A punchy engine, a top-notch chassis and iconic style make the Triumph Thruxton RS one of the most desirable café racers on the road.

A motorcycle is the perfect vehicle for exploring a city. Being small and nimble, it allows you to slip through traffic, find creative shortcuts and park like a rock star. Back in the late ?90s, when I was a stressed-out grad student living in Philadelphia, I used student loan money to buy my first motorcycle ? a 1986 Yamaha FZ750 ? and I maxed out my credit card to buy a Shoei helmet and a Vanson leather jacket. Foolishly, I tried to teach myself how to ride by wobbling down hidden alley streets. After a few close calls, I signed up for an MSF course down at the old Navy Yard.

With more confidence and skill, I was soon exploring the city with a newfound freedom, following the contours of the Schuylkill River through Fairmount Park, riding over the city?s many bridges and trying out restaurants tucked away in unfamiliar neighborhoods. But my motorcycle also provided a means of escape from the city, away from streets choked with traffic and lined with parked cars. I?d ride up to New Hope and cruise the leafy-green roads along the Delaware River, or out to the Amish farms of Lancaster County, mindful of horse-drawn buggies that clip-clopped slowly down the road ? and the manure they left behind.
Triumph?s modular Bonneville platform is a stroke of brilliance. Changes to the engine, chassis and styling result in very different models ...