Triumph Hurricanes, ya had to give em away

**jellywrestler** · 23rd April 2013, 22:09

I was chatting with an old friend the other day and he told me the importers brought into NZ two Hurricanes to see how the market would take em. They couldn't sell either and gave them away as prizes in a competition, one north island and one south.
Now look at what they sell for!

**Paul in NZ** · 24th April 2013, 08:11

Yes - a step too far for traditional british bike owners back in the day.... Its also the reason so many survived in new or near new condition.

Much like the original 'Trident' which was styled outside of the company by OGLE. So many remained unsold that Triumph had to produce a 'beauty kit' to sell them in 1970 sales year. When I met with Jack Wilson all those years back he repeated the reported story of the launch of the bikes in the USA. The dealers all thought it was part of the famous british sense of humour and that they would wheel out the real bike soon. (remembering the prototype P1 was very conventionally styled)... "Hell - the one thing Triumph did right was the look of the thing - we just wanted what we had with a better engine. Isntead the wrecked the one good selling point and the damn thing still didnt run right..."

Funny how much an original ray gun trident is worth now.... Let alone a Rocket 3...

The Hurricane was a great idea though and showed that the brits could offer new ideas its just a damn shame they couldnt afford to develop new power trains.

**MIXONE** · 24th April 2013, 08:39

I must be one of the few who loved it at first sight.Still do!

**Paul in NZ** · 24th April 2013, 09:00

Originally Posted by MIXONE

I must be one of the few who loved it at first sight.Still do!

Yeah but did you buy one? (I was still at school so no way could I afford one)

**MIXONE** · 24th April 2013, 09:10

Originally Posted by Paul in NZ

Yeah but did you buy one? (I was still at school so no way could I afford one)

No I was also still at school.

**GrayWolf** · 24th April 2013, 09:40

Originally Posted by Paul in NZ

Yes - a step too far for traditional british bike owners back in the day.... Its also the reason so many survived in new or near new condition.

Much like the original 'Trident' which was styled outside of the company by OGLE. So many remained unsold that Triumph had to produce a 'beauty kit' to sell them in 1970 sales year. When I met with Jack Wilson all those years back he repeated the reported story of the launch of the bikes in the USA. The dealers all thought it was part of the famous british sense of humour and that they would wheel out the real bike soon. (remembering the prototype P1 was very conventionally styled)... "Hell - the one thing Triumph did right was the look of the thing - we just wanted what we had with a better engine. Isntead the wrecked the one good selling point and the damn thing still didnt run right..."

Funny how much an original ray gun trident is worth now.... Let alone a Rocket 3...

The Hurricane was a great idea though and showed that the brits could offer new ideas its just a damn shame they couldnt afford to develop new power trains.

I seem to remember the X-75 hurricane was a 'Craig Vetter' job, not a Triumph UK build.... but then ageing memory might be failing.

**HenryDorsetCase** · 24th April 2013, 09:41

ten years ago what, $20-$25k, now people want $50k for them!

there was one on tardme recently (like maybe last month?)

Presumably one of you well heeled gents purchased it as an investment?

**Paul in NZ** · 24th April 2013, 10:03

Originally Posted by GrayWolf

I seem to remember the X-75 hurricane was a 'Craig Vetter' job, not a Triumph UK build.... but then ageing memory might be failing.

From Wikipeadia

Vetter was commissioned by BSA's US distributor to customise the BSA Rocket 3 to appeal more to American tastes.

When, in 1968, the new BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident triples were shown to the American BSA-Triumph management, they were underwhelmed. They knew Honda had an important bike (the CB750) coming along, and they felt the triple's price of $1800 [4] was too high and that technical details (like vertically-split crankcases and pushrod ohv valve train) were far from "cutting edge". However, they acknowledged that the bike was fast, and a sales team led by BSA Vice-President Don Brown decided to launch the bike by using a Rocket-3 to set some records at Daytona, records which were broken in 1971 by the Kawasaki Z1.

Brown felt that the BSA/Triumph triples needed a different look to succeed in the USA, and he engaged designer Craig Vetter to give the BSA A75 a customised face-lift, with a brief to make it "sleeker and more balanced". (Brown revealed the Vetter project to Peter Thornton, President of BSA/Triumph North America, but as Brown's initiative had not been authorised by BSA, Vetter had problems being paid, waiting two years for his fee).

Vetter created the Triumph Hurricane in the summer of 1969,[5] and in October 1969 he unveiled the prototype with "BSA" on the tank as the new ‘Rocket Three’.[6] Thornton and the American officials were impressed, and Vetter's bike was then sent to the UK, but the bike arrived in England just as the BSA marque was about to be ended. At BSA-Triumph's design facility at Umberslade Hall, the design was seen as too "trendy" by chief designer Bert Hopwood; but after very positive public reaction to the design when it appeared on the front of US magazine Cycle World in October 1970, the UK managers changed their minds. They realised they had a large stock of obsolete BSA Rocket-3 parts that could now be turned into a premium-priced motorcycle.

Engineer Steve Mettam was given the job of supervising production for the 1972/3 season; and the Vetter BSA Rocket3 became the Triumph X75 Hurricane. 1,183 engines were put aside for X75 production. However, BSA was facing bankruptcy and the design went into a limited production run of 1200 as the Triumph X-75 Hurricane in 1972. Production stopped in 1973 after the X-75 was unable to meet new American noise standards.[7]

The prototype BSA Hurricane is on display at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame museum in Pickerington, Ohio.

I have a Cycle World someplace with a Vetter revamped twin as well. It looked very nice as well...

History of the bike is here

http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/mot...le%20TT-1.html

**HenryDorsetCase** · 24th April 2013, 11:44

Has anyone got an XS650 lying around? this is a good looking kit:

http://phillittleracing.com/motorcyc...orm-conversion

**Motu** · 24th April 2013, 12:05

One sat in the showroom of Shafts in Hall St Otahuhu for a long time, until a guy at the panel shop next door to me bought it - we thought he was crazy, it was like $2,500 ! In the days of fuel rationing and tanker driver stikes the fuel tank was just too small for his trips to Taranaki, so he made an auxilary tank that fitted behind the seat. He dropped it in the Awakino Gorge and made a mess of those beautiful pipes, but with his metal working skill you would never know they had been damaged.

**trustme** · 24th April 2013, 17:48

I remember pics of the Bonneville revamp, less radical than the Trident but real pretty . Wish I could find a pic.

**Road kill** · 24th April 2013, 18:41

Originally Posted by GrayWolf

I seem to remember the X-75 hurricane was a 'Craig Vetter' job, not a Triumph UK build.... but then ageing memory might be failing.

Yep got the book open in front of me right now.
It's wasn't even a Triumph it was a BSA.
1171 of them built.
June of 1969 Vetter got paid $12,000 plus he got to keep #1.

Personaly never liked the frigin' things anyway.
Rather have the T160,,,,,,it's Brittish

.