Snobs on Triumphs.

[MIXONE]

Yeah - but left due to the climate.

Same as Perth.

It rained part of almost every day for 4 months straight.

That's just normal down the West Coast.

[warewolf]

Dumb question time: At an engineering level is there any commonality between the Meriden and Hinkley eras?
By this I mean when the new Triumphs started rolling from the new plant built by John Bloor were they a completely new platform or an evolution from the existing bikes?

Nothing common at all. According to early sales collateral, there was a milkman who delivered to both sites, and the old fellah who painted the pinstripes by hand stayed on. That was one thing they could not do better with modern machinery. He was given an apprentice pronto.

The Ian Chadwick site (checked on wikipedia) says that John Bloor was the property developer who bought and developed the factory into a housing estate. Out bidding Enfield for the rights to the Triumph name.

I've never heard that before. I will have to check my references (the citations in wikipedia are nearly worthless) but IIRC it was reported the rights to the Triumph name were bundled up with the property that Bloor wanted, he didn't quite know what he'd bought. One wonders if such transactions can be found online, receivership's being a little more public than normal business?? Could be urban myth, but I'm sure I've seen it in print.

They also sent a team of engineers to observe Kawasaki production processes.

Further, they sent designers & engineers to heaps of "worlds best practice" industrials world-wide. The big K, although the smallest of the Jap-4 motorcycle builders, is a massive industrial conglomerate. I suspect the K-word was dropped to try to give "successful global manufacturing" some motorcycle context, but has bitten them in the bum; lots of ppl I've spoken to, many of whom should know better, thought the Hinckleys were a badge-engineered-K (gpz900r revamped, even, due to the end-mounted cam chain!?).

The early bikes did try to be bulletproof for fear of repeating past mistakes and/or being tarred with the same brush. Some of the manufacturing techniques were quite radical for production motorcycles. In addition to the aforementioned: computerised inventory and assembly meant the tolerance on say, that crank pin was matched to the best-fitting conrod big-end. In many ways they were almost "blue printed" engines. The swingarm welding used a different technique, so that it didn't distort. Normal process was weld it, heat it back up and twist it straight again. ICI Britain were involved in developing the plastic for the fairings, which is far more flexible than normal bike fairings.

One thing that is universally accepted for the success of the rebirth: Bloor's deep pockets meant he did not have to kowtow to the accountants and creditors. That does not speak well for all the other rebirth wannabees, unfortunately.


As far as the snobbery goes, I've spoken to lots of ppl in the early Hinckley days (bought my first one in '94 when they drew lots of interest) and many ppl thought anything with a fairing was the work of the slanty-eyed devil, no matter what the badge. End of conversation!

I kicked around with TOMCC briefly some years ago. They were mostly riding jappers or the occasional Hinckley, as the "real" Triumph was in bits being restored, or broken again, or too nice after the resto to ride on the road. No real animosity to the Hinckleys at all though, most were quietly pleased.

[avgas]

Same with the new ones - Thruxton in particular - clean and unclean - 'I remember I had one just like that in 1953'

True.
So are you saying its only a matter of time until Triumph makes a 'bathtub' model.

Some how I don't think some things will come back. 1 of those is the Velocette LE Velo....... however I would not run that idea past Oberdan Bezzi.....

[davebullet]

Taste aside - right now the Modern ones compare well with any similar class of vehicle.

The 1050 triple is in my opinion the best mass produced street motorcycle powerplant yet.

Of any of the several hundred I've evaluated anyway.

I was just taken when I test rode one a few weeks back (Speed Triple) - and just had to lay down my greens and buy one Besides, the thought of a 3 cylinder engine to most people would be a bastardisation or abberation - I quite like that idea. Far more bike than I'll ever have the skill to utilise... and I like that!

[Paul in NZ]

True.
So are you saying its only a matter of time until Triumph makes a 'bathtub' model.

Some how I don't think some things will come back. 1 of those is the Velocette LE Velo....... however I would not run that idea past Oberdan Bezzi.....

Well - in a fashion the bathtubs have been back for a long time.

