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Triumph Motorcycles is a British motorcycle
manufacturer, originally based in Coventry. A new company in Hinckley
took over the name rights after the collapse of the company in the
1980s.The Triumph brand received considerable publicity in the United
States when Marlon Brando rode a 1950 Thunderbird 6T in the 1953 motion
picture, The Wild One.
The Triumph Motorcycle concern was sold to their rivals BSA by Sangster
in 1951. The production 650 cc Thunderbird was a low compression tourer,
and the 500 cc Tiger 100 was the performance bike. That changed in 1954,
with the change to swing arm frames, and the release of the alloy head
650 cc Tiger 110, eclipsing the 500 cc Tiger 100 as the performance
model.
In 1959, the T120, a tuned double carburettor version of the T110, came
to be called the Bonneville. As Triumph and other marques gained market
share, Harley became aware that their 1 litre-plus bikes were not as
sporty as the modern rider would like, resulting in a shrinking share of
the market. The Triumphs were models for a new, "small" Harley Davidson
as a result: the now-fabled Sportster, which started out as Harley's
version of a Triumph Bonneville. With its anachronistic V-twin, the
Sportster was no match for the Bonneville, but it proved a solid
competitor in US sales and eventually also in longevity
In 1969 Malcolm Uphill, riding a Bonneville, won the Isle of Man
Production TT with a race average of 99.99 miles per hour (160.92 km/h)
per lap, and recorded the first ever over 100 miles per hour (161 km/h)
lap by a production motorcycle at 100.37 miles per hour (161.53 km/h).
For many Triumph fans, the 1969 Bonneville was the best Triumph ever.[
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