Featured Triumph Bonneville At 60: The Bike That Nearly Wasn't

I just saw this very interesting article on an e-mail I received from RideApart. Thought lots of folks in The Triumph Forum would enjoy it!

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/383731/triumph-bonneville-motorcycle-sixtieth-anniversary/

 

Here's one of those 1959 Bonnie's in Tangerine, the color that didn't fly according to the RideApart article.

Initially offered in Tangerine, American customers at the time hated that color and left them languishing on showroom floors. In fact, many were still available for purchase as new bikes for 1960. As a result, that color was quickly phased out in favor of a Royal Blue that was regarded as more appropriate for the time. As Falloon writes, those 1959 Tangerine ones later became highly sought-after, despite the initial ugly duckling factor.

 

Hey, half ton. maybe RideApart got it wrong??

 

Nice little history lesson Sandi.

 

I enjoyed reading that bit of Triumph history, too, Wessa! I like knowing the history behind my vices, er, motorcycles.

 

Agreed, I have a number of classic motorcycle bike books that map the history of various bikes across the world. Always good to review every now and then or to use a reference point for bikes.

 

The first Bonnie was the 1959 model. That article is correct.

 

They must have got overly excited!! There is just a chance that the bike was developed in '58 and one or two escaped early, but I'm certain that it was first released for sale in 1959.

 

They must have got overly excited!! There is just a chance that the bike was developed in '58 and one or two escaped early, but I'm certain that it was first released for sale in 1959. I will stand correction if that is the case.

 

Sandi T.
Thanks for the info. I think home market was 59 other markets followed later. But a great story.
Regards
Joe.

 

Known as the Tangerine Dream 59 was the first Bonneville year although production commenced on the 4th of Sept 58 with the first T120 having the number 020377.

 

Very nice article. I do love my history!

 

What model years are your bikes, Joe??

 

You don't sound very certain Darkman

 

Always a grey area as a lot of information can be very misleading, there are still debates going on to this day over many figures given by people over the years as no one person/archive holds every set of books/records collectively from the Triumph factory so you end up with misleading figures, a few very dedicated people that i know have over the last few years gone to great lengths to study and cross reference records held by others that clearly show many quoted figures to be wrong and history is being rewritten with this hard work being put in.

 

That's a fascinating post Darkman.
The one thing that could never be a grey area is that the tangerine dream looks absolutely stunning, I'd love to be in a position to own one.

 

For the serious restorer/collector it's becoming ever more important today to make sure the bike you are building/buying is correct with prices going the way they are, i spent years looking for the T120 TT special project i'm doing with the correct numbers as there are so any fake bikes out there as its easy money for the dodgy dealers out there to make big money with the more desirable/rare models that Triumph made by selling so called original bikes with numbers that have clearly been restamped and all to often very badly.

 

Sandi T
The spirit of 59 is 2018 the other 2010. The old bonnie was 1976.
Regards
Joe.

 

The BSA Rocket Gold Star is a classic example of the above. Replicas abound and are (for some) affordable.
The genuine article is much rarer and considerably more expensive.

 

Thanks for the update, Joe! So did you get that Spirit of 59 helmet to go with your bike??