Classic Triumph Motorcycles

Motorcycle Classics’ tech expert Keith Fellenstein discusses the correct orientation of the seat straps on a 1967 Triumph 650.

Motorcycle Classics’ tech expert Keith Fellenstein helps a Triumph T140E driver find the correct jetting for Mikuni 34mm round-slide carburetors.

Edward Turner’s vertical twin, the Triumph 5T.

Triumph’s first production vertical twin was not the Speed Twin; it was Valentine Page’s Triumph 6/1.

Join production tester Hughie Hancox on a 1960 test run of the Triumph Cub.

Vintage bike collector stumbles upon a 1970 Triumph Trophy in police deputy’s garage.

Restoration of a Triumph T20M Cub was Andy Granovsky’s most challenging project to date. 

Motorcycle Classics’ tech expert Keith Fellenstein discusses the intricacies of ETC systems on Triumph T100SS Scramblers. 

Motorcycle Classics’ tech expert Keith Fellenstein figures out inconsistent turn signals on a Triumph motorcycle.

Joe Fischer enjoys riding his restored Triumph T150 Trident around his home in the Texas Hill Country.

Best bets on tomorrow’s classics: 1953-1969 Triumph Tiger Cub — The Baby Bonnie

Triumph motorcycles will be the featured marque at the Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Barber Vintage Bike Show at the 8^th Annual Barber Vintage Festival on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012. Guest judges include Barber’s own Brian Slark, motorcycle journalist and vintage racer Alan Cathcart, and helping with the Triumph class Triumph North America CEO Greg Heichelbech!

Motorcycle Classics tech expert Keith Fellenstein revisits head/cylinder compatibility on Triumph 650 engines, noting pushrod tube compatibility.

Motorcycle Classics tech expert Keith Fellenstein solves a inconsistent starting issue on a 1973 Triumph Trident.

Motorcycle Classics tech expert Keith Fellenstein solves more Boyer ignition troubles, this time on a 1970 Triumph Bonneville.

Jennifer Lankford talks about her motorcycle restoration project, rebuilding a vintage Triumph Bonneville. In this project update, she gets the chassis rolling, rebuilds the forks and begins to reassemble the wiring.

To major motorcycle enthusiast Steve McQueen, biking was second only to breathing. Discover the details of his lifelong love of bikes and his motorcycle collection. 

Jennifer Lankford begins restoration of a 1972 Triumph T120V basket case. Originally published as "Give the Gift of Restoration" in the Real Life Wrenching blog at motorcycleclassics.com.

Scott Horr's 1976 Triumph 750 Bonneville was a pristine garage find.

In a nod to the hit cable series Mad Men, Newsweek has published a special Mad Men themed issue, complete with retro ads reflecting the 1960s lifestyle portrayed in the show. The issue includes retro-themed ads from the likes of Mercedes-Benz, AllState, Dunkin’ Donuts, Estee Lauder, Johnnie Walker and – wait for it – Triumph Motorcycles. Taking the fun one step farther, industry insider Ad Age Media has decided to run an online contest for the best ad, giving classic bikes fans a chance to vote for Triumph!

Latus Motors Racing is launching into the 2012 racing season with a tribute to the late Gary Nixon during the Daytona 200 weekend. The Nixon family will attend the weekend to see defending race winner Jason DiSalvo compete on a Triumph – with a paint scheme and leathers that features Nixon’s #9 – that is reminiscent of the Triumphs Nixon raced in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. 

Learn more about the compelling history of Triumph Motorcycles in "Travelling with Mr Turner."

Neale Bayly breaks a land speed record at the Maxon Monster Mile aboard a 1974 Triumph Trident

Ton up boys and Ace Café men welcomed Triumph’s highly-anticipated Steve McQueen Bonneville Tribute at Progressive’s New York International Motorcycle Show. Paying homage to the legendary actor and racer who helped cement Triumph’s status as a cultural icon, Triumph will be offering just 300 units for sale in the U.S. when it hits the market in June.

1922 Triumph motorcycle on display at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Ala.

Bonneville owners and fans alike will engage in Triumph history in the new book Triumph Bonneville: Portrait of a Legend by James Mann and Mick Duckworth. 

Tom Foote and his friend, Jim, have shared some fun times on a 1959 Triumph Tiger Cub.

Tim Nier discusses owning and restoring his 1978 Triumph Bonneville 750 T140E.

You might meet the nicest people on a Honda, but Adam Wright will tell you that the coolest café racers are still British.

1967 was Triumph’s best year ever in the U.S., with an estimated 28,000 bikes sold here.

Curt Haring shares the story behind the restoration of his 1970 Triumph TR6C.

David Haydon was living in Canada when he heard about the Triumph Thruxton Bonneville through an England-based buddy.

The new Hyde Harrier Bonneville is in every way a 21st century take on a 1960s British café racer format.

Jerry Mueller popping a wheelie on his 1964 Triumph TR6 in 1971.

