1965 Triumph T120C Motorcycle

Description

The Bonneville T120R was famous motorcycle engineer Edward Turner’s last new design and it came to fruition too late to be included in Triumph’s 1959 catalogue. This first-generation Bonneville, named for the salt flats in Utah where Triumph and others set speed records endured until 1983, which is a very long production life for a motorcycle (or car for that matter). It was powered by Turner’s much-revered 650cc parallel twin engine and even the earliest examples could achieve 115 miles per hour. The T120C Competition Sports was introduced as a cross-country variant of the T120R US Triumph Bonneville, based on a specification derived from the Trophy competition bikes which had achieved widespread success during the Fifties. These scramblers were fitted with high pipes and less restrictive, smaller mufflers; a crankcase undershield; and Dunlop Trials Universal tyres. Some historians regard the Triumph Bonneville as the world’s most famous motorcycle.