In many ways, the Triumph Bonneville has been the archetype of a standard motorcycle for a very long time. Certain elements may have changed; things like, say, bringing in fuel injection or improving the brakes. But overall, Triumph's engineers and designers have gone to great lengths to ensure a stylistic, reliable throughline on the Bonneville lineup, and it isn't only because of the brand's heritage and story.
It's also because, in stressful times, something most motorcyclists throughout space and time have appreciated is the simple, reliable fact that if we need to get away from whatever's troubling us at any given moment, all we need to do is throw a leg over, switch that ignition on, twist the throttle, and go. Where you go doesn't matter so much as that you go, and go now.
The most crucial element to being able to do exactly that is to have a reliable, dependable, solid motorcycle that you can go on. Not one that's a pain to ride; not one that's fiddly or constantly breaking down, or that requires a complicated startup procedure, or where the controls are in strange and unique places, and you have to put a great deal of thought into whether you did all the things in the correct order. You're not sitting down at the controls for a spaceship you've never been in before; you're mounting up on an essential, elemental thing with a seat, an engine, two wheels, a throttle, and some brakes.
