THE TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE TT SPECIAL – A RARE FACTORY DIRT RACER

The Triumph Bonneville TT Special was designed specifically for American desert racing, as well as TT Steeplechase, and Hare and Hound competition – interestingly the final specification of the model was developed not in England, but on the West Coast of the USA by Johnson Motors, commonly known as “JoMo”.

In the 1960s Triumph had two major importers in the USA, Johnson Motors on the West Coast and Triumph Corporation (“TriCor”) on the East Coast. As was often the case, the importers had a far better idea of exactly what American riders wanted than the boardroom at Triumph in England, and the Triumph Bonneville TT Special is evidence of this.

Some of the most popular forms of motorcycle racing in the USA in the 1950s and ’60s was dirt based – flat track, Hare and Hound, desert racing, and TT Steeplechase.

Dirt racing motorcycles of the time were typically road bikes that had been modified with lowered gearing, reduced weight, knobby tires, and wide handlebars – though this may sound primitive it was highly effective, and no country in the world was as good at building scramblers and desert sleds than the Brits.