The 2014 Triumph Thruxton Reviewed: Time Machine

Looks: 4.5 / 5

Motorcycle design has evolved. Aerodynamics and need for speed has led to sharper lines and creases everywhere. Not with the Thruxton. She is the proverbial old lady with the charm and charisma oozing from its simple looks. This bike would be lost in the crowd until you lay your eyes on her for a few seconds. Listen to some music which sounds like;

“You gotta spend some time, Love.

You gotta spend some time with me.

And I know that you’ll find, love

I will possess your heart.”

Unlike super sports bikes or heavy cruisers, no one gives it a second look when stuck in traffic at a red light, but park it for few minutes and everybody pigeons around to get their pictures along side. The bike is well proportioned with its parallel twin engine, twin megaphone chrome exhausts, minimalist rear end, neatly fitted headlight cowl and aluminum spoke wheels. Triumph has created a modern machine with retro looks. Things like placing the Fuel injection system in a carburetor shaped housing confuses you, but also makes you smile at the same time. They even have a dummy choke switch on it. Fake tubes try to look like push-rod covers and they have gone to a great extent to give it true retro looks, at the same time infused it with modern, more reliable technology. It is difficult to convince someone completely retro at heart with an old-fashioned meter console that incorporates a digital odometer and a Fuel Injection system light. So they took the middle path, you get an analogue speedometer which does the ‘self-test’ routine in a housing which looks more of this time than of an era gone-by.

A single seat with a cowl completes the retro café racer look. So this classic old lady takes you back in the 60’s, makes you fell nostalgic with her looks, but wouldn’t be caught unawares in recent times if you gave her an iPhone.

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