Triumph T120 Bonneville Bobber motorcycle 1969 photo photograph

Description

A superb and rare photo of the
Triumph 1969 T120 Bonneville "Bobber"
.
The
Bonneville name
came from the achievements of Texas racer Johnny Allen on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. In September 1955, Allen had achieved a two-way average speed of 193.3 mph (311 km/h) on his special motorcycle the "Devil's Arrow", a 650 cc twin-cylinder Triumph engine fuelled by methanol in a unique 'streamliner' fairing. Allen's speed was ratified as a record by the American Motorcycle Association but not by the world authority, the FIM, as no official observers were present. German motorcycle firm NSU took the record the following year, so Allen and his team returned to Bonneville in September 1956 and won it back with an average speed of 214.17 mph (344 km/h). The FIM also refused to accept this as a world record but Triumph gained much needed publicity from the legal dispute that followed. After the Bonneville T120 had been named in recognition of Allen's records, other Triumph-engined motorcycles went faster still on the Salt Flats. In 1962 Bill Johnson set a two-way average of 230.269 mph (370.5 km/h) over a measured mile, riding a 667 cc 'streamliner' whose design was based on the American X-15 rocket plane. In 1966 Detroit Triumph dealer Bob Leppan raised the record to 245.66 mph (395.3 km/h) with his 'Gyronaut X-1', powered by two 650 cc Triumph engines. For the next few years, Triumph fitted Bonneville roadsters with "World's Fastest Motorcycle" stickers.
The
Triumph Bonneville T120
was built by Triumph Engineering Co Ltd between 1959 and 1972, when the engine size was increased to 750 cc (46 cu in). The Bonneville T120 was Edward Turner's last production design at Triumph(in retirement Turner designed the Triumph Bandit/BSA Fury which did not pass the prototype stage before BSA went under). The new motorcycle was conceived and developed by Doug Hele and Brian Jones so quickly that it wasn't even included in the 1959 Triumph catalogue. With a 649 cc (39.6 cu in) parallel-twin (two-cylinder) engine the T120 was based on the Triumph Tiger 110 and was fitted with the Tiger's optional twin 1 3/16 in Amal monobloc carburettors as standard, along with that model's high-performance inlet camshaft. Launched in 1959 by Triumph as "The Best Motorcycle in the World", the Bonneville T120 was aimed mainly at the lucrative US market where enthusiasts were demanding extra performance. Initially produced with a pre-unit construction engine which enabled the bike to achieve 115 mph (185 km/h) without further modification, the power tended to induce high speed wobbles from the single downtube frame, so in 1963 a unit construction model was introduced which was stiffer and more compact, including additional bracing at the steering head and swinging arm. The steering angle was altered and improved forks were fitted a couple of years later, which, together with the increased stiffness enabled overall performance to match that of the Bonneville's rivals. Later T120 Bonnevilles used a new frame which contained the engine oil instead of using a separate tank; this became known as the oil in frame version. In 1968 the T120 gained a new and more reliable ignition system, but by 1972 competition from larger-capacity motorcycles led to the T120 being replaced by the 750 cc Bonneville T140. The T120 Bonneville also knew various export models; like the Triumph T120R Bonneville, an export model intended for the US market with higher-rise handlebars and a smaller fuel tank; the T120C – 'competition' model with high-level exhaust pipes. The Triumph T120TT Bonneville was a 1964 model of the T120C for the US East Coast. In 1968 Evel Knievel jumped the Caesar's Palace Casino fountains on a Bonneville T120TT, and was seriously injured breaking many bones after losing control on landing. The Triumph T120RT Bonneville was a special 750cc model manufactured by Triumph's American arm to permit them to be used in American Motorcycle Association production-based racing events. To qualify, motorcycles had to be made and sold to the public in the same form as they would be raced. Triumph had to produce and sell at least 200 of them before they qualified, and although the exact number sold is not recorded they did meet the requirement. The T120 won the Production Isle of Man TT in 1967 and 1969. The re-introduction of the Production TT had just taken place in 1967 when John Hartle took first place on his Bonneville. Three years later Triumph set a new landmark in TT history when Malcolm Uphill averaged 100 mph (160 km/h) around the Mountain Course on a Bonneville. Uphill’s achievement was the first time that a production motorcycle had ever passed the three-figure mark from a standing start. Following Uphill's record the Dunlop K81 tyres he was using were renamed 'TT100's. n 1962 Tony Godfrey and John Holder rode T120 Bonnevilles to victory in the Thruxton 500 mile endurance race, and an article in The Motor Cycle entitled "Thruxton Triumph by Bonneville" led to the development of the Triumph T120R 'Thruxton', which was hand-built by a team of Triumph technicians using specially picked components and precision-machined cylinder heads and crankcases. Peak power was increased and each 'Thruxton' engine was bench tested to deliver around 53 bhp (40 kW) at 6,800 rpm with a safe rev ceiling of 7,200 rpm. Only around 55 Thruxton T120Rs were built and surviving examples are rare. In 1969, Bonneville T120s achieved the first three places in the Thruxton 500. Percy Tait and Malcolm Uphill finished first in the Thruxton 500, ahead of two other Triumph T120Rs.
