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Final Thruxton (by Guy 'Guido' Allen, October 2023) ![]()
Thruxton bows out with a
premium edition
It's not
often you’ll hear of a maker making a fuss about
retiring a model name, but that’s what has happened with
Triumph and its Thruxton nameplate. Rather
than just let it quietly fade into the distance, the
company has announced a final edition, which is a 1200
in premium RS spec, with special paint and graphics. But
first, a little background. The name emerged way back in
1965 at the Meriden factory, for the Bonneville Thruxton
– a race-prepared version of the 650 T120 twin. It took until 2004 for the plate to be revived, when it was attached to a cafe racer variant of the Bonneville 900 platform. In 2016 it got promoted to a cafe racer version of the Bonneville 1200 series.
Triumph built up-spec versions called the R and then the RS, which featured better suspension and brakes. (See our Thruxton R video review from 2018, above.) Anyone
who rode the R and RS will tell you they were impressive
machines – not the most powerful at 100-ish horsepower,
but with lovely road manners. We
must admit to being surprised to hear the company was
retiring the name and no explanation has been offered.
However, Triumph is in the throes of launching a whole
new range of single-cylinder machines, including a line
of dirt bikes with competition ambitions. Therefore we
suspect the company has decided to rationalise its range
a little, dropping nameplates that weren’t volume
sellers.
![]() The
final edition runs a 1200cc fuel-injected parallel twin
claiming 103hp (77kW) at 7500rpm and a torque figure of
112NM at 4250. As the numbers suggest, the performance
is really about mid-range. That’s
matched to a six-speed transmission.
![]() The
chassis runs a premium Showa ‘big piston’ fork up front,
matched to Ohlins twin shocks at the rear. Brembo
supplies the braking, with radial-mount four-spotters up
front, with ABS.
![]() Triumph
has priced it at Au$28,100 (US$17,700, GB£14,700) on the
road. Add close to Au$2000 (US$1300, GB£1100) for the
accessory fairing by the time it’s fitted, which we
reckon is a must. The
company says volume will be low (no exact number
mentioned) and each example comes with a certificate
signed by Triumph CEO Nick Bloor. Deliveries are
expected in May 2024.
SPECIFICATIONS ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION
CHASSIS
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHTS
SERVICE
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