In 1983 my husband bought a 1969 Trident. He had a very experienced mate, Roy Kilgour, help him rebuild the engine & the bike has run like a gem ever since. It has the old Lucas Rita electronic ignition & is a first kick starter when both cold & hot. We have a large collection of bikes but have hung onto the Trident mainly because of the lovely exhaust note from the raygun mufflers; a throaty grumble down low changing to a turbine howl as the revs rise.

In my youth, I owned a 1977 TR7RV, a 1975 T160V, a 1981 T140E and a 1983 TSX, the only one that I regret buying is the TSX, poor quality control in the last days of the Meriden factory made for a very unreliable machine. The others were a pleasure to own, especially the T160V which had a Norman Hyde 850 big bore kit installed, it was fast, handled like it was on rails and what a wonderful sound from that three cylinder motor.

I made the choice 30 years ago, T140 because it was more practical and a very low mileage (1300), untouched example came up for sale. I haven't regretted it at all, and still get as much pleasure out of riding it now as I did then. It was the second time the Trident lost out, because I had a choice between a new T150 and new Commando 850 in 1974, and chose the Norton then for pretty much the same reason, less complication and more grunt. Still love to see and hear all of them, though.

My choice ..T160 Trident. To have the one I turned down unused around 1980. Marshall in Appleton, Wisconsin let me take a spin on a still new 1975 trident from his showroom floor after fixing up my 1970 Trophy 250. I could not swing $3000 as a highschooler. I never forgot the feeling of that short ride

Back in the 1980s I was a Triumph mechanic at a Triumph dealership. (Yes, we hung on until the bitter end taking delivery on a TSX a TSS and a red smoke Triumph Executive.) I had a chance to work on, rebuild and ride a number of T150, T160 and T140 Triumphs. There is no comparison. The three cylinder is a much better bike in the way they handle, in the way they run and the way they look. The Bonneville has a weight advantage but the vibration will have bits missing on long high speed runs. There is a reason why the T150 was a race winner and if they are built right they are as reliable as any motorcycle.

Having owned a T150 and a T140 back in the 70’s your comparisons are spot on. It always amazed how both bike were 750’s, but the T150 was a monster. On both bikes I dumped the Amal carbs and put 32mm Mikuni’s on instead and with a bit of experimentation with the jets found them to be superior. Thanks for your review as it bought back many memories.

Nice video, thanks for posting. I’d have g to be T150 over the 140….imho. But……I’d take the TR7RV Tiger over both of them. Admittedly, the Trident has the spine-tingling sound but, that’s it. I’d prefer the lighter weight, easier maintenance and still characterful twin all day.

I own both a '72 T150V and a '72 !20V. Living in a rural area with many nice twisty roads, I do tend to ride the Bonneville more. I've also gone down one tooth on the front sprocket to give it a bit more guts out of the corners. That said, I will not ride the T120V on the interstate, it just doesn't feel right at 80 mph. The Trident is just getting started at that speed. If you can't cut up the back roads on a triple you're not trying. If anything the Trident feels more stable and confident in corners even if I do need to downshift twice. One is not advised to try pulling out of a corner at 3000rpm on a triple, though too many people do. As for gas mileage, my T150V gets 44mpg all day when I keep it between 5-6000prm.

Had a couple of Bonnie's and still reminisce about them I have ridden tridents but always preferred the bonnie, both great machines it's just down to which fits you. As for mechanical noise mine were quiet compared to the majority there was no need to make noise just work properly. I now have a collection of bits that can be assembled into a bonnie ready for my retirement

l had a 1977 Bonneville in the 80s !! An S-reg . US export model . Exactly like the one ridden by Richard Gere in An Officer and A Gentleman ! Wish l had kept it now !

I rode to school on the back of a late 60s Bonneville. It was then when I knew I had to have a motorcycle for myself. I would choose the Bonneville simply for nostalgia

Open road Trident , back road Bonnie. One or the other Bonnie ,I’m a sucker for torque and is more hands on , I had both .

The trident midle cyclinder had a problem getting a tad on the hot side! You could set the middle carb a bit richer, which helped. The T140 was the best of the two. Lighter, quiker, more economical, also cheeper to maintain. If you want reliablity, Boyer ignition, Dinamicly balencing crank, and all that hangs off it, Nicoomy carbs, porting, Comando clutch to name a few. Once fetteld, there is not much out there that would be better. Yes, I love the T140s.

