Stoking the coals
THE BOBBER BLACK is powered by the same
High Torque version of Triumph’s T120
Bonneville motor as the regular Bobber.
However, the liquid-cooled 1197cc eight-valve
parallel twin, with a 270-degree crank and
chain-driven single overhead cam, has been
remapped to give 10 per cent more torque lower
down than in T120 guise and this gives the
Bobber duo greater rideability.
This retuned version employs the same
twin 44mm Keihin throttle bodies, still cleverly
disguised as carburettors, but has a diff erent
dual airbox intake system for an ultra-fl at torque
curve that makes it almost irrelevant which
gear you throw at it.
A four-speed gearbox would be suffi cient on a
bike you can gas wide open in top gear from just
2300rpm with zero transmission snatch, and on
which 103Nm of torque is delivered at 3000rpm.
Peak grunt of 106Nm is obtained just a
thousand revs higher, but only 76Nm is
available by the time the rev-limiter cuts in at
7000rpm on the ride-by-wire digital throttle.
So go with the fl ow and surf that torque curve
by short-shifting your way through the six
available ratios.
The Keihin ECU off ers two riding modes,
Road and Rain, each delivering the same full
57kW at 6100rpm, just with a diff erent degree of
urgency via separate throttle maps.
Using the sweet-shifting gearbox to keep
the engine turning in the slightly fatter part
of the torque curve between 3000-5000rpm
is the way the Black asks to be ridden, with
the switchable single-stage traction control
on hand to keep the wheels in line when you
accelerate wide open from low revs.
Giving it full throttle delivers a decidedly
thrilling hot rod roar from the twin double-
skinned stainless steel exhausts, with slash-cut
silencers and its signature catalyst box under
the gearbox.It has no right to
handle as well as
it does with that
chunky front tyre
Bobber build quality is
high, as is customary for
bikes built at Triumph’s
trio of factories in
Thailand, where it has
produced Bonnevilles
for some years123