New T120 takes a Beeline
Editor Wilson considers country matters, Triumph’s refreshed T120, and the Beeline sat nav…
21st century Britain is in danger of being fully enclosed by distribution centres. Along the A5, shortly after the signs that read ‘Leicestershire, the heart of rural Britain’, near Lutterworth there seem to be more acres covered by tin roofs than under the plough.
Further up the road at Hinckley there’s an equally un-bucolic scene of trading estates and business parks. It doesn’t seem much like ‘The heart of rural Britain’ either, but this is the home of Triumph motorcycles and we are here to ride the updated T120 Bonneville and try the Triumph branded Beeline navigation system. Maybe that can help us find a countryside idyll.
The bike is a light update of an old favourite. The 1200cc retro twin has had seven kilos shaved from its weight, partly thanks to a lighter crankshaft and lighter wheels. The former allows the engine to spin more freely, allegedly improving throttle response, the latter reduces unsprung weight to the benefit of handling and ride quality.
There is also an extra front disc brake, cruise control is now standard and there’s detail cosmetic changes too. And its not just the T120 that has benefitted. The rest of Triumph’s nine bike Modern Classics range, from the 900 Street Twin to the Thruxton, have had similar tweaks to keep them fit and healthy for the marketplace battle.
What hasn’t changed is the bike’s traditional look, with wire spoked wheels, flat seat, sculpted tank and two-tone paint. It’s a good looking bike, with a proper quality feel, and Triumph can play the heritage game with real credibility. Following the Beeline arrow, out of the factory and onto the A47, into the 40 and 50mph limits of the Hinckley bypass doesn’t bode well for our quest for the pastoral, but it does demonstrate that the T120 hasn’t lost its engine flexibility; sticking to these limits allows one the choice of almost any gear. The engine’s peak torque is delivered at just 3500rpm, with peak power at 8000. Gear choice is almost academic, except for brisk overtakes which have you tapping the gear lever down one or two ratios. At the top end of the rev range you can feel the vibes from the 270° crankshaft and the mirrors go blurry, so you don’t really want to spend too long there anyway.
The riding position is natural, clocks and controls simple and easy to use and there is a choice of two modes; rain and road. Though with an engine that fuels as smoothly as this, and the reassurance of traction control you do wonder why you’d switch out of ‘road’, even if it were chucking it down. The T120 is a model of easy, intuitive and neutral performance. Just like the old one, but maybe more so. Finally the Beeline arrow points us off the A47 and past Mallory Park, Newton Unthank and Market Bosworth on a series of swoopy, swervy B and A roads, with surfaces ranging from smooth to smashed. At last, this feels more like the heart of rural Britain that we’d been promised, and the T120 loves it.
The combination of easy, neutral handling and a flexible engine makes the Triumph a bend swinging delight that arcs through corners with minimal effort but surprising poise. And with a gentle, and grin inducing graunch of footpegs when you get excessively boisterous.
Without a back-to-back comparison it’s hard to gauge the upgrades to the T120 compared with previous models; it’s a marginal improvement in several areas while the double discs at the front end are significantly more powerful and have more feel than the previous stoppers.
Most Triumphs are made in Thailand, but surely the T120 is made for roads like these and, judging by the way it rides, I’m guessing that some of the factory’s road test team might have been this way before. Maybe The Heart of Rural England had a hand in its development.
‘It’s a good looking bike, and Triumph play the heritage game with real credibility’