Triumphrat

English_Spanner · 04-22-2008

When I went on the factory visit/tour 18 months ago I was told that Triumph would be building bikes in Thailand for the Asian and Australian markets, Main reason being something to do with less duties to pay in the countries they're sold in if they're built in that part of the world.

Snapper Kris · 04-22-2008

Pardon me intruding on your forum as a Tiger rider. I've followed all this with interest, however I've checked my VIN with several VIN decoders on the net and in most cases it comes up as 'invalid', I've checked my documentation against the plate on the bike itself and it's correct. The plate itself by the way says Triumph Motorcycles Ltd Hinckley England.
I can only come to the conclusion that Triumph VIN plates don't conform to the ISO standard as described here for example http://www.sizes.com/society/vehicle...on_numbers.htm
or here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle...ication_number
It starts off OK - SM is UK and T is triumph, TG730 ought to be the model descriptor
but then it goes wrong Position 9 is supposed to be check digit, numerical not alphabetical. In my case it's a letter, followed by another letter in position 10 (the J or T everyone was so excited about). This position is the year of manufacture and all the sites say that the letter I have indicates a manufacture year of 1996! Oh really? Did they build 955i Tigers in 96?
Position 11 is supposed to be the plant code and the figure on my bike could represent anywhere in the world for all I know as there's no explanation for anyones plant codes that I can find - conspiracy theorists make of that what you will. The remainder of the VIN is simply a serial number so I'd guess there are a lot of Triumphs out there.
BUT the digit in the position people were talking about at the start of this thread ISN'T the factory code, or at least shouldn't be. Even if it IS a T for Thailand it doesn't square with the SMT bit on the front which does appear to comply and indicate manufacture in Britain. I don't actually care one way or the other really; as I've said elsewhere its a collection of bits from all over the place, as my last two tigers have been.

Skyblue62 · 04-22-2008

This is because America uses the ISO code by law and the 11th digit has to represent the plant of assembly, whereas the rest of the world doesn't have to, so they don't. There is a different system used in United Kingdom, Europe and the Oceanias, this is why the VIN decoders don't work on your VIN.

This might help explain click

Sal Paradise · 04-23-2008

I can't believe it ! Triumph Vin Decoder. Got it from the Wikipedia site for Triumph Motorcycles

Triumph Vin Decoder

Here is my report

Home :: Tools & Services :: VIN Decoder

Success!
The VIN you provided belongs to a motorcycle that was manufactured in Great Britain by the Triumph corporation.
2005 TRIUMPH
T100 BONNEVILLE
VIN:
SMT910K175J22XXXX

World region:
Europe

Manufactured in:
Great Britain

Year:
2005

Make:
Triumph

Model:
T100 BONNEVILLE

Body style:
Road / Street

Drive type:
RWD

Cylinders:
2 Cylinders

Have fun!! - Sal

Sal Paradise · 04-23-2008

VIN SMT910K175Jxxxxxx
DECODED 2005 Triumph
Country UNITED KINGDOM
Make Triumph
Vehicle Type Motorcycle
Model
Engine Type 865 cc, Parallel Twin; A/C; DOHC
Horsepower
Check Digit 7
Model Year 2005
Assy. Plant Jacknell Road, Hinckley, England
Production Seq. Number xxxxxx
Fuel Type Gasoline
Manufacturer Triumph Motorcycles Ltd.

I tried the pronto site. Here is what i got. Looks good to me

Gob-ny-geay · 04-24-2008

Anybody looking for a job at Triumph in Thailand?

Look here:

http://th.jobsdb.com/TH/EN/Job.asp?R=JDBT069047612

Note the description of the Plants, and what they manufacture inside. Also a reference to Factory 1, Factory 2,3,4,5 etc.

No reference to any FULL assembly going on...

