Thought you were through with seeing new Triumphs built around water-cooled Bonneville parallel twin? All indications suggest the British firm is a long way from finished.
With three versions of the engine available – the 900cc ‘High Torque’ of the Street Twin, 1200cc ‘High Torque’ of the Bonneville T120 and 1200cc ‘High Power’ unit in the Thruxton – and three different styles of bike on sale already, with several more to come, the temptation to mix-and-match is clear to see. Now Triumph has filed trademark applications for the name ‘Speed Twin’ leaving little doubt another combination is on its way.
Clearly Triumph is keen to reclaim a name that has ties to the company dating back to 1937 when the original 500cc Speed Twin was launched and the current range hints at what a new Speed Twin could be like.
So just as the Speed Triple is basically a larger version of the Street Triple, the Speed Twin may well be a large version of the Street Twin. It makes sense. The Street Twin is less overtly retro than the Bonneville T120, with more subtly modern looks, less chrome and cast wheels instead of wires.
At the moment, the Bonneville T120 and Street Twin are also separated by their performance thanks to the 300cc capacity difference that leads to the Bonneville outperforming the Street Twin to the tune of 59kW vs 40.5kW. However, next year there will also be a 900cc, 40.5kW Bonneville T100 using the smaller engine, which suggests the idea of making a Street Twin with the larger motor must also be in the plans. And the Speed Twin name would be the obvious choice for such a machine.
By Ben Purvis