An IRON HAND in a velvet glove
In 1953 Triumph were already cutting a swathe through the motorcycle marketplace, with some of the best sports motorcycles in the world arriving in showrooms waiting for eager buyers and adorning catalogues.
Triumph practically invented the mass-market sportsbike with the 500 Speed Twin in 1938 and leaving most of their rivals to play catch up and set the pattern for the design of their twins for the next 40 years. Just a few years later, in 1950, the 500 became a 650 as Triumph bored and stroked the Speed Twin to create the Thunderbird. But attractive as these models were, the sprung-hub rear suspension and old-style saddles were still harking back to the 1930s.
They had already increased the compression and changed the cams on the Speed Twin to create the Tiger T100 when three years later Triumph released the Tiger T110 into the wild, known on the streets as the One-Ten. This tuned up version of the Thunderbird had hotter cams, higher compression and a sprung frame. Triumph debuted their new baby by entering the prototype in the 1953 ISDT where it was ridden by Jim Alves and Britain took the top award in the
