The Source
EDWARD Turner’s Triumph 5T Speed Twin was not the world’s first four-stroke parallel twin on its launch in 1937, but it was the first to make the concept popular. Compact and light, stylish and fast, the radical new ‘multi’ eventually spawned similar models from Norton, BSA and many others, heralding the golden age of the Universal British Motorcycle in the 1950s and ’60s.
After falling out of fashion in the following decades, the parallel twin got a new lease on life with the relaunch of the retro-themed Triumph Bonneville in 2001, culminating in the all-new water-cooled 1200cc models last year that everyone’s talking about. The technology is totally different, but the physical resemblance between the new bikes and the original is very strong and not entirely coincidental.
Enter Phil Canning, a 52-year-old motorcycle enthusiast from Victoria with an enviable collection which includes a Series C Vincent Black Shadow, a replica Black Lightning historic racer, and a just-completed 1981 Ducati 900 Super Sport,
