I’ve just bought a pre-owned Triumph Bonneville; a 2011-model with frighteningly low mileage and a price tag I could afford. As is customary with any bike purchase, the process of buying it was rife with visits to the place I bought the bike from: Triumph Cape Town.
Why does that matter? Because it means that I was one of the lucky few to bear direct witness to the process that any shop (or home) owner dreads—renovation. I saw the floors ripped up, walls knocked down, and owner Jörg Vogel’s tangible dismay at having to constantly battle an unending stream of dust.
But it was all worth it in the end. Triumph’s new Cape Town showroom is slick and spacious, but also sort of warm and homely. And it’s doubled in size, too.
Let’s rewind for a second. Triumph Cape Town’s story really starts in 2005, when German-born Jörg realised that the best way to see South Africa is from the back of a motorcycle. That prompted him to launch Cape Bike Travel—a motorcycle rental company that’s still in business today, 18 years later.
But by 2012, CBT had become too big to run out of a garage. That’s when Jörg moved the company to a new location, at 125c Buitengracht Street in the Cape Town CBD. Business continued to go well, and Jörg eventually took over the shop next door as well.
Meanwhile, Triumph did exist in Cape Town—but under the stewardship of the importer at the time, Kawasaki Motors South Africa. Anyone around back then remembers Mike Hopkins, and his cosy Triumph/Kawasaki shop in Bree Street.
Mike Hopkins Motorcycles had a journey of its own. Mike eventually sold the business, which then moved to a prime location in Harrington Street, just off Roeland Street. The shop moved a couple more times, merged with another dealership, and now resides in Cape Town’s Northern Suburbs.
But in 2017, Triumph UK decided to tighten up their global branding directives—and putting their bikes alongside other brands in showrooms was off the table. KMSA were an unfortunate casualty of the changeover, and so Triumph UK needed a new custodian of the brand in South Africa.
The newly formed Triumph South Africa officially launched on 1st of March 2018, headed by Bruce Allen. I can say with confidence that Bruce is one of the most genuine human beings in the South African motorcycle industry today. It’s a little-known fact, but he only started riding motorcycles when talks first began to take over the brand (his rationale was that he can’t very well sell motorcycles if he doesn’t ride them himself). Now he rides daily.
The handover wasn’t without its wobbles. Bruce knew he had to start small to re-establish the Triumph brand, so he distilled the operation to one showroom, located in Johannesburg. The existing Triumph dealerships were kept on as official service centres for a period, and some of them held demo fleets—but any new business was being done in Jozi only.
Cape Town-based customers could still get their bikes serviced at MHM, and could order new bikes from the mothership upcountry. But that’s not the same as having a dedicated dealership in your home town.
That’s where Triumph and Cape Bike Travels’ stories collide. By 2020, Bruce could no longer put off the idea of opening a Cape-based dealership. After much searching, he realised that Jörg’s shop was the perfect base of operations, and the two struck a deal.
Jörg converted half of his premises into a Triumph showroom, and dedicated the other half to the workshop and his rental business. But there was a catch—as soon Triumph Cape Town reached a steady annual sales figure of 75 bikes a year, the showroom would need to be upgraded to conform to Triumph’s global ‘Triumph Black’ identity.
Bruce and Jörg estimated that this would take three or four years to achieve… but two years down the line, Triumph Cape Town were already 20% over the mark. And that brings us to their recent renovations.
After three months of dust, sweat and tears, the new Triumph Cape Town ‘Black’ showroom officially opened this past Friday. It’s no longer a split shop either—since the CBT rental fleet is now all-Triumph, Jörg decided to break the dividing walls down and reconfigure it as one big shop. And it paid off.
The new showroom is a stunner, and a far cry from your typical dingy bike shop. The branding is clear and crisp, and the finishes are modern without feeling stale or clinical. Black and wooden finishes are sprinkled throughout, while the few closed offices there are enclosed in glass.
A boardroom table sits at the centre of the shop, right next to a coffee counter that’s adorned with historic Triumph imagery. The coffee is free, as is the WiFi. It’s surrounded by sales desks, motorcycles, clothing and accessories, and an easily accessible parts and service counter.
To celebrate the opening, Triumph Cape Town hosted a little shindig for customers, friends and the press. It was a typical food-and-drinks affair, punctuated by speeches from Bruce and Jörg. But what really stood out, was the sense of pride and excitement exhibited by both men.
Jörg was so emotional, in fact, that he actually pre-recorded his ‘thank you’ messages to Triumph, his family and his eight-strong team, because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get through them otherwise. I’m not sure he imagined when he first opened his rental business, that he’d still be doing it nearly two decades later—while also representing a brand that’s 120 years old.
As for me, I know where I’ll be getting my Bonneville serviced in the future.
