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Triumph motorcycles was founded by (believe it or not) two Germans named Siegfried Bettman & Muaritz Shulte. Siegfried changed his old company name to triumph, and the company was born in 1902. The first thing they did was take a small Minerva engine to a bike and there was their first motorcycle. Later they designed their own engine.
Around the First World War Triumph developed the H model, later followed by the Model R and the popular 1920’s model P with 500cc’s. Despite the high production of motorcycles during these times, Triumph hit financial problems in 1936 and was sold to Jack Sangster.
Jack Sangster appointed Edward Turner as manager which was an excellent move. Edward managed to turn Triumph around and by upgrading the old designs and renaming them Tiger 70, Tiger 80 and Tiger 90 increased the sales tremendously.
In 1937 Edward launched the Speed Twin 500cc model which started the competition with the then traditional single engines. A smart trick was that the Engine of the Speed Twin fitted nicely into the Tiger 90 frame. The overall pricing at the time wasn’t much more that the single models. The Speed Twin became a huge success.
Triumph upgrade the Tiger 90 to (yes, you guessed right) the Tiger 100 model and together with the Speed Twin dominated the market for a while. The Tiger 100 was said to be able to reach the 100 mph mark – a highlight at the time.
Once again the older models were updated and for the overseas market (usa) the Thunderbird model was introduced in 1950 with a 650cc engine (t-bird was it’s nickname). Nine years later the famous Bonneville was launched from the development of the tiger 110. Bonneville nickname came from the Bonneville salt flats where the modified model was timed at an amazing 214 mph (345 kph) in 1956 – however it was never recognized.
The Bonneville model was updated many times over the next years but it kept most of it’s original design. By 1972 over 250.000 models had been sold. In 1969 the three cylinder T150 Trident was launched. A powerful (740cc’s) retro model. The frame which was used was that of a Speed Twin, adjusted for it’s time. The ride was said to be good but not everybody like the style in those days.
The triple cylinder engine used in the Trident was also used to Triumph X-75 Hurricane. A custom style bike which lead the Japanese factories to their versions of custom bikes later on.
But between 1973 and 1983 the company had hard times keeping it’s head above the water. Even a redesign of the Trident to a modern T160 Trident which had a remarkable good reputation on the market, could not help the financial struggle of Triumph. Triumph was fighting against the high tech designs that companies like Honda were making. Triumph went into liquidation in 1983 after which it was bought by John Bloor.
John Bloor decided to develop a new range of Triumph Motorcycles in secret before launching them. It took 8 years to develop a range of 6 roadsters which could use many of the same components and had same styling features. All major cost savers.
The base model to all roadster was the trident model with a three cylinder 750cc or 885cc engine. The bikes used a strong frame with Japanese brakes and suspensions. The Trophy 1200 and Daytona 1000 were launched and a great success.
In 1664 the street look bike was launched called the Speed Triple also the 885 cc engine. Carefully timed Triumph launched a new Thunderbird model with a stylish retro look at was also based on the 885cc triple engine. The old stylish look was a great success worldwide.
Have monitored the Japanese market closely for the past years Triumph adjusted it’s modular building of motorcycles and developed the first purpose built model – the Daytona TT600. Triumph proved it could compete against the design of Japanese bikes with this successful range of models. The launch of the new 2003 model was even more stylish. Also sports touring models were developed like the Sprint ST & RS.
John Bloor pulled a great introduction of the super famous Bonneville. With a very similar look Bloor introduced the Bonneville model again to a new market which now once again trusted the triumph brand again. The same stunt was done with the speed twins.
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