Triumph outsells Kawasaki in the UK

Maybe this was reported while I was abroad, so I missed it, but the
Times today has a big story in the business section about the triumph
of, er, Triumph, which has now nudged Kawasaki into fifth place.

And Triumph is now outselling BMW in the US.

Time Bloor got a knighthood, I reckon.

 

Mong fight.

There's cheaper ways, if he really wanted one.

 

So the copy has supplanted the real thing?

Not before I get a Nobel Prize...

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Heh. A decade or more, you might have been right, but not these days,
you cynic.

 

Stritchy, formerly of this parish, has a lovely missus. Said lovely
missus owned until recently a 1992 Sprint which blew its head gasket
about 3 or four years ago. I was asked to pull it apart and fix it up
on a very tight budget, which I did; Triumph parts being fairly
affordable and easy to acquire. When the head came off I could still
see the honing marks on all three cylinder bores, which shocked me
because the engine was woefully neglected and rarely serviced, had been
sitting out in the open for three years at one point, had over 70,000
miles on it and had been running with a blown head gasket for a while.

When it was all back together it started up second press of the button
and sounded as sweet as a new one. Those early Hinckley T3 engines are
more solidly built than Kawasakis of old imo.

 

Why?

Didn't he shift the bulk of production to somewhere like Hungary once
the brand was pretty well re-established... and not long before a
large chunk of Hinckley burned to the ground?

 

Er, no.

 

No?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1876342.stm

I was working at the local Triumph dealers at around the time of the
fire, so was very aware of what was going on given it was sort of
linked to my job at the time.

Are you saying they subsequently decided not to shift some aspects of
production abroad?

 

JackH wrote:

Certainly some aspects, but not the "bulk of production" you mention in
your first post to this thread. AIUI some of the twin cylinder bikes
are assembled in Thailand from part locally made and part imported from
Hinckley components and sub-assemblies.

 

Thailand, it seems:

http://www.fasterandfaster.net/2006/08/triumph-opens-second-plant-in-tha
iland.html

 

The word back in the day was that they were going to shift the bulk of
production to Hungary.

Obviously a good thing if they decided against this in the end.

<sets up rod and keepnet>

Given I have no interest in any of their bikes since that crappy
Daytona 955i I had and having seen others have plenty of bother with
them, I've not bothered to follow their progress much since.

 

My 955i Daytona was a very well built bike that did more than I ever
expected of it.

We're racing a Daytona 675 at the moment, and it's been brilliant.
Danny has put it on the podium at every meeting we've taken it to so
far against some very strong competition, such as the huge numbers of
2008/9 R6s that dominated Bemsee Superstock 600s last season.

When stripped for it's two-yearly refresh it only needed two valve
clearances adjusting and engine bearings were only replaced as a matter
of course - none of them showed any sign of wear or being anywhere near
out of tolerance. The only thing replaced through wear was the clutch
basket, but Danny is known for having been notoriously hard on the
clutch of every bike he's ever raced.

I'd say you bought a shitter, but very very few of them are like that -
all depends who's owned it before and the quality and frequency of the
servicing regime.

 

Yes, they did, to Thailand.

Not Hungary.

And your post says they did this *before* the fire, which isn't true.
They established the Thai factory afterwards. The Beeb link you post
even corroborates that.

 

Ok... so any idea what percentage of production was shifted abroad?

It was on the cards before the fire.

Strange that... ;-)

 

Ok... so any idea what percentage of production was shifted abroad?

It was on the cards before the fire.

Strange that... ;-)

 

Isn't there a tiny little advantage in having an engine bigger than
everyone else has?

 

The finish is fine - they don't rot, and it was far better built than
the Futura I had recently.

The electrics are also fine.

The ECUs etc, are pile of shite that cause all manner of problems, and
plenty have experienced issues with these.

 

Not when it makes between 6 and 10bhp less, weighs more, has one less
cylinder and produces roughly the same torque - no

 

Understressed, then. Might explain the reliability ;-)

 

Not me, mine ran beautifully, but it always ran on the latest map for
the Triumph race can fitted.