Apart from Harley-Davidsons of various forms, the motorcycle that has made the biggest impact on popular culture is undoubtedly the Triumph Bonneville. If you check IMCDB.org, you’ll find a long list of movies in which the Bonneville has played a supporting role. And like many an old movie star, it made a convincing comeback when British tycoon John Bloor reincarnated the company and produced a modern version of this timeless classic in 2001.

In so doing, Triumph faithfully reproduced the essence of one of the world’s most iconic models. Despite the wholly modern engine design and reinterpreted chassis technology, the company’s determination to retain the Bonneville’s essential characteristics—low weight and compact size—while re-engineering the bike, has much to do with the success enjoyed by the reborn model.

Having benefitted from the public’s acceptance of a replica classic, Triumph evidently now has the confidence to alter some of the basic fabric of the bike, moving away from the vintage look in certain areas and evolving the Bonneville into a contemporary classic. Chief among the new-look additions are cast-alloy wheels with shorter mudguards, and megaphone-style mufflers (the latter borrowed from Triumph’s Thruxton café racer model).

Along with these items came electronic fuel-injection do-developed by Triumph and Keihin, adopted across the whole model line and said to produce exhaust that is five times cleaner than on the previous carburetor models. The throttle-bodies and injectors are skillfully disguised as carburetors to retain the appropriate classic appearance.

There are now three Bonneville-based models; the T100, which is full-on retro model that retains the wire-spoked wheels and bottle-shaped “peashooter” exhausts; the regular Bonneville; and the Bonneville Special Edition (SE). New for 2009, the Bonneville SE model has features not found on its siblings, including a tachometer, a chromed tank badge and brushed alloy engine casings. Specific SE colors are solid black or a two-tone finish with what Triumph calls dark Pacific Blue and Fusion White.

Beyond the cosmetics and additional instrumentation, the SE has identical mechanicals to the standard Bonnie. Despite its resemblance to Edward Turner’s old parallel twin, the Bonneville‘s engine is an 865 cc double-overhead cam design featuring a 360-degree crankshaft and twin counter balancers. Tuned for torque rather than outright power, the engine produces 90-percent of its peak torque (which is 51 pound-feet) from 2,500 rpm through to the 7,000-rpm redline.

As a result, five speeds are more than ample in the transmission, and downshifts are seldom required for passing maneuvers. In fact, it came as a pleasant surprise to someone who’d never ridden a “modern” Bonnie that the machine is as simple and enjoyable to ride as it is, with a friendly nature and easily exploited dynamics. Weighing a claimed 440-pounds sans fluids, the bike possesses light steering and agile handling, contributed in part, I think, by its relatively modest tire sizes; 110/70-R17 in front, 130/80-R17 in the rear.

Since it lacks a center stand to make early contact, ground clearance is pretty good on the SE, and the Bonnie feels confident and stable at pronounced lean angles. A good rider on a Bonneville SE will surprise quite a few sportbike riders in the right environment, but its real strong suit is the easygoing manner in which it will cruise the open road. The big twin feels smooth and relaxed at moderate engine speeds, with just enough of a mechanical pulse coming through to the rider to provide ambiance.

Sure, it’ll pull hard to the 7,000-rpm redline with an exhilarating rush, but that performance is comparatively modest in comparison to the crotch-rockets that proliferate on our roads these days. Nonetheless, you can cruise all day at 80 mph, and that’s about the same speed most of us use while riding on public roads. Besides, the upright riding position becomes wearisome at speeds higher than that.

Up front, there’s a single disc brake gripped by a relatively humble two-piston caliper, but brake performance proved to be surprisingly good, with a firm lever feel and respectable stopping power. The rear brake is almost over-sensitive compared to many of the bikes we’ve ridden, and it takes a little care to avoid lock up during urgent brake applications.

Overall, the Bonneville SE is a pretty well balanced machine. My only real complaint was a rear suspension that delivered rather sudden jolts into my spine over sharp bumps. Other than that, one could mention that the steering can feel slightly too-sensitive at very high speed, the latter undoubtedly born of high lever power in the relatively long handlebars transmitted by one’s own efforts to hang on against the wind. A steering damper might make a nice accessory.

As happens increasingly often these days, a range of accessories is being made available at the same time as the new models. They include rear-seat sissy-bars, various windshields, luggage, alternative seats, and chrome and billet brightwork.

At $8,399, The Bonneville SE commands a modest premium over the base model ($7,699), due to its exclusive specifications. They may not be cheap compared to many competitive mid-size twins on the market, but Bonnevilles enjoy the unique position of being a genuine modern classic. As a bonus, older versions tend to hold their value well. For fans of the marquee, the best thing about the new Bonnie SE is that it is as enjoyable to ride as it is to look at.