Here’s another Triumph cafe racer special, this time in the form of a Bonneville cafe racer from Fabio in Italy. It’s unusual to see this kind of bike in Italy, as the Italians generally go for scooters or sports bikes and nothing in between. In fact, our colleagues are saying it could be an age thing or the desire to have a bike that’s different to all the others on the roads, but these kind of Triumph cafe racers are becoming more appealing (although this one is perhaps a little less refined than other examples we’ve seen).

Bonneville special cafe

Source | Motoblog.it

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The 2010 Triumph model year includes some of your favourites from the Speed Triple to the Street Triple and the Bonneville 50th Anniversary Edition. Below you’ll find a 2010 Triumph gallery and a video showing all the models for the new year. Coming up, we’ll have more videos of the Triumph Sprint ST 1050 and the Daytona 675, too.

Continue reading: 2010 Triumph model range gallery

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These vintage Yamaha catalogues show the Yamaha XS1 650 presented at the Tokyo show back in 1969, the Yamaha XS 650 F from 1970-1971, and the Yamaha XS 650 C from 1976. They were the first big cylinder Yamaha four-strokes, with the XS1 650 originally modelled on the world famous Triumph Bonneville. Bikes have come a long way since then, but motorcycle lifestyle advertising is still quite similar, when you think about it…

Vintage Yamaha brochures

Source | Racing Cafe

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The Triumph Rocket III Roadster is live at the EICMA show, along with other models from the Triumph range. The Speed Triple Special is on display, complete with its extensive range of accessories, including Ohlins suspension, special alloy wheels, PVM disc brakes and callipers, Arrow exhaust and texalium fairing with special colour scheme.

The Bonneville Sixty limited edition is also at the Triumph stand, along with the Bonneville Tag Heuer and Speed Triple SE twin-tone livery. For 2010 the Triumph Thunderbird cruiser will have two new “premium” limited edition colours: Phantom Blue Haze and Phantom Red Haze.

Triumph live at EICMA 2009

Continue reading: Triumph stand live at EICMA: Rocket III Roadster and Speed Triple Special

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These pics come from Ralph in London and show his 2003 Bonneville Streetracker built by Mule motorcycles in San Diego. The bike is equipped with a 904cc engine, 595 forks and a handmade alloy fuel tank holding just seven litres of fuel. It also has 19-inch dirt track wheels and recently won the Triumph of the Year at the Ace Cafe.

Check out the Mule Motorcycles website for more information on Richard Pollock’s bikes and some lovely photos, too. Thanks for the pics, Ralph! Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

Triumph Bonneville Streetracker

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This lovely understated tuning on the Triumph Bonneville gives it a little more character, and a whole lotta new sound (see the video after the jump). The handlebars are lowered, the front mudguard has been removed and the rear mudguard has been designed and built by hand, with a dedicated taillight.

Other features are the Thruxton seat and “Blunt” exhaust terminals made by Bruce Sinclair, who is the owner of this Triumph Bonneville. The only further modification has been the use of Matt Black paint, rather than shiny black.

The reason for the change in exhaust is that, according to Sinclair, the Bonnevilles of today don’t sound like the real Bonnevilles of the past. He designed smaller exhaust outlets, built with pieces of originals, to give more of a 60’s sound. He has certainly managed that! Check out the video below.

Continue reading: Custom Triumph Bonneville

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Describing the trend towards retro bikes as the “vintage boom”, Motorcycle USA tries out the Triumph Bonneville and Ducati GT1000 Touring, as brands such as these capitalise on the nostalgia associated with 60’s and 70’s motorcycling.

The Triumph Bonneville is the flag bearer of classic retro styling for this company, while Ducati’s SportClassic line is the added Italian option if you want a Ducati and not a Moto Guzzi. As the magazine says though, it’s not just about the look.

This is 2009 after all, so a “vintage” ride must function in a very un-vintage-like manner with an electric start, fuel injection, fiery motor, dependable brakes, sporty handling and near maintenance-free reliability.

Triumph Bonneville SE 2009

Continue reading: Triumph Bonneville vs Ducati GT1000 Touring

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This video celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Triumph Bonneville. In a little piece of British history, MCN takes the 2009 Special Edition Bonneville for a tour around Hinkley to explore some of the history that makes the Bonneville part of the UK’s motorcycling tradition.

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The 2009 Triumph range features this special edition Bonneville. The Bonneville SE has a 70’s look and instrumentation complete with tachometer, chrome features on the tank and brushed alluminium carter. The SE is available in black or twin colours Pacific Blue and Fusion White.

The twin-cylinder 865cc engine is air cooled with direct injection. Maximum torque is 69 Nm at 5,800 rpm, with 67 hp at 7,500 rpm. The brushed metal carter is standard, and the SE comes equipped with 17-inch alloy wheels for smooth handling.

The Bonneville SE seat is 25 mm lower than the previous model and together with a modified riding position, gives a more relaxed and easy ride. The twin cradle, alloy tube frame is robust and the steering has been adapted for greater control at high speeds. Dry weight is 200kg, and the price is 8,800 euros, with 200 euro more required for the twin colour version.

Triumph Bonneville SE 2009

Source | Motosblog.fr

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The Great Escape 2 from Wes Siler on Vimeo.

In the words of motorcycle stunt rider, Steve Colley, in attempting to recreate Bud Ekins’ (or Steve McQueen’s) famous motorcycle jump from the Great Escape: “What they lacked in equipment, they sure made up for with balls. Wow!” (Colley could have tried it with a helmet, though).

The Times newspaper of the UK decided to recreate the jump using a similar machine to the Triumph apparently used in the film: in this case a Metisse Desert Racer. It all appears to be in the name of resolving a controversy over whether the jump was attempted with a standard factory-built Triumph as Bud Ekins claimed.

But what’s there to prove, anyway? As one reader on Hell for Leather Magazine says, “If Bud said they got a Triumph Bonneville to run on salad dressing and walk on water I would be inclined to believe him.”

Source | Hell for leather magazine, from The Times

Video | Vimeo.com

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If you could think of the fatest road bike on record, it probably wouldn’t take much to come up with the Ducati Desmosedici RR. Such that New Zealand businessman, Paul Heard, has decided to beat 311km/hr in the seat of the lovely Borgo Panigale gem.

He won’t just be doing it on an anonymous highway in New Zealand though, as riding a Desmosedici RR takes style; and so Heard and his team have organised a world tour for the effort.

The trip will depart from Featherston in South Wairarapa on November 9, where the first attempt will take place, to then travel to Dubai, Bahrain, and South Africa. After a stop back in New Zealand in December, Heard will continue in 2009 until the Speedweek in August at Bonneville. The stops will see our protagonist attempt to break each national speed record, and an overall world record.

As Heard says: “I will use the Ducati around the world to beat the 1000cc class speed records, and I hope to beat 311km/hr which is the current world record for this kind of bike. If everything goes according to plan, by next August I will have achieved at the speed record in at least 10 different countries.”

An ambitious plan!

Source | Visor Down

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A few days after the presentation in England, we now have the first official shots of the Modern Classic & Cruiser twin cylinder m.y 2009.

All the news has been included including Bonneville, Bonneville SE, Bonneville T100, Thruxton, Scrambler, America and Speedmaster.

Starting with the Bonneville we have 865 cc, 67hp and a black engine with a 70’s look. For the SE options such as the brushed finish for the carter is are available, which for the T100 we have a more 1960’s look with chrome carters.

Continue reading: 2009 Triumph Modern Classic and Cruiser

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