Triumph Motorcycles
was originally based in Coventry. A new company in Hinckley took over the name rights after the collapse of the company in the 1980s. The company began in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann emigrated to Coventry in England from Nuremberg, part of the German Empire. In 1884 aged 20, Bettmann founded his own company, the S. Bettmann & Co. Import Export Agency, in London. Bettmann's original products were bicycles, which the company bought and then sold under its own brand name. Bettmann also distributed sewing machines imported from Germany. In 1886, Bettmann sought a more universal name, and the company became known as the Triumph Cycle Company. A year later, the company registered as the New Triumph Co. Ltd., now with financial backing from the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company. In that year, Bettmann was joined by another Nuremberg native, Moritz Schulte. Schulte encouraged Bettmann to transform Triumph into a manufacturing company, and in 1888 Bettmann purchased a site in Coventry using money lent by his and Schulte's families. The company began producing the first Triumph-branded bicycles in 1889. In 1896, Triumph opened a subsidiary, Orial TWN (Triumph Werke Nuremberg) a German subsidiary for cycle production in his native city. In 1898, Triumph decided to extend its own production to include motorcycles and by 1902, the company had produced its first motorcycle - a bicycle fitted with a Belgian-built engine. In 1903, as its motorcycle sales topped 500, Triumph opened motorcycle production at its unit in Germany. During its first few years producing motorcycles, the company based its designs on those of other manufacturers. In 1904, Triumph began building motorcycles based on its own designs and in 1905 produced its first completely in-house designed motorcycle. By the end of that year, the company had produced more than 250 of that design. In 1907, after the company opened a larger plant, production reached 1,000 bikes. Triumph had also launched a second, lower-end brand, Gloria, produced in the company's original plant. The outbreak of World War I proved a boost for the company as production was switched to support the Allied war effort. More than 30,000 motorcycles - among them the Model H Roadster aka the "Trusty Triumph," often cited as the first modern motorcycle - were supplied to the Allies. Bettmann and Schulte fell out after the war, with Schulte wishing to replace bicycle production with cars. Schulte left the company, but in the 1920s Triumph purchased the former Hillman car factory in Coventry and produced a saloon car in 1923 under the name of the Triumph Motor Company. Harry Ricardo produced an engine for their latest motorbike. By the mid-1920s Triumph had grown into one of Britain's leading motorcycle and car makers, with a 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) plant capable of producing up to 30,000 motorcycles and cars each year. Triumph also found its bikes in high demand overseas, and export sales became a primary source of the company's revenues, although for the United States, Triumph models were manufactured under license. The company found its first automotive success with the debut of the Super Seven car in 1928. Shortly after, the Super Eight was born. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, Triumph spun off its German subsidiary as a separate, independently owned company, which became part of the Triumph-Adler Company. The Nuremberg firm continued to manufacture motorcycles under the Triumph brand until 1957. In 1932, Triumph sold off another part of the company, its bicycle manufacturing facility to Raleigh. By then, Triumph had been struggling financially, and Bettmann had been forced out of the chairman's spot. He retired completely in 1933. In 1936, the company's two components became separate companies. Triumph always struggled to make a profit from cars, and after going bankrupt in 1939 was acquired by the Standard Motor Company. The motorcycle operations fared better, having been acquired in 1936 by Jack Sangster, who also owned the rival Ariel motorcycle company. That same year, the company began its first exports to the United States, which quickly grew into the company's single most important market. Sangster's formed the Triumph Engineering Co Ltd largely led by ex-Ariel employees, including Edward Turner who designed the 500 cc 5T Speed Twin - released in September 1937, and the basis for all Triumph twins until the 1980s. Contrary to popular belief, however, this was not Triumph's first parallel twin. This honour falls to the Val Page designed, but unpopular, 6/1. After Turner arrived, in his usual brusque manner, the 6/1 was dropped, later to be replaced with Turner's design. The 6/1 engine later resurfaced, somewhat modified, as the BSA A10. In 1939 the 500 cc Tiger T100, capable of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), was released, and then the war began. Motorcycles were produced at Coventry until World War II. The town of Coventry was virtually destroyed in The Blitz (September 7, 1940 to May, 1941). Tooling and machinery was