1979 Triumph Bonneville Special

1979 Triumph Bonneville Special Background & History

The 1979 Triumph Bonneville Special, code name T140D was the second in a series of very impressive 'specials' the Triumph released in the late 70s and early 80s.  The first in this series of limited-edition 'specials' was the 1977 Bonneville Silver Jubilee, a fancy Bonneville built to pay homage to the Silver Jubilee, or 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's reign.  The opportunity fell into Triumph's lap, the entire United Kingdom was bracing for a big nationwide party to celebrate and Triumph carved out a little piece for themselves.  Triumph had hoped to sell 1,000 of these numbered editions, mostly in England.  But they sold out quickly and Triumph built another 1,000 just for the US market, then another 400 for general sales.  While 2,400 bikes isn't much for a big company like Honda, every sale counted for the beleagered Meriden Co-Op and it made a huge difference in their thin bottom line.  It did so well, in fact, that Triumph decided to try this again.

ABOVE & BELOW: The 1979 Triumph T140D Bonneville Special was a handsome machine.

1979 Triumph Bonneville Special Apes the Yamaha XS650

Triumph watched Yamaha's success of the past decade with their XS650, a bike that was meant to ape the looks of the Triumph Bonneville.  What they did was 'out-British the British'.  The built the bike that the Britsh should have been building all alone.  It was fast, modern, good looking and totally reliable, something that had always challenged the Brits.  To add insult to injury the very successful XS650, which ran from 1970 to 1985, dawned a special 'Cruiser-edition' in 1978 with sporty styling.  Triumph could stand it no longer, they had to do something.  The 1979 Triumph Bonneville Special was their response.

1979 Triumph Bonneville Special Features

The 1979 Triumph Bonneville Special (T140D) was one of its best cosmetic redux of the classic T140 Bonneville, but it wasn’t purely cosmetic. The T140D Bonneville Special, as it was named, featured the Silver Jubilee’s upside-down shocks, a two-into-one exhaust header, and Morris mag wheels. Unfortunately, any potential power gains from the header were more than muted by the new ‘smogger’ cylinder head and Amal Mk II carburetors, designed to reduce emissions. Compression was reduced to just 7.9:1 in an attempt to reduce engine vibration. All 1979 Bonnevilles got the new head and carbs, along with Lucas’s new ‘Rtia’ electronic ignition system. The 1979 T140D Bonneville Special was differentiated from run-of-the-mill T140E Bonnevilles by it’s all-black paint paint scheme with gold pin stripes, the 2-into-1 exhaust, and a set of stunning Morris mag wheels. I actually owned one myself and they’re decent bikes to ride. The stepped seat isn’t all that comfy, they don’t have much power, and the smog-era carbs are finicky, both to tune and to ride. The 2-into-1 header sounds like crap, I like the sound of dual pipes much better. But, it was a handsome machine, but it struggled in the marketplace at the time, leaving many 1979 models unsold at the end of the year.  These machines were retitled as 1980 and send back out to dealers.  Sales of the remaining bikes was slow.

Following Norton's Lead

Triumph had watched as competitor Norton spin off endless variants of their evergreen Commando by slapping unique bodywork on an otherwise stock Commando.  Using this simple technique, Norton created the Commando Roadster, Fastback, SS, Hi-Rider and the stunning John Player Special.  At the same time, Triumph was fielding just two models of the Bonneville, the T120R Roadster (with low pipes) and the T120C street scrambler (with high pipes).  Triumph even restricted the paint colors to one combination per model year.  You couldn't even choose colors!  It was time for a change.

Was the 1979 Triumph Bonneville Special "Special"?

The 1979 Triumph Bonneville Special took an otherwise stock T140E, painted it all black with gold pinstripes, added Morris mag wheels and that killer-looking 2-into-1 header pipe.  It was a handsome combination.  But it was still the same old Bonneville which was getting slower by the year.  Increased US emissions regulations on motorcycles forced Triumph to make painful compromises to the ancient vertical twin to make it comply.  Milder cams, lower compression, a new cylinder head and those awful Amal MkII carburetors forced the old pushrod twin into compliance, but at the cost of overall performance and rideability (same as drivability in a car).  I owned a 1979 Triumph Bonneville Special myself and it always felt underpowered and rough.  The once-mighty Bonneville didn't like being hamstrung like this and showed it in its road manners.  On the other side of the world, the Japanese had the money to do whatever it took to pass the new emissions regs, even if it took a whole new engine.  Because of this, their bikes not only didn't get slower, they actually got faster, and better with each model year.

1979 Triumph Bonneville Special not a Sales Success

After the success of the Silver Jubilee in 1977, Triumph had assumed that any special edition would sell well.  This was a hard lesson to learn.  The T140D Special was not a sales hit.  Ultimately they sold the all off, but not in the numbers it would have taken to save the company, and every bike Triumph built at this point was intended to do just that.  The handwriting was on the wall for the cash-strapped Meriden Co-Op.  But, they had a few years left.

1979 Triumph Bonneville Special Specifications

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1979 Triumph Bonneville Special. Books

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More Triumph Motorcycle Pages

1959 T120 Bonneville

1960 T120 Bonneville

1961 T120 Bonneville

1962 T120 Bonneville

1963 T120 Bonneville

1964 T120 Bonneville

1965 T120 Bonneville

1966 T120 Bonneville

1967 T120 Bonneville

1968 T120 Bonneville

1969 T120 Bonneville

1970 T120 Bonneville

1971 T120 Bonneville

1972 T120 Bonneville

1973 T140 Bonneville

1974 T140 Bonneville

1975 T140 Bonneville

1976 T140 Bonneville

1977 T140 Bonneville

1977 T140J Silver Jubilee

1978 T140 Bonneville

1979 T140 Bonneville

1979 T140D Bonneville Special

1980 T140 Bonneville

1981 T140 Bonneville

1982 T140 Bonneville

1983 T140 Bonneville

1983 TSS Bonneville

1983 TSX Bonneville

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