THE ORIGINAL TRIPLE

In the mid-1960s, Triumph appeared to be on the crest of a wave. Production at the Meriden factory was struggling to meet soaring demand in North America. Its twins were fast, good looking and highly respected, on race circuits as well as the road – American riders loved them, and they made good profits. Nor were Triumph or parent company BSA fazed by the advance of Japanese competition, reasoning that the new breed of small Japanese bikes were encouraging a new generation of younger riders, who would inevitably go on to buy a big British twin. So, happy days.

This all seemed plausible until a major meeting of BSA/Triumph’s top brass. It was a long one, and just when everyone was starting to file out of the room, one sales manager mentioned, almost casually, that he’d heard Honda was planning to launch a 750. This changed everything. The meeting was rapidly reconvened and dynamic BSA Chairman Harry Sturgeon asked engineering chief Bert Hopwood what his