Triumph Thruxton R

Vimal Sumbly, Managing Director, Triumph Motorcycles India, accepts the award for the Thruxton R.

Your classics range is all new, how’s it doing so far?

Well, because it’s a new product line up it’s doing extremely well. We’re sold out in fact! The Thruxton R is sold out till Jan-Feb next year, and it’s the same case with the T120. For the T100, we’ve supplied 40 bikes – all of which are booked. But classics are our forte, so I’m not worried on that front. The other area where we’re doing very well is adventure. Our Tiger Academy has done very well for us. If you look at the whole genre of motorcycling, India is strong in the commuter segment. India is also strong in adventure, because we’re very adventurous people. Who would have thought that you could price an adventure bike between 10 and 20 lakhs, and have 525 units on the road.

Do you really think the T100 can become a commuter bike?

Yes, in my opinion, the T100 will become a commuter bike. All over the world, Bonnevilles are ridden to offices. And even in big cities in India, we’re seeing people riding their Bonnies to office. And the manoeuvrability of the T100 is simply phenomenal. It’s such a comfortable motorcycle that I rode it at the Donington Park racetrack for two-anda-half hours non-stop – it was that comfortable! Plus, it has a 14-litre tank and it’s 22% more fuel efficient than the previous model – so I didn’t even need to stop for fuel. Of course, it’s also lighter than the previous model, so you can literally move the handlebar with your fingertips. Also, the twin-cylinders are phenomenal, because they’re perfectly balanced and work best to reduce vibrations.

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