1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal

1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal Background & History

The 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal was a true limited-edition with only 300 built in two years. By 1982, Triumph was on the ropes. They were unable to re-engineer and thus modernize their bikes the way they needed to, or even produce enough bikes to meet dealer orders, due to their severe financial constraints. It was thought that lower-volume, higher-profit “special models” might save the day. Several were proposed and a few were tried. Most fizzled in the marketplace. One such effort was the T140LE Royal Wedding, built to commemorate the British royal wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. Built in such low numbers, the Royal Wedding couldn’t possibly have turned around the fortunes of the company.

The UK-spec 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal was, in my opinion, the best-looking Triumph Bonneville ever built by the factory. Am I wrong?

Three Different 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royals

This minuscule number of bikes was broken into three editions. 125 units were built for the UK market and are, by far, the best-looking and most unique of the bunch. The US edition didn’t look much different than normal Bonnevilles, and that could’t have helped sales of what was supposed to be a premium bike, but they only needed to sell 125 of them. The final edition was built specifically for TMA (Triumph Motorcycles America) and were very much like the other plain-Jane US edition with Morris mag wheels, and only 50 were built. In the end, the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal didn’t do much for Triumph’s bottom line, or to prolong Triumph’s final demise, now less than a year off. But they were some nice-looking machines, especially the UK edition. They’re certainly rare, but as collectibles they have never really commanded high auction prices. In other words, these amazing, gorgeous, historic, very limited-edition bikes can still be stolen at ridiculously low prices, compared to how cool they are. Then you’ll just have to wait for the market to catch up. Good luck and good hunting.

UK-Version of the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal

You can instantly see just how different the UK-spec 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal Wedding is from the US version. And it’s a much more handsome bike for it. First off, the entire engine is blacked out, with only a few highlights. Then the frame is powdercoated in silver. The forks and headlight are blacked out. Mag wheels with dual front disks and that delicious chromed tank round out the package. Even more rare than the US versions, the UK-spec Royals are very much sought after by collectors, and one of my favorite Triumphs of all time.

The Marzocchi Strada 'upside-down shocks' looked exotic on the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal.

US-Version of the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal

You can instantly see just how different the UK-spec 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal Wedding is from the US version. Instead of the UK's unique color treatments, the US-version looked much more like a regular Bonneville. They came with a black frame, polished T140ES engine and polished outer cases, US-spec teardrop tank painted black with white pinstriping, Marzocchi Strada 'upside-down' shocks with remote reservoir, and either Morris or Lester mag wheels or as an option Radaelli wire wheels. Standard side covers were used, the cylinder heads were unpainted, and the fork sliders, headlight and turn signals remained in bright finish. As such, the US-version of the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal limited-edition special didn't look to special. It looked more or less like any other black Bonneville. Of course there were only 125 units to sell and some were purchased in the UK, and never made it across the pond.

The easiest way to tell a US-version from the similar-looking TMA-version is that US bikes came with silver engine cases and the TMA had black engine cases.

TMA-Version of the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal

Initially, US dealers didn’t expect ‘tarted-up special’ celebrating an English royal wedding to sell very well. But when they saw how popular the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal was they changed their tune. By this time, however, the initial run of the most popular UK-spec bikes was over, so TMA (Triumph Motorcycles America) couldn’t order them the same say. The best they could do at this late date was to special order a modified version of the US-spec bikes, which weren’t nearly as distinctive and unique as the UK-spec machines. This final run for TMA was made up of just 50 machines. They came with black frames (standard Triumph fare), a blacked-out engine with polished outer covers, a standard US-spec 3-gallon fuel tank painted black with white pinstripes, standard side covers with “Royal; Limited Edition” decals, blacked-out headlight, fork sliders and turn signals, and either Morris or Lester mag wheels. Most were Lesters, distinguished by their single polished rib on each of its seven spokes, where as the Morris mags had two such ribs per spoke, which formed an H-beam structurally.

1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal US version

The TMA-version of the 1982 Triumph Bonneville Royal was distinguished from the US-version by it's blacked-out engine cases.