What's In A Name?

A lot, actually - especially if it is as fabled as the Thruxton

- By Manaal Mahatme Photographs Kaizad Adil Darukhanawala

The jukebox started with the jagged, distorted guitar snarl of The Kink's You Really Got Me, the 'rebels' around cheer on as I slot my Triumph into the first gear and sprint to the roundabout and come back to the cafe... all before the song ends.

Of course, that wasn't real but just me drifting off into a perfectly scripted daydream. Triumph's presentation of the Thruxton 400 had painted the café culture of 1960s London so vividly that, for a moment, I felt like I'd been there, living it, jukebox and all. And somehow this baby Thruxton fit into that scene almost perfectly. But then again, cafe racers can do that effortlessly, and as for the House of Hinckley? It should be even easier, no?

The baby Thruxton could have easily looked like a Speed 400 with a fairing slapped on, and the weirdly shot pictures that leaked before the launch did make it seem that way, but in reality, Triumph did put in a lot of effort into the design and the overall appeal... But did the British marque get it right, though? Well, almost.