1959 Triumph TR6 Trophy
(Page 3 of 5)
July/August 2006
By Roland Brown
Sitting astride the low dual-seat, the bike feels great as I check out the view of slightly raised bars, chromed headlamp with integral ammeter, black-faced 140mph Smith’s speedometer, plus the knob for the friction steering damper. The Trophy pulls away briskly after I prod it into gear with my right boot and let out the very light clutch, and accelerates from idle as crisply as I’d expect of a single-carb Triumph. Its four-speed pre-unit gearbox is reliable, though slightly noisy.
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The Trophy-bird cruises fairly happily at an indicated 70mph, feeling reasonably relaxed, too, but at higher revs I am slightly disappointed that it doesn’t feel more lively. Rolling back the throttle at that speed sends the Triumph forward, but it feels as though it would take some time to reach a top speed of about 110mph, as the proud owner of a new Trophy-bird would have expected it to do given a long enough stretch of either road or desert back in the day.
Not that there is anything wrong with the TR6. It is probably only because I have recently ridden an exceptionally quick Bonneville of similar vintage that the single-carb model seems to lack a little of the rev-happy nature that did so much to make Triumph’s twins popular, especially after the Bonnie’s launch in 1959. It’s also possible that the single-pipe exhaust costs the 649cc pushrod-operated engine a little of its high-rev output, which was rated at 42hp at 6,500rpm.
Still, when the traffic drops away, it isn’t too hard to grab hold of those wide bars, stick my chin on the tank and imagine myself roaring across the sun-baked Mojave with a bunch of equally hard-ridden twins on my tail. For a short time, at least. In typical British parallel twin fashion, vibration begins to be a pain at high revs, so it’s more fun to throttle back, stick to a pace at which the ‘Bird feels pleasantly smooth, and reserve the rapid riding for occasional bursts.
As a bike for modern-day use, the TR6 would be fine, and its handling is well up to the job, too. This bike has Triumph’s original single-downtube steel frame, which on the 650cc models was superseded by a duplex design in 1960. On reasonably smooth roads the Triumph feels very stable, thanks partly to its fairly firm and well-controlled suspension. And it steers easily and precisely, helped by its relatively low weight (180kg/396lb) plus the leverage provided by its wide handlebars.
The Trophy’s Dunlop Gold Seal tires give a reasonable amount of grip on dry roads, too; enough to get a solid-mounted footrest touching down in right-handers. This bike doesn’t have a centerstand, so ground clearance on both sides is pretty good. The biggest letdown is the front brake, a single-leading-shoe drum that requires a very firm squeeze of the lever, and even then doesn’t have much effect. At least the typically sharp rear drum gives some welcomed extra stopping power, as long as I remember it will arrive with a skid.
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