We all do it, think about the what if I had the dosh? What would the hanger look like?

So having been thinking about it for ages I thought I’d come up with my biker’s dozen, the top twelve bikes I’d be out looking for once when those six numbers came up.

By now you’re probably starting to realise that a lot of my list date from a specific era. In particular the things that impressed me as a kid, a student and a young bloke in the early 80s.

And talking of being a student, this next one represents actual homework.

Doing my MBA course at Aston back in the day, understanding innovation in business was a key part of the syllabus. The pros and cons of incremental improvement vs blank sheet of paper fresh thinking was the topic. So when it came time to pick a project to illustrate different approaches it was a no-brainer; Honda CB750 vs every hooligan’s favourite - Kawasaki’s Z1.

I don’t think my tutor was completely convinced, but I had a lot of fun researching and writing it.

And it’s left me with a life long admiration for the machine and the team behind it.

750cc is a big bike? Let’s go 900.

Honda have their overhead cam out? Let’s go DOHC.

Honda ‘styling’? Let’s create something with sexy lines and define what the future looks like while we’re doing it.

You meet the nicest people on a Honda, on a Kwacker however…

We all do it, think about the what if I had the dosh? What would the hanger look like?

So having been thinking about it for ages I thought I’d come up with my biker’s dozen, the top twelve bikes I’d be out looking for once when those six numbers came up.

People love their Triumphs. It’s one of those bikes. I remember visiting a two up two down terraced place in Reading to find a Bonnie had pride of place in the front room – and from the evidence of donuts on the floor boards they’d decided against carpets. Probably for the best given the oil leaks.  

Well here we are at bike number 7 on my list and at last we reach a current production bike.

Just it’s one that’s styled to look like the modern incarnation of a design that first hit the road back in 1959.

At the launch presentation for the T120 Black Triumph apparently told the assembled journalists that ‘icon’ was a much overused word – before going on to make clear that that’s exactly what the new T120 Black was.

The classic Triumph looks we all salivated over back in the day, meets modern manufacturing standards and tech (and not an oil leak in sight) – if that’s not a winning combination I don’t know what is.

And not that I ever want one, but here’s the terrific how they build the Rocket III video, an insight into the making of a modern classic.