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Timeline

– 1902 to today

The roots of Triumph motorcycles go way back to the late 19th century when founding entrepreneur, Siegfried Bettmann, settled in Coventry, England and capitalised on a ripe English bicycle market. Bicycles soon became motorcycles and the evolution of one of the most famous names in motorcycling had begun.

1960'S

The ‘60s were to prove a fabulous decade for motorcycling in general and Triumph had a winning formula. The Bonneville was a fantastic success - the definitive sports twin of the ‘60s - both in Britain and in the States and competition success at the Isle of Man TT and Daytona spawned a myriad of models.

1961 T120R	1965 500cc Twin Daytona	1969 Bonneville 650

Marlon Brando

Steve McQueen

Social acceptibility of motorcycles was at an all time high. Bikes were still at the heart of everyday transport for many people but were also appearing in the coolest films of the decade, alongside screen stars such as Steve MacQueen and Marlon Brando. Added to this was the birth of the rebellious teenager, who turned their motorcycles into cult café racers.

Triumph’s output peaked at around 50,000 bikes a year with sixty percent of exported, primarily to the US. 

Harry Sturgeon, an ex-MD of a BSA group subsidiary, took over from Turner in 1967 and continued Triumph’s policy of evolution rather than revolution.

But rumours of a Japanese 750 became more persistent and eventually could not be ignored so Sturgeon gave the go ahead to the development of a three cylinder 750. The design was pushed through and became the Triumph Trident (T150) and BSA Rocket Three.