Triumph Bonneville 350 rumours surface
Alongside rumours of a new small-capacity engine there are now rumours of a baby Bonneville on the way.
Following the news that Triumph’s small-capacity models are set to be tweaked for red tape purposes, rumours have begun to swirl that the company is planning what many would see as the most obvious move ever.
You may also like to read our Triumph Scrambler 400 X and Speed 400 review.
It wasn’t so long ago that we learned Triumph and its Indian partner, Bajaj Auto, are developing a 350cc engine to replace the one that currently powers models like the Scrambler 400 XC and the recently released Thruxton 400 (which, at present, is not available in the UK). The reason, apparently, is a need to skirt India’s Goods and Services Tax rules, which place a higher premium on 400cc models.
As we reported, it seems Triumph and Bajaj are confident that the new, even-smaller-capacity bikes will be able to produce - more or less - the same amount of power and torque as the existing models.
Triumph’s small-capacity machines have been popular both here in the UK and in India (and lots of other places), so it makes sense that it would want to continue to milk that cash cow for as long as it can. With the Royal Enfield Classic 350 drawing enough attention that even Honda is copying it, we’re not at all surprised to see Triumph turning to one of its most iconic model names to compete.
With the new 350cc engine set to arrive as soon as next year, we’d expect the Bonneville 350 can’t be too far away. We’d fully expect the new machine to carry all the styling cues of its bigger-engined siblings, the Bonneville T100 and Bonneville T120.
Although, with both of those bigger bikes not having been properly updated in a decade, this might be an opportunity for Triumph to deliver a sweeping refresh of the platform. That’s a very exciting prospect!
We’ll keep our eyes and ears open.
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