Keith G · 04-30-2008

Hinckley is midway between Leicester and Birmingham - both 'ethnically diverse', so it's possible there will likely be a mix of different people in the workforce. Who knows? There may even be some Thai workers!!

But there's no reason any properly set up, trained and supervised workforce shouldn't be able to build 'bikes - here's what they have to match:

And here's what they've got to beat:

(Parts 2 and 3 also available!)

Good eh?

Gob-ny-geay · 05-11-2008

Interesting site:

Note the Rocket III being used in the Logo.

http://th.jobsdb.com/TH/EN/Job.asp?R=JDBT069048712

Please take the time to read through this carefully. I've tried, but cannot find any reference to full bikes being assembled. I may have missed something, or perhaps my reading comprehension skills are substandard.

Note references to Factories 1, 2, 3 and 4, and what is taking place at each respective plant. Pretty clear outlines, very specific as to activities at each Factory. Again no specific reference to Full Bike Assembly. Looks to me more like component fabrication for export?

At the bottom of each page, hit the "next" button for more info.

Lies, vagueness and cover-ups on a Human Resources page? I wouldn't think so. Why would HR want to publish false information? Any HR guys out there want to comment?

Sounds like expansion is fully underway, and a lot of very High-Tech, Degreed personnel are being hired.

Note date of 05/07/ 2008. Pretty much up-to-date information.

Please, no "reading between the lines" or speculative translations. Looking for help - does anyone read "Full Motorcycle Assembly" anywhere in this HR Document from a week ago?

Thanks everyone. Let's have some fun with this.

The question is: What is going on in Thailand? Let's not degrade it into which Triumphs are better than others, low-class racial or ethnic slurs, Who's an idiot - and who's not, or requests to close it because of some deep-set fear of the unknown. This is the single-most popular, and most visited post on the TTH sector, let's keep it that way.

Thanks to all serious respondents.

propforward · 05-11-2008

Well, as I sit here getting the cobwebs out of my head from saturday night beers, I feel I must post, before heading out into the real world for more motorcycling fun.

I tend to agree with Mr Gob-Ny-Geay (hope I spelled that right). Companies I have worked for also had manufacturing plants in Thailand. All very high quality, with exceptional attention to detail. I have no problem at all with Triumph building bikes there from a quality standpoint.

In a global manufacturing world, a manufacturing company has to be prepared to source and build components and assemblies wherever it is most cost effective to do so. Cost effective mind you, not cheap. The two are different.

For those of you who are worried about the "britishness" of your bike, will you stop riding them because the oil filters are made in the USA? The Metzeler stock tyres made in Germany? The very fine fast dissapearing carburettors made in Japan? I can assure you that a large portion of the components on these bikes come from a number of different places in the world.

The soul and feel of the bikes remains British to me. What matters is having that, and knowing that the Triumph manufacturing engineers know what quality really is, and are able to build fine motorcycles repeatably and to a price that matches market conditions, which they do. Taking a non flexible, "we're only doing it this way" approach is what killed the British bike industry in the first place.

Now, I would prefer manufacturing jobs to stay in the UK and USA, not be shipped off shore, but that is not driven by the factory actually, it is driven by a great many factors. Triumph, like a lot of other companies, are working within all the available factors to keep profitable while also meeting customer demand. I don't think that they are doing any lay offs in setting up the new plants, right?

I have not looked at the VIN number on my triumph, because I don't care where it was assembled. I have been to the Hinckley factory, and had a glimpse at the Triumph manufacturing philosophy, and I am quite confident, well within a six sigma level, that bikes built in Thailand and England will be indistinguishable from each other.

And now..............................

To the motorcycles! There's riding and wrenching afoot!

tccox · 05-11-2008

http://www.fasterandfaster.net/2006/...-thailand.html

And "T" VIN Triumphs started showing upin the States in late 2006 ?????

http://members.bccthai.com/BCCT/asp/....asp?CorpID=46

"assembly of motorcycles for export markets" Hmmmmmmm