Oscar Buenconsejo shares a photo of him riding an early-1950s Triumph Thunderbird.

The Triumph T100 story begins in 1957, with Triumph’s introduction of the 348cc 3TA (“A” for unit construction) “Twenty-One” model, Triumph’s first twin with the transmission built in unit with the engine. Over the years, it has become one of the most popular classic Triumph motorcycles.

The Motorcycle Classics and Dairyland Cycle Insurance Custom Triumph Bonneville Build is finished!

As part of our Motorcycle Classics/Dairyland Cycle Insurance Bonneville Build, we knew from the beginning we'd want to do something with our 2010 Triumph Bonneville's stock instrument panel. While the stock setup is perfectly functional if even somewhat minimalist, it’s not minimalist enough for what we’re going for with our bobberized Bonneville. An integral element of our project was/is to alter the Bonneville's tallish stance and morph it into something low and lean. The stock gauge setup sits proud of the handlebars and angles back. That arrangement works fine for the stock Bonneville with its upright riding stance, but it wasn't going to cut it with our bike. Enter Seth Bernstein at D9 Brackets.

The 1971 Triumph Bonneville was responsible for Triumph missing that year’s U.S. sales season, and it just about bankrupted the company. So how did South African tuner and racer Nev Fisher turn this Ugly Betty into a custom Triumph beauty queen?
 

The Motorcycle Classics and Dairyland Cycle Insurance custom Triumph Bonneville build takes shape.

Good press wasn't enough to make the 1968 Triumph Trident T150 the home run the company needed but this triple is recognized today as one of the most popular classic Triumph motorcycles.

Motorcycle Classics and Dairyland Cycle Insurance team up to craft a modern take on a custom classic — the bobber.

The Triumph TR5T Trophy Trail 500 isn’t a serious motorcycle, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad motorcycle, either.

The X75 Hurricane has been hailed as the first factory custom and the first cruiser. Its story is unique, and while it’s been told many times, its tellers have often gotten the facts wrong.

Six months ago we turned the first wrench on our Triumph TR6C project, and it’s now finally drawing to a close.

“Bespoke.” A proper British word, it loosely translates to “custom-made.” But custom is a word that’s been thrown around so much that today, when applied to motorcycles, it just doesn’t carry the meaning it once did.

Blame a long, cold winter, but progress on our 1971 Triumph TR6C moved at a glacial pace after our last report in the March/April issue. But with spring’s welcomed arrival, we finally had a chance to get back into the shop and make some headway. And as the pics show, our project bike is starting to come together.

The 2009 Triumph Bonneville SE is the best yet.

American muscle and British style come together for a modern take on a classic theme

It’s not every day you see a 1950 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn sailing along the high desert highway. But it was this unlikely rig that brought Tom Mellor, his wife, Diane, and their 1969 Triumph Trident T150 to the Bonneville Salt Flats last summer, where the Canadian rider set four new World Speed records on the 40th anniversary of the Trident’s first appearance in the summer of 1968.
 

Alan Cathcart road tests the Métisse Triumph Steve McQueen Replica. 

If a bike’s impact on the industry and longevity in production are any measure of success, there are few designs that come close to Triumph’s 500cc Speed Twin.

A home-built version of Triumph's forgotten prototype, the Triumph Quadrant.

Lee Palser remembers his 1981 factory tour of the struggling Triumph workers' Co-op.

1982: It was the year of the Falklands’ War, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and the death of John Belushi. It was also when, in March, Bill Sarjeant’s Triumph Bonneville T140 ES rolled off the production line at Meriden and made its way, Bill reckons, to British Motorcycles on Fraser Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

When we learned we had a 2007 Triumph Scrambler test bike coming our way, we quickly wrote up a list of things to do with it.

If it’s July, it must be time for the Woodstock of classic bike shows, the American Motorcyclist Association’s (AMA) annual Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, July 25-27. 

Triumph's retro-themed T100 Bonneville is a backroad blast, as Andrew Perkins discovered riding one to Legend of the Motorcycle in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

 Bud Ekins, the iconic stuntman who doubled for Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, dies at 77.

Meet Keith Martin, a Triumph specialist in Texas with three very different takes on Triumph's classic parallel twin.

In the mid 1960s, two of the fastest bikes on the road were British: the Triumph Bonneville and the BSA Lightning. Both were 650cc parallel twins, but in design and execution they were very different machines. So which was the better bike?

Restyled and road-ready, the 1975 Triumph T160 Trident was the bike Triumph should have launched in 1968.

The Triumph Thruxton Bonneville propelled Triumph to the winner's circle, and inspired the modern Thriumph café racer

The Triumph T140V Bonneville is a great rideable classic and is much more affordable than its earlier counterparts.

The 1959 Triumph TR6 Trophy was one of the best selling big bikes of the late 1950s and is one of the great classic Triumph motorcycles today.

We take a beat up and unloved 1971 Triumph TR6C Trophy Special and aim to get it back on the road.

Part two of our rebuild of a 1971 Triumph TR6C Trophy.