Triumph

Triumph Motorcycles is a famous manufacturer of motorcycles based in Hinckley, United Kingdom. more...

History

The company's roots began in 1883 when Siegfried Bettmann moved to Coventry in the UK from Nuremberg, part of the German Empire. Bettman sold bicycles but used the brand name Triumph rather than his own. He was joined by another Nuremburg engineer Maritz Schulte and they produced their own bicycles. In 1896, Bettmann established a German subsidiary for cycle production in his native city, which became part of the Triumph-Adler Company. When the internal combustion engine led to the first motorcycles they Bettman and Schulte turned to motorcycle production.

In the 1920s Triumph purchased the former Hillman car factory in Coventry and produced a saloon car under the name of the Triumph Motor Company. Harry Ricardo produced an engine for their latest motorbike.

Triumph struggled to make a profit from cars. The bicycles and motorcycles were sold off as the Triumph Cycle Co . In 1936, Jack Sangster of Ariel Ltd purchased the motorcycle division, to form the Triumph Engineering Co Ltd largely led by ex-Ariel employees.

World War II

Motorcycles were produced at Coventry until World War II. The town of Coventry was virtually destroyed in The Blitz (September 7, 1940 to May, 1941). Tooling and machinery was recovered from the site of the devastation and production restarted at the new plant at Meriden, West Midlands in 1942.

Post War

The Triumph brand received considerable publicity in the United States when Marlon Brando rode a 1950 Thunderbird 6T in the 1953 motion picture, The Wild One.

Triumph were sold to their rivals BSA by Sangster in 1951. Sangster was to return as chairman of the BSA Group in 1956.

The Speed Twin designed by Edward Turner before the war was produced in large numbers after the war. Efforts to settle the lend-lease debts caused nearly 70% of Triumphs post war production to be shipped to the United States. To satisfy the American appetite for motorcycles suited to long distance riding, Turner increased the capacity of the Speed Twin to 650 cc. The new bike was named the Thunderbird (a name Triumph would later license to Ford for use on a car), and only one year after it was introduced a hot rodder in Southern California mated the 650 Thunderbird with a twin carb head originally intended for GP racing and named the new creation the Wonderbird. It went with a few gallons of Nitromethane to the dry lakes and Bonneville. That 650 cc motor, designed in 1939, held the world's absolute speed record for motorcycles from 1955 until 1970.

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