All’s well in the engine room then, if a little too polite as standard to stir any base emotions. The gearbox is similarly efficient, the shift action nicely light and swift and thankfully without the sloth-like, heavy industry feel of many cruiser gearboxes. The end result is undoubtedly an unobtrusive road buddy – no vibes, little or no induction or exhaust noise at speed, a mere 3000rpm on the tacho at 70mph in top – but it’s a little underwhelming too, with a flat delivery (intentionally, Triumph say) and power enough (a claimed 85bhp at just under 5000rpm the redline’s at 6500rpm) to pull the bike’s mass around convincingly. Fuel injected, with four valves-per-cylinder, two balance shafts, a hushed belt final drive and a central camchain, the motor’s been developed to strike that elusive balance between “soul” and refinement, a task Warburton insists was “as difficult as it is to get performance out of a sportsbike engine”. The engine itself is physically enormous, displacing 1597cc and boasting such vast castings your left leg actually ends up fouling it on its way to the footpeg. The Euro 4 and 5 standards will be with us within a decade and, after designing it from scratch, we want this engine to be with us for a while yet,” explains Triumph’s Simon Warburton. “We never really considered a V-twin or air-cooling – Triumph is synonymous with the parallel twin and honestly, we think it’s going to be very difficult to get an air-cooled engine to meet upcoming emissions regulations. Triumph may have Harley buyers in their crosshairs but their latest offering is no unthinking clone. Yep, you heard that right – parallel twin. Meaty swingarm pivot plates and plenty of triangulation further boost rigidity, as does the all-new engine, a bespoke, purpose-built monolith of a parallel twin. Key to this handling integrity is a serious-looking frame that’s visibly more rigid than the usual cruiser effort, with large-diameter steel tubes running between investment cast joints and the cast headstock. Triumph Bonneville: The British legend through the ages
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