After a year with the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, it was time for an upgrade. Since about two weeks I am the happy owner of a new Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster - or simply "Bonnie", as it is affectionately called under Triumph Bonneville Riders.

Speedmaster - master of speed, that's actually not a fitting name for a cruiser. And it clearly is, even though Triumph lists her as a "Modern Classic" in its model range. The first Speedmaster, the Bonneville T 120 R from 1965, which was named by the American importer, was also more of a superbike than a cruiser according to the terminology of the time. However, the Speedmaster, which was presented in 2002 with an air-cooled engine, successfully established the connection between the name and the cruiser style, so that its brand-new successor (since 2018) with the water-cooled 1200 Twin now also continues a remarkably long tradition. Its engine complies with the HT specification of the OHC twin cylinder, which powers all Triumph Classic models at 900 and 1200 cc. HT stands for "high torque", i.e. high torque at low revs as opposed to the "high power" engine of the sporty Thruxton. The pleasantly pulsating in-line two-cylinder engine with 270 degree ignition offset fully meets the requirement of pulling the chain even at moderate engine speeds. Even when the revs dropped to around 2000/min while strolling through the small town of Carlsbad, a hearty twist of the throttle was enough to get going again with an impressive roar of exhaust. The fact that the throttle valves are not operated mechanically but electrically, i.e. not necessarily analogous to the angle of rotation at the throttle grip, is not noticeable. In the "Road" driving mode, the specifications made by the driver with his right hand are directly implemented. This applies less to the rain mode, but in the end the full power of 77 hp is available in both modes.

The Bonnie Speedmaster is actually the “big brother” of the Bonneville Bobber - simply with two seats, yet I have removed the second seat at the moment. With the black cover plate it looks more Bobber-like and in my opinion quite cool. The brown, quilted rider seat is optional and looks nicer than the original black seat, especially in combination with the black & white tank with the hand-painted gold stripes.

The following pictures were taken with a Fujifilm X-Pro 3 and the XF 56mm f 1.4 I used a version of the film simulation Classic Negativ which I adapted and edited in Capture One 20.