I have owned 1971 T120r since 1978. First one hit a car so i bought another just like it. I still have one now. You can see it running very fast on my channel

I decided to re-visit my youth and buy a T160 trident after years of Hinckley triples. After an eye wateringly expensive but superb engine rebuild the bike is a real pleasure to ride………… until you try to stop the thing. The fact is the single disc at the front is wooden in feel and lacking in retardation. Make no mistake the bike is fun to ride and I don’t regret for one minute buying it but this winter it is going to get a second disc brake at the front. The other thing that has become apparent is how far Triumph have come my Hinkley 900 Daytona has none of the Tridents braking issues but lacks feedback from the road but my 675 street triple R addresses all the issues in a superb package. I await further development from Triumph with interest especially the new 400 single.

TR7 all the way, still have mine after 31 years

Hi; I have 3 Triumph; all are daily riders (I always try to have one in proper riding conditions) I use the bikes to commute. I do not have a car. One is a 78 T140E with dual plugs head; double front discs kit; N Hyde rear sets; digital EI for the 4 plugs; rotary oil pump and 32mm carburetors. I put 13000km on the road in a year and a half included long distances like 2000km trip to near Country until the crankshaft had a fissure on the road and let me stranded. PO killed the crank riding besides new bikes at more than 8K RPM. Took me one year to find another crank there in UK; now I have all the other stuff and soon I hope to rebuild the engine again.

T140 everytime uk or us spec. Had 4 of them loved them, only sold them caused i needed cash quick thanks to Thatcher wiping out my industry in early 80's

Late model TR65 short stroke twin best triumph twin ever made, so much smoother than any other Triumph twin, Tridents run smooth but throttle and clutch are a real pain

Despite being warned that the Japanese were working on a 4 cylinder,electric start and oil tight bike,the British bike industry[read BSA] thought that twins were the way to go.That the British bike industry was defunct by the mid 1970's,was a real shame.

Thanks for the comparison. I am looking to acquire a vintage T140 myself, your thoughts and advice helped. Thanks.

74 Trident & 76 Bonny,no comparison,ride engine, quality, pure sound the Trident hands down.

I had the T140e Bonnie new in 82. Sadly it was a Friday afternoon 3 o'clock build. Far to many faults to list and not a brilliant ride. Quite honestly, I was glad to wave it farewell. I have a Manx Triton T150, now in project form which I will send to Les Wiston. I had to smile when you mentioned, fuel usage. I went for a ride with friends one Sunday on my 750 H2 Kawasaki, using four gallons roughly, covering 74 miles.😱

I went for both, I've owned my T140v since the mid '90s and had the engine rebuilt by SRM at the end of the last century, including many upgrades to the standard spec, and barring annual valve adjustment and regular oil changes I've not had to touch the engine since, it remains the last bike I will sell. It was joined in the garage last year by a T150v, in fairness I think you are fairly correct in your assessment of the 2 bikes, quite how the trident manages to be nearly 100lbs heavier is a bit of a mystery to me, especially seeing how the majority of the cycle parts are the same/very similar. It is very much a "horses for courses" thing, depending on the roads you're riding, the Trident will run at motorway speeds easily, and for long distances, whereas the bonny never quite feels very happy. But swinging A and B roads and it the twin all the way, the trident will keep up but is just much more work.

For me the 650, whether T120R or V was and is the perfect incarnation. I certainly don’t get the vibes you describe at 80-90, I only notice them at tickover when the front forks shake. The handling is superb, the sound is perfection. It’s a five speed but even in fifth gear at 20 mph I can accelerate with no snatch. It’s only flaw is clutch drag which I’m planning to eradicate with a top hat bearing conversion.

I had a 1979 t140V. Until I sold it to a mate about fourteen years ago. I agree about the higher the speed the more vibrations. I can remember being flat out and having to re grip the handle bar grips every minute. It had the high bars, so you tended to act as a wind scoop. I had a few twitchy moments on tight country bends trying to keep up with a mates one on a Guzzi and one on a Yam. On hot summer evenings I often think how nice it would be to go for a blast.

I remember riding my mate dad's collection of British bike's, I was very happy to get back on my 70s Japanese bike.

Have had both. Trident gone and now have 77 Bonnie. Trident just too fussy in riding and maintenance for my taste.

I had a T150v for a few years,rode it fairly hard and only suffered a broken rectifier and regular stops for 4star,av 30mpg and 35 on a long run. Unlike my previous 750 Commando,the Trident would start in rain!

I’ve have 71 trident ,it’s lovely . Smooth , handles sadly it’s leaking oil around the push rod tubes 😫

On the whole,I'd go for the Tiger 750 for it's sheer gruntability...and then I woke up,sob!

I like the stability of the t150, my BSA a10 a lovely bike to ride and very smooth at low revs, but it is not suitable for high speed cruising, both bike start first or second kick; I have never understood the need for a complicated electric foot.

