Years sold: 10 (2001-present)
MSRP new: $6699 (2001) to $8899 (2010)
Blue Book retail value: $3235 (2001) to $7590 (2010)
Basic specs: A standard-style parallel-Twin in either 790cc or 865cc displacements making horse power in the fifties, torque in the forties and posting quarter-mile times in the high- to mid-13-second bracket.
Why it won: Though this modern reincarnation of the legendary Bonneville has sold well and won countless diehard fans around the world, it has never managed to win a CW Ten Best Award. It seemed to be star-crossed in that regard, because any time it was a contender, it always got edged out by some other bike in its category that had just a little more of something special going for it. But that does not diminish the character or excellence of these machines, which combine the experience of riding a timeless classic with the quality and reliability of modern technology.
The first “new” Bonneville was a 790cc carbureted model that arrived in 2001 as the sole Twin in the company’s lineup. The model spread to three variations in 2002, four in ’03 and five in ’04, including one, the Speedmaster, having its displacement bumped up to 865cc. In 2007, all six of the parallel-Twin models got the larger engine, and by 2008, the line had expanded to eight fuel-injected models. No, they all are not called Bonneville, but they are close variations based on the same engine and basic chassis design.
Useful resources: If you type “Triumph Bonneville” into your browser’s search engine, you’ll come up with about a gazillion entries—clubs, forums, road tests, parts and accessories, for-sale classifieds, hop-up equipment, you name it. Many of those sites are devoted to the original Bonneville, of course, but you’ll likely find just about anything imaginable on-line related to the new-gen Bonnies.
