Triumph Bonnevilles: Meriden vs Hinckley 

I have owned a few older Triumphs in my life. My favorite being my 70 Bonneville. I started out with a Daytona 500. I have looked at the newer ones and would consider purchasing one.

Man, your channel is great! Great videos! After this video, I started looking into more of the Triumph's history (I had an overall idea about all their struggles over the years) & got to know the differences between the "original" Bonneville (Meriden) & the "new one (Hinckley)! S+V. Stay strong, ride on!

My Triumph is a 1978 T140V Bonneville. It's not restored, because I bought it 30 years ago with 1300 miles on it and, at that time, it had been stored in someone's garage since it was 6 months old. For many years it was my only bike and I use it all the time, except when there is salt on the roads (a couple of months of the year here in southern England). It does everything I want from a bike and the maintenance is not an issue because I am a mechanic by trade (now retired). Since I retired, I decided to buy a cheap runabout so I could be a year round biker, and now I've got a 1980 Suzuki GS550L as well. The Hinckley Triumphs had just gone into production when I bought my T140, and I thought about them, but decided to buy the real thing. Another advantage of having an old bike is the value goes up all the time, while the new ones go down, and here in the UK, you don't pay annual road tax on anything over 40 years old. I think I'll stick with my Meriden Bonneville.

Pretty sure it's the 270-degree crank of the new Bonnevilles that makes them feel so different. The British twins have traditionally always been 360-degree cranks, as is yours. That completely changes the feel of the engine.

Helpful review - Thx!! I LOVED my '66 & '68 Meriden T120's. Amazed at the classic beauty of the Thailand Bonnies, I bought a new 2017 T120 from Baxter Cycles in IA. Gorgeous finish, looks, powerful, etc. But too techy for me & it lacked soul. I also have a keeper - a 2000 Honda 1100 Shadow Spirit, which, believe it or not, has more 'soul' than the 2017 T120 did. I sold the T120 after 11 months & am ready for a nice 2009-2015 (F.I.) Hinckley T100. I'd change R. shocks, mufflers, etc. Yet I think that's the one I'm looking for. (Are u ready to sell yours??) (btw - Meriden Bonnies were c. 364# dry. Hinckley T100 are c. 451# dry, so c. 87# diff. My 2017 T120 was 494# dry.)

About a year ago I picked up a 2015 T215 which is basically a black T 100 with 1,000 miles on it. No regrets as I saved about $3,000 by not going new.

I've owned three of Meriden's twins, a 1977 TR7RV, a 1981 T140E and a 1983 TSX, I bought the Tiger in 1980 as an ex-sidecar hauler, as such it had a larger rear sprocket than stock and it took off like a racing thoroughbred. I bought the Bonneville and the TSX brand new, the Bonneville was a great machine that never let me down, unfortunately the TSX was a disaster, the quality control during Meriden's last days must have been non existant. I've never wanted to own a Hinckley Bonneville, in fact in 2011 after a ten year break from motorcycling I passed on Hinckley's offerings and I bought a new H-D XL883N, I still have it.

I have both. I'd say the newer bikes are nicely done (save for that horrible shaped tank - I think to accommodate the fuel pump), are super reliable and a bit soulless. My 78 on the other hand is just lovely. I'm always tinkering with it and that might not suit some. But to me that's all part of it. I think it's good to get to know your bike. Power and handling are great by the way. Well, for where I live where it's all A roads and twisties.

Good review , I really like the Hinckley Bonnies just need to lighten them with AM parts.

I’m looking to upgrade my Bantam !

I prefer air cooling and like the bevel drive on a W800. Kawasaki makes the best Triumph. If I was looking for a good used bike, an air cooled Bonneville like yours would be a good choice.

The important thing to remember is that Hinckley products ( while great) are not Triumph. I don't think people realise that John Bloor bought only the name of Triumph and not the company. The conditions of the sale were that he could use the name but that he had to change the logo. In fact he actually distanced himself from Triumph in order to build his new product. Indian also went through some curious copyright issues at the time of its collapse until Polaris bought the name and also the company effectively.