How the Triumph triple was reborn

House-builder John Bloor had everything against him when he started his Triumph revival mission in the mid-1980s against a backdrop of embarrassing British bike company failures.

By 1990 a modest range of six bikes, including four triples, had been revealed. Over the following decade, the range was expanded and the laughter died down, to be replaced by patriotic cheers. Triumph really was back.

The use of the triple proved to be a shrewd move. Sales chief Bruno Tagliaferri explained: ” The three-cylinder engine is our trademark, in the way that Ducati has its V-twin and Honda has its four. Nowadays a manufacturer must offer something that is highly individual to compete with the Japanese. ”

It’s a startegy that seems to have worked, even though many of Triumph’s current customers will know little of the original triples. Anyway, the new engines are nothing like those triples of old. Where the old Trident engines were overhead-valve, the new triples are dohc.

Old British firms had a fine reputation for leaking oil mainly because the crankcases were built in two hales and joined vertically. The new triples copy the Japanese in having horizontally split cases, so there’s no pool of oil sitting permanently across the join.

Now the 955cc Speed Triple, with its fuel injection and electronic engine management, produces 108bhp at 9200rpm. The Trident, with its three Amal carburettors, eased out 58bhp at 7250rpm. That will be progress, then.