3 cylinder Triumphs - full circle

I guess that most people know that I currently ride a Triumph Street Triple which is now 8 months old and I love it to bits - perfect for the type of riding I do at present.  There's a nice symmetry to owning a Triumph now because after the Suzuki 50 which my grandparents bought me to learn on in 1964 whilst still at school (arrrgh... 46 years ago!), my "formative" years were all spent on Triumphs; including a spell on the drag strip.

The 675 cc 3 cylinder motor in both Daytona and Street Triple guise is a peach of an engine and the bikes have won many awards and continue to distinguish themselves creditably on world racetracks. However, you probably have to be a Triumph enthusiast or a sad old git like me to know that the origins of it go back 48 years to 1962!  This was the year that two talented engineers at Triumph (Hopwood and Hele) laid down the original design for an across the frame triple.  Typically for Triumph at that time, politics and poor management delayed the launch and it wasn't until mid-1968 until they were launched in the guise of the 750cc Triumph Trident and the BSA Rocket 3.

Unfortunately, the production delays only saw it launched weeks before the first Honda 750 4 which was a higher specification bike in all respects.  Nonetheless, the 750 triples enjoyed huge racing success in both Europe and North America.  I was privileged to attend the first UK Transatlantic Match Races in the very early 70's where the UK's finest competed against the likes of Nixon, Mann, DuHamel, Rayborn and many more.  At one stage, both teams had factory-backed Triples and in my humble opinion; hearing the howl of 6-10 triples with unsilenced 3 into 1 megaphones warming up in the pits is still one of the greatest motorcycle sounds ever.  I saw a replica Rocket 3 racing in a classic meeting in Auckland early this year and the howl still gave me goosebumps!

Here are two photos I took at the 1971 event.  Despite it being nearly 40 years ago, these bikes still look fantastic!

Dave Aldana's Rocket 3

Paul Smart's Trident

Completing the symmetry between the original 1960's 750cc Triple and today's 675, it's interesting to compare a few key specifications.  Top speed of the 750 was around 130mph (210km/hr) with a 0-60mph time of about 4.1 seconds.  The Street Triple has a top speed about 5 mph up on that but the 0-60 mph time of ~3.3 seconds is far superior thanks to the better power to weight ratio (~220 kg for the 750 compared with ~170kg for the 675).  So despite the passage of time being over 4 decades, there's not a huge difference in straight line performance and the same goes for the racebike versions of both capacities too.  In the handling stakes of course, there's no comparison! 

There's also no comparison in terms of reliability.  A close friend of mine in the UK still has an early 70's Trident.  Admittedly, it rarely comes out of the shed these days but he has so many memories invested in it that selling is completely out of the question.  When he used to ride it regularly, electrical (un)reliability was such that his wife claimed he was on first name terms with every Automobile Association recovery team in half the country!

Personally, it's almost Karma for me having returned to Triumph after an association which started so long ago - long may it continue!

But is it art?

Y'see, I trained as an engineer and according to my darling wife, all engineers either border on Asperger's Syndrome or fall completely into that category.  I think what she means (as much as any guy knows what the opposite sex really means) is is that we prefer "real stuff" to touchy-feely things like emotions, subtle nuances and ART. These things normally float in through a guy's ear and out the other side without leaving any residual traces or impact.  It's a bit harsh singling out engineers as targets for this withering sarcasm as most guys I know share these characteristics.

I'm certainly not  wishing to start a battle between the sexes but thought it was useful background on how I tend to view motorbikes - very much function over form. Well, perhaps just a smidgeon of form due to Jennie's encouragement not to be a complete ass.

Getting to the point, I had a most enjoyable 340 km  round trip yesterday to a motorcycle dealer in Hamilton to have new tyres fitted to the Street Triple (more on tyres in a couple of posts).  Anyway, having consigned the bike to the tender mercies of the service department, I was clear to grab a coffee and wander round the  showroom for an hour.  The Hamilton Motorcycle Centre is agent for Triumph, Ducati, Kawasaki and BMW and the showroom is comprehensively stocked with multitudes of models representing these brands.  Now whether it was the sunny day, a good ride, outstanding bike centre staff, or the sum of all these things; I was very surprised to find that I wasn't looking at the functionality of these bikes, but their shapes, colours and artistic merits - eeeeek.... must take my man pills.   All joking aside, looking at them in this light rather than a purely technical  one was a real pleasure and I must really do more of it.

I'm not saying that Jennie would enthusiastically embrace any of these bikes hung on a wall in lieu of our paintings and photographs, but she might appreciate the fact that I've stepped out of the usual way of looking at things!  Learning from more experienced bloggers, I'd actually packed a camera and I'd like to share some of the photos I took to illustrate the artistic side of motorcycles.  Click to enlarge.

Ducati 1198S rear end.....(wiping drool off chin)

Oh, those curves.......

Rocket 3 engine - immense power and a thing of brutal beauty.  

Isambard Kingdom Brunel would have approved

Plain matt black Rocket 3 tank - where less is more

Thunderbird engine

Tell me this isn't art!

Every woman looks great in a black number with diamonds

Every guy looks great on a black number with chrome

Ok, so I've been ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek about functionality and form but it's hard to dispute that the bikes above are superb examples of beautiful machinery, whether you're a die hard sports bike fan, cruiser enthusiast or whatever.  The other thing I've noticed is that modern bikes seem to attract favourable comments from both sexes when parked up anywhere, not just guys; maybe another telling commentary on classy styling.