Hinckley Triumph Bonneville buyer's guide/review: history, specification and riding.

"What used to be an edgy tourer back in 1959 is now, apparently,
just one step away from a free bus pass and a hip replacement..."

▲ Hinckley Bonnie Special; like the
company, it's now safely in the black:

The 2001 Bonnie set the tone, but Hinckley Triumph has since turned up the treble and the bass

▲ 2001 Bonnie; right first time out of the box,
and even more right with every revamp

2001 Triumph Bonneville

Specifications

Type: Air-cooled, DOHC, twin

Capacity: 790cc (750cc)

Bore & Stroke: 86mm x 68mm

BHP: 61@ 7400rpm

Compression ratio: 9.2:1

Transmission: 5-speed, multi-plate wet clutch

Brakes: 310mm front disc; 255mm rear disc

Electrics: 12-volt, electronic ignition

Front suspension: Telescopic, two-way damped

Rear suspension: Swinging arm with pre-load shock absorbers/dampers

Wheels: 19 x 2.5in front; 17 x 3.5in rear

Weight: 451lbs (dry)

Maximum speed: 110-114mph

Triumph Bonneville Special for 2009. Cast wheels, subtle two-tone paint scheme, and a lot of understated style

▲ 2009 Triumph Bonneville Special; first
Hinckley Bonnie with cast wheels.

Triumph Bonneville T100

▲ T100 Triumph Bonneville primary side:
clean, uncluttered, stylish.

Triumph Thruxton, loud and proud but emasculated by the legislators. Fit a Hyde big-bore kit, re-map the ignition, upgrade the brakes and fly

▲ Triumph Bonneville Thruxton; more bling
than zing, but still a good fast-ish tourer.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, the Hinckley Bonneville is quite simply a classic in its own lifetime, a bike both worthy of the Triumph badge on the tank and worth every penny of the asking price. Derided by some for being “soft”, “bland”, “gutless” and staid, the fact is that Hinckley Triumph knew exactly what they were doing when they launched the original 790cc bike back in 2000, and the company got it right first time. That’s why it’s still Triumph’s top-selling model, and will likely continue to be so for some years to come.

Built upon a formula dating back to the 1950s, the Hinckley Bonneville is a classic British sit-up-and-beg, “everyman” arrangement designed to accommodate and satisfy the maximum number of buyers whilst covering the broadest possible spectrum of motorcycle usage.

For everyone within the normal physical range, everything falls neatly to hand. The controls are light and smooth. The overall balance is good. The weight is 30-40 pounds higher than, say, that of a Meriden T140 Bonnie (circa 1980), but feels only slightly heavier. And pillions get a real saddle and (optional) grab rail and not merely an obscene perch and a pair of thumb hooks typical of so many modern velocipedes.

True, the bike may not have pushed the design envelope a single inch. But sneer ye not; the Hinckley Bonnie has made that envelope accessible and attractive to thousands of riders who otherwise might not have looked twice at a Triumph.

On the move, it gets better. The twin DOHC, 8-valve, air/oil-cooled parallel twin engine features a pair of counterbalance shafts fine-tuned to keep in check the vibes that plagued earlier T140 Bonnevilles. The 5-speed gearbox chops the power into easily digestible chunks that allow the bike to swallow endless miles of asphalt.

The brakes are, okay, hardly likely to burst a blood vessel. But they’re well within the stock performance margins and haul the bike up without fuss or drama. If you're looking to upgrade them, your first stop is Norman Hyde who can supply a fully floating front disc that will put a little extra grab at your fingertips whilst increasing feel (talk to Norman also about four pot calipers and a 902cc big bore kit).

If Triumph did anything wrong with these bikes, it's the lack of a distinct powerband “grunt” that made the (76mm x 82mm longer stroking) 44bhp T140 such dubious fun when you hit 4250 RPM. By contrast, the 61bhp Hinckley Bonnie gives you a smooth transition from zero right up to the redline topping out at a creditable 114mph – as speed-tested by Classic Bike magazine.

However, with engine-remapping, aftermarket exhausts, the removal of the rev-limiter, big bore kits, plus a huge range of go-faster accessories now available for the Hinck, you can tear up the factory performance figures and pick some more interesting numbers to suit your need for speed. Which means you can have a power band instead of a power-bland.

Most owners, however, will stick close to standard performance. And why shouldn’t they? It’s not a sports bike. It’s an all-purpose machine capable of returning 50-60mpg even when ridden hard. Country lanes and urban thoroughfares suit it perfectly (albeit with a tendency to wallow in the comfort zone on fast, bumpy bends). But you can equally tackle modern motorway mayhem and hang in there for as long as your arms can stomach the windblast—which, at 80mph, won’t be for more than a couple of hours or so (and less than that even if you’re honest with yourself).

But at more realistic speeds, the Hinckley Bonnie doesn’t bend you out of shape the way many of its up-tempo contemporaries will. And if your years are advancing a little faster than you’re comfortable with, this bike, in stock trim, will help keep that zimmer frame at bay for a few more precious seasons.

