the old DC dynamo.  Fewer changes were made in 1961, mostly confined to strengthening the frame and changing the rear wheel and tyre size, along with a new Sky Blue and Silver Sheen.  The Bonnie remained the most powerful, fastest and desirable bike in Triumph’s catalogue for over a decade, with numerous variants offered for sale along the way.  Sadly, inroads by the Japanese, along with the general complacency of the British motorcycle industry, saw the formation of the Norton-Villiers-Triumph conglomeration that year.  Such were the protests against shifting production from Meriden to the BSA factory in Birmingham that a co-operative was established in March 1975 to resume manufacture of the Bonneville at the traditional home of Triumph.  This, too, ultimately proved futile and the doors closed at Meriden for the final time in 1983, ending a proud chapter in British motorcycling history.