Words by Ganesh Murthy
Following the award winning Bonneville Bobber’s terrific success worldwide when launched in 2016, the British motorcycle manufacturer based out of Leicestershire is giving a reason for enthusiasts to cheer, by launching the new Bonneville Bobber Black. Here’s a brief outlook of the Triumph Bonneville Bobber’s list of features and tech savvy equipment.
As the name suggests, the Bonneville bobber black comes in black, with two options – jet black and matt jet black. Every chunk of metal that meets the eye in this elegant design is black – like the black painted exhaust, anodized brake pedal, gear lever, gear linkage, anodized brake and clutch levers and a lot of other black bits. Just what the dark knight ordered then. It has a muscular and aggressive stance, authentic custom style, handcrafted unique detailing, and wide flat handlebar with broad adjustable levers, sculpted tank and even more features packed in that goes with the Bobbers history.
The engine is identical to the standard Bonneville Bobber. At the heart of the motorcycle is a 1200cc liquid cooled 8 valve SOHC 270° crank angle parallel twin engine that churns out a max power of 76bhp at 6100rpm and max torque of 104Nm at 4000rpm. It sports a multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection tech and all the hot rod sound is made with black straight line twin skin – slash cut twin stubby silencers. Power is transmitted via a 6-speed gearbox that features a wet multiplate clutch with torque assist. The chassis of the motorcycle is a tubular steel twin cradle frame with twin sided steel fabricated swing arm.
The motorcycle sits on a 16-inch wire spoke wheels and fatter 130/90 B16 Avon tyres up front (the standard Bobber gets 100/90s up front) and 150/80 R16 Avon tyres at the rear. Bringing the motorcycle to a stop is done by twin 310mm discs (the standard Bobber gets a single 310mm disc) at the front and a single 255mm disc at the rear. Front suspension is a 47mm Showa forks with 90mm of travel. The rear has a monoshock suspension with linkage that has a 77mm travel and is neatly tucked away, giving the highlighting the hard tail look of the motorcycle. The motorcycle has a distinctive swing cage complementing the hard tail look and the rider sits low at 690mm giving easy access.
The Bobber Black comes with a lot of engineering innovations like floating aluminium seat pan, adjustable riding position, under seat monoshock suspension, ride by wire tech, trip computer, full LED lighting including a LED DRL headlight and single button cruise control. It has a long list of features that is aimed to make a rider centric ergonomics and fatigue free experience. Not to forget some of the most tech laden safety features one can ask in a motorcycle like ABS, switchable traction control, torque assist clutch, two different riding modes (rain and road), immobilizer, etc. which are a standard equipment in the machine.
It isn’t certain that the Bobber Black will make it to India, but if it does, it will come here in 2018 and will be the first of the Black Bonnevilles to make it to the country.