Proper job

Edward Turner was probably the best-known personality in the British motorcycle industry, but that didn’t mean he had an unblemished record. He made his name with the Ariel Square Four, but the model which endured until the late-1950s owed little to his original concept except its cylinder arrangement. And while ET’s prewar Speed Twin was arguably the single most important model in the history of British motorcycling, the record of its successors was sullied by unpopular styling flourishes including rear wheel enclosure. In hindsight it seems that every success like the Bonneville was counterbalanced by a lemon like the Tina scooter.

That much is clear, but it’s not so easy to rank the Triumph Tiger Cub, either as a motorcycle or as a marketing concept. Taking the latter point first, Turner’s reasoning behind its introduction (and that of its Terrier