recovered from the site of the devastation and production restarted at the new plant at Meriden, West Midlands in 1942. (It was actually the village of Allesley, which was difficult to find on a map!) One of Triumph's wartime products is of particular interest: portable generators for the RAF, using 500 cc Triumph engines with alloy barrels. The Speed Twin designed by Edward Turner before the war was produced in large numbers after the war. Efforts to settle the lend-lease debts caused nearly 70% of Triumphs post war production to be shipped to the United States. Post War, the Speed Twin and Tiger 100 were available with a sprung rear hub, Triumph's first attempt at a rear suspension. Privateers put wartime surplus alloy barrels on their Tiger 100 racers, and won races, inspiring the Triumph GP model. By 1950 the supply of barrels was exhausted, and the GP model was dropped. The American market applied considerable pressure to reverse this backward step, and a die cast close finned alloy barrel was made available. The alloy head made the valve noise more obvious, so ramp type cams were introduced for alloy head models to reduce the noise. Another motorcycle based on the wartime generator engine was the 499 cc TR5 Trophy Twin, also introduced at the 1948 Motor Cycle Show. It used a single carburettor, low compression version of the Grand Prix engine. Britain won the prestigious 1948 International Six Days Trial. The Triumph works team had finished unpenalised. One team member, Allan Jefferies, had been riding what amounted to a prototype version. To satisfy the American appetite for motorcycles suited to long distance riding, Turner built a 650 cc version of the Speed Twin design. The new bike was named the Thunderbird (A name Triumph would later license to the Ford Motor Company for use on a car). In 1950 Bobby Turner in Southern California set many speed records with a highly tuned version of the 650 Thunderbird. Several other riders like Ed Kretz and Blackie Blullock used the same machine, nicknamed “Wonderbird” also in speed record events and racing. Amazingly, the Thunderbird engine, its design origins from 1939, held the world's absolute speed record for motorcycles from 1955 until 1970. The Triumph brand received considerable publicity in the United States when Marlon Brando rode a 1950 Thunderbird 6T in the 1953 motion picture, The Wild One. The Triumph Motorcycle concern was sold to their rivals BSA by Sangster in 1951. This sale included Sangster becoming a member of the BSA board. Sangster was to rise to the position of Chairman of the BSA Group in 1956. The production 650 cc Thunderbird was a low compression tourer, and the 500 cc Tiger 100 was the performance bike. That changed in 1954, with the change to swing arm frames, and the release of the alloy head 650 cc Tiger 110, eclipsing the 500 cc Tiger 100 as the performance model. In 1959, the T120, a tuned double carburettor version of the T110, came to be called the Bonneville. As Triumph and other marques gained market share, Harley became aware that their 1 litre-plus bikes were not as sporty as the modern rider would like, resulting in a shrinking share of the market. The Triumphs were models for a new, "small" Harley Davidson as a result: the now-fabled Sportster, which started out as Harley's version of a Triumph Bonneville. With its anachronistic V-twin, the Sportster was no match for the Bonneville, but it proved a solid competitor in US sales and eventually also in longevity.
We have more photos, also listed on Ebay, of other bikes, and various motorcycle (world) champions on various kinds of machinery. Please check out our auctions and take advantage of our shipping discount! The auction selection is refreshed and changed continuously. You can always contact us if you have any wishes.
This is your rare chance to own this
non period
photo that reflects a very interesting and historic piece of motorcycle history. Therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 10”
(ca. 20 x 25 cm).
Check out our auctions or contact us for more motorcycle (racing) photos!
Shipping costs will only be $ 7.00 regardless of how many photos you buy.   For 5 or more photos, shipping is free!
(Note: A. Herl, Inc. does not appear on photo, for ebay purposes only)
No copyright expressed or implied. Sold as collectable item only. We are clearing out our archives that we have gathered from various sources.
All items always sent well protected in PVC clear files
and board backed envelopes.
We have photographs that came from professional collections and/or were bought from the original photographer or press studio! They are all of professional and excellent quality.
After many decades of professionally collecting photographs and posters we are clearing out our archives. They make the perfect gift and are perfectly suited for framing. They will look gorgeous unframed and will be a true asset nicely framed with a border. They are a gorgeous and great asset in every home, workshop, workplace, restaurant, bar or club!
First come - first served. And you can always contact us for your requests. Please ask any questions before the auction ends.