Triumphrat

hogwylde

Don't own a Triumph but I am a fan of them and have a question that most here will be able to answer. Where does the name "Hinckley" come from and what does it represent?

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parrycm

Triumphs used to be made in Meriden in Warwickshire until the 80's - then John Bloor bought the name and built a new factory in Hinckley, Leicestershire. So the factory locations are used to differentiate whether you are talking about older Triumphs or the modern generation of Triumphs.

Incidentally, the above county names are pronounced "Warrick-sher" and "Lester-sher"

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Chris

"Panniers can never hold everything you want, but they CAN hold everything you need."

hogwylde

Interesting. Thank you!

So what you're saying is that all Triumph models were built in both places - with Hinckley being the latest location? Is the name Meriden used in the same fashion to denote the older Triumphs? Were any changes made in the bikes when they moved?

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The mind is like a parachute. Works best when open.

hogwylde

BTW......here in Massachusetts we have towns with the names like Worcester and Leominster so the pronounciation isn't a problem :-D

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parrycm

No - there's no overlap in the models and there's no commonality other than the model names. The first Triumphs built at Hinckley all had three cylinder water- cooled engines of 750 and 885cc. Becuase it was a modular design, they also made a four cylinder 1200cc variant.

Production Meriden Triumphs were all air-cooled - the commonest of which were parallel twins of 500/650/750cc. They also built a 750cc aircooled triple.

Check out this link for more detail - http://www.ianchadwick.com/motorcycles/triumph/

[ This message was edited by: parrycm on 2007-04-08 12:18 ]

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Chris

"Panniers can never hold everything you want, but they CAN hold everything you need."

hogwylde

I appreciate you taking the time to clarify things for me. I'm checking the site out now. Thank you again.

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The mind is like a parachute. Works best when open.

tridentt150v

Don't mention Coventry!!!!!!!!!

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tridentt150v,
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ChiefTBS

It's important to understand that there was a nearly a decade between the closing of the Meriden factory and the opening of the Hinckley facility. During that period Motorcycle technology elsewhere advanced at a rapid pace. Also, the Meriden and even earlier Coventry-built Triumphs were well known for tempramental electric systems and carburetors. Basicly, the marque was known for being good motorcycles that nevertheless required a lot of maintenance to stay on the road. Of course, that opinion in America was strengthened by the difficulty in getting repair parts from England - especially after "old" Triumph went out of business. So when Bloor restarted the company, he knew that merely building the old models wasn't going to cut it. Having a classic name goes a long way, but it's not enough to build a sucessful buisness upon. By concentrating on the reliability of the new models, and by producing a series of new models with similar engines and suspension systems the new Triumph minimized thier startup R&D costs while dispelling any lingering doubts about reliability. The downside is that the first generation of the new bikes did not offer as high performance as the competition from Japan.

[ This message was edited by: ChiefTBS on 2007-04-12 17:15 ]