Triumph 900 THRUXTON édition spéciale ACE 2015 — Specifications

Picture London in the early sixties, a pack of Rockers in leather jackets squaring off on the North Circular Road, the needle pinned to the dial and the sound of a parallel twin echoing between the building fronts. That is the entire mythology Triumph summons with its 2015 Thruxton 900, and even more so with this limited series christened ACE, an unabashed tribute to the London temple of the café racer. One hundred units only, not one more, for the faithful who want a slice of the legend with a certificate of authenticity stuck on the tank.

Visually, the wink is delivered without flinching. The Pure White & Jet Black livery picks up the graphic signature of the Stonebridge establishment, the Oxblood seat adds that burgundy touch that smells of leather patinated by a thousand departures, and the bar ends host genuine little mirrors that force you to lean over to check who is on your tail. ACE Cafe stickers adorn the dummy carburetors and the flank of the 16.6 litre tank, while a commemorative plaque sits proudly on the upper triple clamp. Unabashed fetishism, and that is just fine.

Beneath this outfit, you find the mechanicals known since the Bonneville, namely the 865 cc vertical twin, a properly British square bore-stroke at 90 by 68 mm, air cooled and topped with four valves per cylinder. The cavalry peaks at 69 horsepower at 7400 rpm, torque tops out at 67.7 Nm from 5800 rpm, and top speed hovers around 190 km/h. On paper, a Kawasaki W800 does less, a Moto Guzzi V7 plays in the same league, and a Ducati Scrambler of the same era delivers a slap in terms of pure output. But reducing the Thruxton to a table of figures is missing the point entirely.

The double cradle steel frame, the 41 mm telescopic hydraulic fork, and the two old-school side shocks own their line of conduct, that of clean and flowing riding rather than chasing the clock. At 230 kg fully fueled, it is no featherweight, and the five-speed gearbox is a reminder that you are not on a modern sportbike. The braking, a 320 mm front disc pinched by a two-piston caliper, does the job without shining, especially against the German competition equipped with ABS as standard and radial calipers. The 820 mm seat height remains accessible, but the semi-prone position on the clip-ons wrecks your lower back after two hours of motorway. You have been warned.

At 10,490 euros, the price holds up for a numbered series, and we remain far from the usual speculative drift on this sort of marketing exercise. The target audience is crystal clear, namely the urban thirty- or forty-something who wants a motorcycle to look at as much as to ride, who stops for an espresso more often than he dives into a corner, and who embraces the fashion side. Those seeking modern bite will look toward Triumph as well, but at the Street Triple. For the others, the ones who shiver at the idea of an Ace Cafe Reunion in Brighton, this special edition has already won its bet before turning a wheel.