In 1937 Triumph announced a new
bike that took the world by storm. Designed by the famed Edward Turner, the
500cc vertical-twinTriumph Speed Twin was so successful that it set a fashion
that was quickly followed by all the other major British manufacturers.
Grand Prix Victory In 1940 during World War 11, the Triumph factory in Coventry was blitzed.
Production shifted to a new factory at Meriden, the geographical center of
England, where military engines with silicon-aluminum cylinder and head based
on the Speed Twin were built Postwar, a Tiger 100 vertical twin with this
design won the 1946 Manx Grand Prix. By 1949, British bikes were becoming
popular in the United States, and a special American-market Triumph twin, the
650cc Thunderbird, went into production. Triumph became part of the BSA group
in 1951.
World Speed Record Breaker The Triumph twin enjoyed remarkable sport in success and set world speed
records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. In 1955, Triumph power set a
speed record of 193 mph and in 1962 raised the record to almost 225-mph.
Though the record-breaker was a cigar-shaped projectile on two wheels, from
then on Triumph named all of its twin-carburetor sports bikes "Bonneville" to
commemorate the event. The BSA group collapsed in 1973 and Triumph merged with
Norton-Villiers.