It’s affordable too. Good examples of first-of-type Hinckley Bonnies can be had for less than £2500, and even less than £2000 for more travel-worn examples. Spares and accessories are in abundance. And there are plenty of buyers ready to pick up where you leave off if it doesn’t suit. We’ve found bikes with mileages as high as almost 80,000 and beyond and still going strong.

In short, it’s a success story. And sadly there aren’t a lot of those anymore boasting a Made in Britain label.

In 2004, the Thruxton Bonnie appeared with a 10.2:1 compression ratio, hotter cams, bigger carbs and a lot to live up to. The original Thruxton Bonnies of the 1960s were, after all, 120mph trackstars capable of seeing off all but the most determined challengers. But if the Hinckley Thruxton has the looks, it also has nowhere near the heart of its illustrious predecessor. Not that it isn't a decent enough bike with a little extra pep and poke, but it's more bling than zing and, as nice as it is, it's hardly worthy of the Thruxton epithet.

Still, you can't entirely blame Hinckley for that. Give the Triumph factory enough rope and these Bonnies would be seriously cooking. But modern environmentalists are keeping the whole planet on a short leash of noise restrictions and exhaust emission, and no modern motorcycle manufacturer can do just what it wants simply because it wants to.

It's a cruel world.

In 2005 the T100 Bonnie was launched; essentially the same dish on a slightly different plate. The following year saw the launch of the 865cc engine. The extra capacity wasn't enough, but it was definitely better. By 2009, fuel injection had arrived. But you wouldn't know it by looking at the bikes because Hinckley, in its wisdom, stuck the injectors inside dummy carburettor bodies.

On the upside, you get to keep the cool-carb-cred (whatever that is). On the downside, you get a little more fakery—which is something of a sore spot with many riders in view of the fact that the Hinckley Bonnie is pretty much all fake. Call it a homage, or call it a cheesy fromage. Either way, it's a clever impostor of its predecessor complete with a fake front breather pipe masquerading as a pushrod tube, a fake timing cover mimicking the classic heart-shaped covers of another era, a fake gearbox cover covering a gearbox sprocket, and various other technical fig leaves strategically placed to hide the naked fact that this bike is not the real McCoy.

The true spiritual successor to the old Meriden Bonnies should really have been the Speed Triple. But as one Triumph dealer pointed out, you "can't have a three-cylinder Bonnie, can you?"— never mind that we've had a three cylinder Thunderbird (now a twin) and a three cylinder Daytona.

It was, incidentally, the same dealer who suggested that the "new Bonnie is so refined that your grandmother could ride it". Which, sadly, just about sums it up. What used to be an edgy tourer back in 1959 is now, apparently, just one step away from a free bus pass and a hip replacement.

So the Hinckley Bonnie is basically rubbish, huh? Hardly. For all the fromage, it's still a great bike and gets better every year. The styling is good. The build quality is good. The ergonomics are good. The rideability is good. The reliability is good. It's all just ... well, good. Grandmother good. And the entry price is right at somewhere around £5400 new (June 2009 prices).

Moreover, there are new variants popping up all the time along with an increasing range of quality aftermarket goodies, which is always the sign of a successful product.

Recently we enjoyed a 350 mile one-day-blast on one of these and couldn't find anything to fault, except perhaps that extra oomph needed to decisively pass fast-moving traffic on the M1.

There was measurable stretch in our arms from hanging onto the cow-horn bars at 80-plus for 150 or so miles, which is where the Thruxton, with its dropped 'bars and rear sets, comes into its own. There was a smooth, effortless glide through Central London on the final leg with a lot of wowsing interest from pedestrians and passing traffic. But there wasn't a single rebellious moment the whole way—and certainly nothing that made us feel young again.

Instead, it was all about as safe as a straightjacket and a padded cell (which is both its strength and weakness), and fuel consumption was impressive at around 52-56mpg
—which is exactly the target that Hinckley is aiming at. The average age of a "new Bonnie" customer is, after all, said to be around fifty. Of course, a modern fifty isn't the same as the worn-out, beaten-up, tuberculosis fifty of yesteryear. But that figure nevertheless tells you more about this bike than any Triumph sales brochure or salesman can.

Would we buy one? Maybe. And certainly there's little else in its class to seriously consider, except perhaps the Kawasaki W650 and the Harley Sportster, both of which are competitively priced and have their pros and cons. The Kawasaki, for instance, has more plausible/convincing retro credentials, but the badge on the tank is never gonna make you the leader of the pack. The Harley, meanwhile, has a fantastic aftermarket spares back up and an ready-to-ride image straight out of the box.

And then there's the new fuel-injected Royal Enfield, of course. But although Enfield has done a remarkable job in pulling the Bullet into the 21st century, it's not quite in the Bonnie's class. Moreover, the Enfield is in danger of pricing itself out of the market now that it's no longer the cheap and cheerful Indian take away that it used to be.

So it's back to Triumph.

But if it's teenage kicks you're looking for, try the Triumph Speed Triple or Daytona. However, if you're too old to be bold and would rather act your age, you're going to be in good company on the Hinckley Bonnie.

It's a modern classic.