Triumph Bonneville T214 Land Speed Limited Edition Celebrates Bonneville Speed Record History
Back in 1959, the original Triumph Bonneville was named to celebrate a place of importance in Triumph history – Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.
Three years before, Texan Johnny Allen piloted his Triumph-powered “Texas Cee-gar” streamliner to a new absolute motorcycle world land speed record — 214.40 mph.
For 2015, the Bonneville line will have a new limited edition to celebrate that milestone in Triumph history: the Bonneville T214 Land Speed Limited Edition.
The Special Edition also commemorates a milestone for the Bonneville Salt Flats itself — 100 years of land speed record competition.
The “Texas Cee-Gar,” a non-supercharged Triumph Thunderbird 650 powered, methanol-fueled motorcycle with a streamlined shell was built by airline pilot J.H. “Stormy” Mangham, and Fort Worth dealer, tuner and 2001 Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee, Jack Wilson and piloted by legendary Texas racer Johnny Allen.
The 214.4 mph land speed record lasted until 1962 and was broken by Bill Johnson, riding the nitro methane powered Dudek Triumph streamliner to a speed record of 224.57 mph.
The Texas Cee-Gar currently resides in the National Motorcycle Museum, near Birmingham, England. It was damaged in a devastating fire at the museum in September 2003. The fire-damaged Cee-Gar was restored by a team in Texas led by Keith Martin of Big D Motorcycles who had worked for Jack Wilson. Now in pristine condition, the Cee-Gar complete with its 650cc Thunderbird engine looks just as it did on that famous day, 6th September 1956.
The new Bonneville T214 Limited Edition, based on the T100 Black featuring the 865cc DOHC, parallel-twin with 360º firing interval, pays homage to the land-speed record achievement. The hand painted Caspian Blue and Pure White color scheme complete with red and white checker detailing echoes that of the 1956 Texas Cee-Gar.
A special tank badge atop the tank recalls Allen’s record speed and special badge atop the handlebar clamp carries the model name and number in the series. Vintage styled pea-shooter mufflers and tank side badges recall the look of the Triumph street bikes of the day.
The blue front mudguard shares the same white star motif from the nosecone of the iconic streamliner. The shortened rear mudguard combined with blacked out wheel rims, handlebars, and rear suspension springs add to the authentic look which is complimented with red seat stitching detail and a smaller front headlight.
Limited to a total of 1000 bikes worldwide, each individually numbered, the T214, is priced from $9,999. It will be in Triumph dealerships beginning November 2014. As with all Triumphs, the T214 comes with an unlimited mileage, two-year factory warranty. Service intervals are every 6000 miles, or one year, whichever comes first.
