Triumph Bobber Black
Triumph leave Harley to their own game, and instead create a cartoon…
BOUNCING DOWN THE road, enjoying the Triumph Bobber Black’s excellently sprung, plush, arse-hugging solo saddle, it’s impossible not to break out into a big grin. Sense of humour? If this bike was a human being it’d be packing them in at the Edinburgh Fringe. Or waving a tickling stick at the Palladium (RIP Ken Dodd). We loved the base model Bobber that was introduced for 2017. And the Bobber Black variant introduced this year is just as good. Maybe better. It’d have been easy for Triumph to get the Bobber wrong. After all, almost every other non-harley-davidson cruiser has felt a bit… well… naff. The last thing you should do in this market segment is take it seriously. Triumph (who in the past haven’t quite hit the mark with their ‘show-off’ bikes) have succeeded here because instead of making a copy cat cruiser, they’ve created a cartoon motorcycle that’s unlike anything else on the market. Instead of a pastiche of Americana, it’s a unique riding experience. With a belter of an engine. The 1200cc parallel twin is tuned for torque, delivering its biggest shove at 3600rpm so you just roll along on a wave of thrust. The gearchange has a clunky action, but is Triumph taking the mickey? That doesn’t feature on the other bikes in the Bonneville range. Has the clunk been engineered in to make Harley people feel at home? And those unnecessarily fat brake and clutch levers? Surely another poke at The Motor Company. The Black isn’t just a lack of chrome and colour when compared with the base model. It’s also got meaty Showa forks, a 16-inch front wheel with a fat, 90 section tyre and twin disc brakes arrested by twin piston sliding calipers. And that slammed look comes at the expense of suspension travel; just 90mm at the front end and 77mm at the rear. Just as well the seat’s sprung too, but even so it jolts your spine on bumps. As Ben found: ‘On one B-road I was bounced around so much I decided to stand.’ Because the seat and bars are low, wind pressure isn’t an issue till you get to 90mph, which is enough. The low factor also means that the pegs go down early, but that’s part of the fun too. Obviously there’s a cost in the pose v practicality equation. No pillion seat, no luggage capacity, small fuel tank. So what. Motorcycles should make you feel good, and this one does that.
‘It’s a unique riding experience. With a belter of an engine’