Triumph recently announced a new lineup of bikes to their Bonneville family, the throwback classically styled motorcycles that pay homage to the 1960s Bonneville models and the Cafe Racers that were born from those. It could be argued that Triumph is at least partially responsible for the Cafe Racer craze that has swept the custom motorcycle community over the last 10-years, seeing as they first came out with Bonnevilles that resembled the classics in 2001.
I’ve personally owned a Triumph Thruxton for the last five years so the new model that especially captures my attention is the new Thruxton R. Although I love my current Thruxton, which mind you is heavily customized, I’ve always felt that it was underpowered. The new Thruxton R comes with a 1200cc engine vs the 900cc found on the late models. It has a six-speed gearbox and features a lighter crank, higher-compression pistons and a unique airbox. The R model also benefits from upscale chassis components, including a Brembo front brake package, Showa Big Piston Fork, Ohlins shocks and Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa tires. This sets the expectations pretty high.
The other thing that catches my attention is the factory available kits that Triumph is offering with the new Thruxton. The most intriguing of those is the Thruxton R-specific race kit. It’s a race-only power kit for taking the R to the track. The items in the kit will be stainless headers with no catalytic converter, stainless open megaphone exhaust, race-spec cam, race-spec washable air filter, and clip-on handlebars. These should be pretty tasty additions to the Thruxton R.
If you’re in the market for a new bike and love the classic styling of cafe racers, this is one bike you seriously need to consider. Once we pick one up for the shop and get a chance to carve some canyons with it, we’ll come back with a full report.
