The rise of Triumph Motorcycles continues as it looks to compete with Royal Enfield in the lucrative Indian market with a brand new range of single-cylinder-engined bikes developed with partner Bajaj.

Triumph Testing brand New Single cylinder engined bikes

Is there no stopping Triumph? It seems not! Barely a month goes by without some impressive new model, heavily revised model, completely new direction or new market-busting strategy is revealed to any ever-more dazzled public.

The latest revelation is not too much of a surprise given that Triumph's partnership with Indian manufacturing giant Bajaj, forged just a couple of years ago, definitely had as a strategic move, a range of smaller capacity bikes intended for the Asian market. Triumph could piggy-back on Bajaj's mass production techniques and dealer network.

And so it has come to pass. Spy shots published by UK magazine Motorcycle News, show what is clearly a single-cylinder Triumph undergoing testing. Whether it is a Triumph-badged Bajaj or a brand new model in its own right is not clear.

As with all spy shots, there are more questions than answers but what we can see is that Triumph is sticking to what it knows and the new bike has a retro vibe to it, in line with its very successful Bonneville and derivatives line. If anything, the new bike has more of a look of the Scrambler 1200 about it.

Triumph could, of course, gone with a scale model of the modern-looking Speed and Street Triples and that may yet happen but for now, retro it is.

Certain parts are lifted from the Bajaj-developed and built KTM 390 Duke - the TFT dash, for example - but that might simply be for reasons of convenience and might not have anything to do with the finished product. But it does demonstrate that Triumph and Bajaj are working together on the project.

It is pretty certain that triumph will be going for the top end of the budget bike market and, to that end, the test bikes have upside down forks, LED lighting, radially-mounted brakes and, should it remain, a TFT dash.

The only things we can surmise about the engine is that it is a single and that it is liquid-cooled. Anything more than that - including the capacity - is mere guesswork at this stage. It would make sense for it to be in the 300-500cc range.

The new bikes could possibly see the light of day by the end of 2022 for an early 2023 introduction into showrooms. For that, all we can do is wait and see.

The new Triumph will face stiff competition in Asia and certainly in India where it will go head-to-head with Royal Enfield and what RE doesn't know about the Indian market and how to succeed isn't worth knowing.

Pictures courtesy of MotoBob and Motorcycle News