#Bobber

You’ve read the Review, now see the video! Heart-stopping wheelies, lurid smoldering burnouts and an awesome display of moto-skill. Okay, well, none of that, sadly, but there is some nice action footage of Triumph’s latest, greatest all-new Bonneville variant through the rolling countryside outside Madrid, Espana. And, about two minutes of me channeling Walter Cronkite as I lay out the new bike’s salient points in living color.

By now you must’ve heard the bobber backstory: Restless GIs home from WW2 self-treated their PTSD by bobbing the fenders off their heavy old motorcycles to make them lighter, faster and generally more obnoxious to the populace. Triumph was right there from the beginning, supplying Marlon Brando’s bike in The Wild One, and now it’s back with the brand-new 2017 Bobber, the stripped-down, elemental variation on the new Bonneville theme the company’s been furiously rolling out for about a year now.

Introduced earlier today at a live event in England, the new Triumph Bonneville Bobber made its way to the stage ridden by none other than SBK racing legend, Carl Fogarty. Based on the all-new Bonneville released earlier this year, the Bobber receives a few notable items, namely a faux hardtail rear suspension setup, an adjustable solo saddle, and twin slash-cut mufflers.

Piaggio has filed a trademark application for a new logo, suggesting a new line of Moto Guzzi V7 models is on the way. The trademark application, filed July 20 with the European Union Intellectual Property Office suggests Moto Guzzi is preparing a V7 III lineup, which we’ll likely see announced this fall at either Intermot or EICMA.

In its 95th anniversary year, Moto Guzzi debuts a new platform called the V9. It’s an offshoot of the existing V7 but angling toward a cruiser style rather than the V7’s standard/roadster meme. The V9 Roamer version employs classic design elements and extensive brightwork, while the Bobber version (pictured above) uses matte finishes and a fat front tire to deliver an element of badassitude.

Each year around this time the MO staff gathers to contemplate the new breed of tasty two-wheelers coming our way. This is also when each editor begins positioning himself for a particular press launch. Last year, Preemptive Editor, Troy Siahaan made it abundantly clear that only an act of God would keep him from the R1 launch. This year he’s communicated the same thing about the new Suzuki SV650, a bike that, democratically, didn’t even make this list (Ouch. -TS).

Since these spy shots from BMH Images will be the third set of Triumph Bonneville-based photos we’ve published this year, we had to pause for a short discussion about whether we were being gamed by Triumph into actually paying to do PR work for them. However, the bike in question is so cool that we decided our readers need to see it. Other than the styling cues (which we’ll get to next), the photos confirm what we already know, don’t answer the questions we already have, and open up a host of new things to ponder. Such is the nature of crystal ball-gazing…

Ending weeks of teasing the moto-public about a new heavyweight motorcycle, the Minnesota-based manufacturer, Victory Motorcycles, has finally tipped its hand. The newest bike to enter the Victory fold is a bobber named the Victory Gunner.