Triumph Bonneville Speed Twin Concept

It’s not often that an independently designed concept gets the thumbs up, let alone engineering support, from a vehicle manufacturer. But when British designers Roy Norton and Tom Kasher told Triumph Product Manager Simon Warburton their idea for a modern interpretation for the old-school Triumph Bonneville, that’s exactly what happened.The Triumph Bonneville Speed Twin Concept started out with a Triumph-donated Bonneville frame, which was then heavily modified to fit the bike’s new dimensions. Up front the telescopic forks were swapped out for a neat looking girder setup, while the bodywork features simple classic lines, but also the cleaner details of more modern bikes. The concept was developed with the help of Barbour Outdoor Clothing, and as such the seat fabric and hand grips are both upholstered in the company’s fabrics.When researching the styling for the Triumph Bonneville Speed Twin Concept, the designers made several visits to the legendary Ace Cafe London, where they spent time looking over a multitude of cafe racers, assorted retro bikes, and classic Triumphs. The bike is designed around Triumph’s 865cc air-cooled parallel twin engine, and although it’s just a life-size model at the moment, all the packaging and design has been worked out to ensure there would be no engineering, manufacturing or homologation issues.Personally I think it’s a stunning looking piece of machinery. My only (very minor) complaint is the cloth bandage wrapped around the exhaust – which kinda makes it look like it has a permanently broken arm.