Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Triumph’s Bonneville is one of the longest running motor vehicles of any format, having first seen the light of day way back in late 1958 when the T120 was shown to the motorcycling public at the Earls Court Bike Show, and was named after the Bonneville Salt Flats where Triumph set land speed records.
Thos heady days of land speed record chases are long in the rear vision mirror, Triumph instead having perfectly crafted the Bonneville into everything from a rogue outlaw’s ride in the seminal film The Wild One, to Steve McQueen’s famous fence jump on a TR6 in The Great Escape, to being the ultimate in modern retro coolness under first the new owner John Bloor and now his son, Nick.
As time has gone on the Bonnie range has swelled somewhat to five—the arrogant looking Bobber, classy Speedmaster, Scrambler 1200, T100 and two of the big daddy 120s in the base and Black editions.
For 2026, Triumph hasn’t reinvented the Bonneville brand but has given each model subtle improvements, namely in rider aids and ergonomics, and as part of Triumph’s biggest ever international press launch held in Southern California at the end of 2025, we got a chance to throw a leg over each of them.
Triumph’s Bonneville is one of the longest running motor vehicles of any format, having first seen the light of day way back in late 1958 when the T120 was shown to the motorcycling public at the Earls Court Bike Show, and was named after the Bonneville Salt Flats where Triumph set land speed records.
Thos heady days of land speed record chases are long in the rear vision mirror, Triumph instead having perfectly crafted the Bonneville into everything from a rogue outlaw’s ride in the seminal film The Wild One, to Steve McQueen’s famous fence jump on a TR6 in The Great Escape, to being the ultimate in modern retro coolness under first the new owner John Bloor and now his son, Nick.
As time has gone on the Bonnie range has swelled somewhat to five—the arrogant looking Bobber, classy Speedmaster, Scrambler 1200, T100 and two of the big daddy 120s in the base and Black editions.
For 2026, Triumph hasn’t reinvented the Bonneville brand but has given each model subtle improvements, namely in rider aids and ergonomics, and as part of Triumph’s biggest ever international press launch held in Southern California at the end of 2025, we got a chance to throw a leg over each of them.