Where can I buy those nice rounded side-panels for a T140 please? Are those wide bars the US models or something aftermarket. Agree with you re TR7, best choice by far. Incidentally re T160's a mate of mine ran a T160 for about 10 years as an everyday bike. He thrashed the nuts off it too and it never failed him once.

Haha 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I wondered when you were going to mention the Triumph Tiger! As you say, less vibration and lots more torque and what you didn't mention, better fuel comsumtion Also, if I remember, the conical hub Bonnies were the 650cc models (both the four and five speed versions). Or were some 750 Bonnies made with them due to the sit in at the time?

On another note my Trident is a 4 speed and seemed geared way to low, I took a few teeth off the back which helped immensely,wish I had the 5sp

Tiger 100 R for me.

Had a T150V many years ago and it was great on twisty bits as for engine torque you've gotta just get the revs up in a lower gear maybe let it howl itll pull like a train the 120 degree crank soon spins up

Conical brakes works well if SET UP PROPERLY

I think I would be with you Biker Dood and go for the Tiger. Could not cope with 30mpg. My current 2017 T120 1200cc gives me MPG into the 60's.

Hinckley Triumphs of turn of the century are a nice alternative if you want a bike as strong as newer bikes while faster than the classics. Rode a used beefed up 600 cc Norton Dominator that used to outrun Atlases & Bonnevilles in a large college town full of them. Didn’t want to be left in the dust on another classic. Early 2000s Triumph triples are at least capable of keeping up with modern bikes. Some can turn an 11 second quarter. Not Busa/ZX14 fast but faster than even most super cars. Also as cheap or cheaper than the classics. Got one for my “retirement” bike. A Norton Commando Mk III is one of the fastest classics. But even as a former Norton aficionado I don’t see myself riding a bike slower than many smaller modern bikes. And I don’t want my bike to insulate me from the road. So for me approximately 1995-2010 Triumphs are a nice alternative. But if I get a second bike I’m torn between a used HD cruiser & a classic. Though I can be happy with a not terribly expensive bike that runs fast and rides well. But while Hinckley has made a few missteps they have also turned out some fast bikes along the same vein as the classics -Matt’s dad

I had a 1973 T150V Trident. There were just too many things that were never worked out in the design in the first place. Endless fettling to get things to just barely work. Like the clutch disengagement. The Bonnies had been built much longer and were a bit more complete.

The Bonnie

3 Is perfect company😁

You stole my thunder 🤣 I've going say Tiger

How about a comparison between the bsa a65 and rocket 3?

Hi .. always think your reviews are great so thanks for that .. could you just tell me which or what date/ year your prefered triumph tiger Tr7 rv wise you mentioned at the end of your trident v bonneville vidio .. thanks

68 Rocket3 .. BSA

It's not a 750, but I might be tempted by a late 500cc T100 of some sort as a (slightly cheaper) back-lane bike and use a modern bike on the faster roads

I built a T140 based TRIBSA, great engine. Crank was balanced well, so vibes weren’t too bad. I’ve never ridden a 750 T150 or T160 but I have just finished building a T150 with 1000cc big bore kit (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/erVmm5V61re0dGQ.html). This should give me extra low down torque and I can’t wait to start running it in so I can compare it to the 750 twin.

My 3 cylinder, every time.

Don't think new cranks are available for the tridents ?

I’d plump for a Tiger 500 cos i’m cheap.

I see you are using many videos from Russell James Motorcycles KZfaq channel. Have you their permission??

bonnie

Are you from Essex?

Bonny start switch on fuel tickle carbs ignition on go to kick slip on oil patch under bike fall over end up in hospital lmao

I'd choose the Norton Commando

Save up for my 78 Truimph 750 cost me £1042 then it was easier to say what didn't go wrong then did ,heap of shit

Buy a Tiger 🤣🤣🤣

Commando ??

Hinckley rubbish?, come on, 100 times better than Meriden stuff.

The truth is that neither bike was not that popular as everybody bought either a Honda, a Kawasaki, a Suzuki or a Yamaha. Eccentrics bought Ducatis and the rich bought BMWs or Laverdas. Anyone who wanted reliability steered well away from British bikes, which were just rehashes of bikes from a previous era.

Odd that conical brake is poor. Mine will squeal the tyre. Its just a case of setting it up properly and with a heavy duty cable that has no stretch. Remove the brake light switch in the cable.

Try pretending that you don’t need to have the compression ‘spot on’ with either choice, for anyone to even be able to kickstart, first time everytime, either one of those, and I really will laugh in your face!