Category: Triumph T150V

Triumph’s New 400cc Motorcycles

By Joe Berk

Well, what do you know?  Triumph is the latest moto manufacturer to jump on the small bike band wagon with the announcement of their new 400cc  single-cylinder motorcycles.  Not to be too snarky, but better late than never, I suppose.  Harley did the same thing a year or so ago with their 350cc  and 500cc motorcycles, but the Harleys were supposed to be manufactured and only available in Asia.  More’s the pity, although I get it:  A small bike wouldn’t go well with the typical Harley crowd.

Back to today’s topic:  The new 400cc Triumphs:  I like them.

Triumph announced two models:  A Speed 400, and a Scrambler 400.  They look like Triumphs, which is to say they look fabulous.  I like the colors (each will available in three different color themes) and I like the looks.

The Triumph Speed 400.
The Triumph Scrambler 400.

With a published 40 horsepower, the bikes will probably be good for 100 mph, and that ought to be enough for any sane rider.   I’m guessing the bikes will get something around 70 miles per gallon, and that should be good, too.  Triumph turned to Bajaj (in India).  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Triumph’s Bonneville line is manufactured in Thailand.  My Enfield 650 (which I’ve been riding for three years) is manufactured in India, and its quality is magnificent.  Prices on the new Triumphs haven’t been announced yet.  If the Mothership can keep the dealers from pulling their normal freight and setup chicanery, these bikes should be a good deal (but expecting dealers to abandon their larcenous freight and setup games is, I realize, probably wishful thinking).

On that Harley thing I mentioned above:  QianJiang (also known QJ Motor) bought Benelli (an Italian motorcycle company) in 2005.  QJ took the name and started offering bikes made in China but labeled as Benellis (I saw them at the Canton Fair a few years ago).  The QJ/Benelli bikes are not bad looking, but I’ve never ridden one and I have no idea how good (or bad) they are.  It’s that very same Benelli (i.e., the Chinese one) that Harley announced would be making 350cc and 500cc small Harleys.  The Harley plan was that their smaller models would only be sold overseas (i.e., not in America).  Harley makes and sells more motorcycles than I ever will, so I suppose they know what they are doing.  But I think they are making a mistake not bringing their small bikes to America.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a QJ Motor! No, it’s a Benelli! No, it’s Super Harley!

Let’s not forget the new BSA Gold Star, another made-in-India Britbike reported here on the ExNotes blog about a year ago.  That one is still in the works, I guess.  For a delivery date, the new BSA website still says “available to order soon,” which is to say we have no idea when the new BSA Goldie will be here.

The revivified Beezer Gold Star. I think it is a better-looking bike than either the new Triumph or the small Chinese Harley.

While all this is going on, my friends in Zongshen (they make the RX3, the RX4, the Zongshen 400cc twins, the TT 250, the San Gabriel, and now the RX6 650cc twin that CSC imports to the US) tell me that the craze in China has gone full tilt toward bigger bikes.  That’s why they introduced the RX6.  I was the first journalist/blogger/all around good guy in America to ride and report on the RX6.  It’s a good bike, but I’m not a fan of the movement toward ever larger motorcycles.  I’m convinced that my RX3 was the best all around motorcycle I ever owned (especially for riding in Baja), and I’ve written extensively on that.

I’m looking forward to seeing the new Triumphs.  Hell, I’d look forward to seeing the new small Harleys and the BSA, too, but maybe that’s not in the cards.  Why the fascination and appreciation for small bikes?  Take a read here.

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Dream Bike: Triumph T160

The mid-1970’s Triumph T160 is one of the best looking motorcycles ever. The swoopy tank, the perfect stance, the soft-edged thrum of its exhaust. I’ve wanted a T160 since I first saw one. They weren’t popular where I grew up so I didn’t get to see a real live 750 until they were already out of production.

The T160’s engine is actually a BSA engine. But then again the BSA engine was a 500cc Triumph engine with an extra cylinder grafted on so who stole what? Not that it matters because the only real difference between BSA and Triumph’s versions of the 750cc three-banger was a slight forward slope to the BSA cylinder bank.

The older BSA triples are cool in a Jetsons kind of way. The square tank and the ray gun silencers didn’t sell well in the USA so BSA chromed the heck out of the thing and made it into a fire breathing hot rod. I’ve never seen one on the road, only in museums.

Triumph had the same problem with its modern-looking but slow selling triple. If I understand history correctly Triumph sent bodywork beauty kits to the USA to fix slow sales. These kits made the Triumph Trident look pretty much like any other Triumph made in the last 60 years.

The triple engine design consisted of typical British engineering: Why use one part when 32 parts will do the job just as well? The top deck of the crankcase had a gaping opening that the cylinder spigots fitted into. It looks weak to me. I’m surprised the crankcase doesn’t oil can at high compression levels. The center main bearing bolted in from the top, which is pretty strange. The sum of the triple’s complicated, ancient collection of parts worked amazingly well together, winning many road races against more advanced designs.

I would take any of the triples if you gave me one but the only one I would buy is the final Triumph T160 version. The T160 has an electric starter and the thing actually works on the few I’ve seen. Disc brakes front and rear means you don’t have to sacrifice stopping power to revel in the past. The styling of the T160 looks fresh 45 years after it rolled off of the assembly line. I like it better than the Vetter version.

Beginning with the 1970’s Japanese Superbikes steamrolled everything in their path. When it comes to big bike, high horsepower nostalgia most American motorcyclists of a certain age go for a Kawasaki or Honda. Today, the relatively cheap price of a T160 reflects the lower esteem British bikes were held in at the time. If you want one like I do, Triumph/BSA triples are within reach of the average person. $5000 should get one in ridable condition with not-embarrassing cosmetics. $10,000 will buy a show bike. The T160 pushes all the right buttons for me and if I didn’t already have 47 projects lined up I would have grabbed this recent listing. Let me know if you need me to go pick it up for you.