The motorcycle comapnies were very concerned by the scooter craze and after a lot of customer research decided that a motorcycle with better weather protection and more bodywork (easy to clean and you didn't get your clothes dirty riding them) was the way to go. Nearly every designer and major brit maker took a tilt at it, they were all pretty hopeless on the sales front and the bathtub was probably the best of a bad bunch. The original 3ta with the 17" wheels etc was a scooterish motorcycle as it were...

Of course the market changed but look at the hyper scoots and bikes like the ducati paso or cbr1000... The personification of the bathtub. In triumphs case, the old trophy touring models with acres of fairing etc.

[Big Dave]

The DN-01 of the time.

Nacelles. WTF is up with nacelles.

[avgas]

True.
But in saying that its still not the same exactly.
Its not like the following, that had to be brought back from 'history':
- Fork gators on road bikes
- Chrysler PT Cruiser
- Norton Commando
- Thruxton tail
- Bell bottoms

[Paul in NZ]

The DN-01 of the time.

Nacelles. WTF is up with nacelles.

Dunno - like spats on the rare wheels of saloon cars they were a 50's thing. Kind of oh gosh - now we have telescopic forks we can mess about with headlamp mountings or something.... A styling touch to give the rocket bike look? Bleaugh! Triumphs were nicer than most but IMHO they were all horrible and got in the way of things.

I like Turner / Wickes styling in general, as a complete package the bikes were very nice but they all had bad days ;-)

[Motu]

It wasn't just Triumphs that had narcelles,BSA and Ariel had them too...although they were under the same umbrella,but we weren't supposed to know that.I don't think AMC had them,but Norton had their own bathtub,but no one wanted a featherbed covered in by tin ware,so most were removed.You can see plenty of bathtub and bikini Triumphs around,but a Norton with original rear covering is pretty rare.My 99 had the lugs on the frame,but the panels were long gone.

[Brian d marge]

oi
Enfield had and still do have the nicest nacelles

Stephen

[Dodgyiti]

I'm still waiting for the scrambler to have a major failing/breakdown/oil leak.
Guess I havn't got much to add to their group conversations after all. Meh.

I don't think it will have anything major fail, so your right, you won't have much to add to their group conversations. Not even kickstart tips..

Guess that could be one of the reasons you held no interest to them. Modern bike riders don't get into the depth of mechanical knowledge and 'dark arts' that vintage and classic bike riders do simply because they don't need to.
Personally I would rather talk to someone who knows what makes thier bike tick and can pass on some of that knowledge rather than some modern bike riders that can only recommend different brands of polish

[ellipsis]

..funny ol life, innit...couldn't come anywhere near the $1099 it cost for a new bonne' in '73, which is all I wanted, but I did have $400 and it bought me a year old T250 hustler , upswept black pipes. Lost a few people who I thought were mates at the time because of what I rode...could never figure it out, really...seemed to get worse over that period and I ended up getting rid of the hustler, just because of the shit a smart arsed young prick with a penchant for racing brit bikes up on the summit road, got himself into...I always loved the triumph marque, (meriden), still do...and it seems a lot of the wank that was then, is still, now...buggered off to the uk in 1980...got strange looks for owning a triumph over there...hmmmm...haven't owned a cz or a ural yet, but yer never know...got a cool little velo...attracts old buggers like flies to horse shit...sometimes I wish they would leave me alone and dribble over someone else...nicest bike I can remember riding was a tiger with short megaphones and full westerns to hang onto...felt like Steve McQueen...but the sportster fills all the gaps now...

[tri boy]

Guess that could be one of the reasons you held no interest to them. Modern bike riders don't get into the depth of mechanical knowledge and 'dark arts' that vintage and classic bike riders do simply because they don't need to.

Some do actually
Otherwise Shaun Harris wouldn't be punting a bombed out scrambler in a serious frame this summer.
And after over twenty years working on bikes, engines, and machinery the reliablity is one of the blessings of these new bikes.
I'm well past dialling in cams with degree wheels,and modifying shit ignition systems

[Big Dave]

I'm well past

yeah - I had 10 years of enjoying keeping my Tbird pristine. But you run out of elbow grease eventually, my Buell has no bright finish parts and only needs a quick tub every few months to look OK.

Leaves me more time to play with my puppy and dribble on the internet.

[Paul in NZ]

Sigh - here we go again....