the various Sheds down theyears,all bar one
of them T150s,with just the one T160to add
varietyand drainthe wallet.Every timeIdecide
Ireally must have another T160,Iremindmyself
of SmokyJoe and shudder,manfully.
Most of the T150swereactually prettygood.
More to the point, they wereall cheap.It’shard
to remember,but therewas atime–late 1970s
and early 80s–whenTridentswerealmost
unsaleable.There wereseveralreasonsforthis.
TheBritish industry’sdragged-out demisewas
relativelyrecent,and as theMeridenCo-Op
discovered ,the considerablemajorityofr iders
want ed reliabilityand el ectric starters.
Myfirst T150cost un der£100, andIrode it
home fromWallasey,onMerseyside.Ita ctually
ranquitewell ...for atwin. Thehead gasket had
blown between the leftand centre cylinders,
but itranfine asasingle andtwohalf-singles,
leaked onlyalittle oil,and wasveryeasytokick
over –ifn ot to start. Bumpingwasessential,
whichwasnoproblem back then.Andthe top
ends areeasytoworkon. Fortunately.
Then therewas ahiatus of severalyears,
until thegreatrepatriation of tired Brits from
the USA began, and onceagain Tridentswere
both cheap and plentiful.Iboughtprobably a
half-dozenaltogetherover afew years,always
convinced thatIcouldfixthemupand make a
fewshillings.Which Idid,but sparescould be
difficult andexpensive, the engineswere too
thirstyfor meto wantto co mmuteonone,and
they wereheavy. That sounds impossible,given
the mass of much modernmachinery, but Ifelt
thattheyweremonsters! Norton’sCommando
wasmuch, much morelike it.
But...every single timewe run afeatureona
triple,and everytimeIstumbleover one parked
up,Isimply succumbto almost undeniable lust.
They really aresplendid machines.Especially
T160s,withtheir electric starts and delicious
looks.Ihad oneformanyyears.Iloved it .It
wasthatmost torridofaffairs :Ilavishe duntold
wealth, lurve and affection, and itrepaid me
by breaking down,teasingly,all the time and
drinkingconsumablefluids almost faster
thanIcould buy them. Heartache of the most
terrifyingkind.Ofc ourseIwantanother.This is
stupidityofamost identifiable kind.
Happily, Iamnot alone in believing that
the bestTriumph tripleswerethe last of the
T150s,built at Small Heath.I’ve owned three
(or maybefour) of those,inb oth UK and US
trims,and they’vebeen disturbinglyreliable.
With one notableexception.That wasaUS
repatriation which camefitted with some
monster 3-into-1 exhaust with which itran
perfectly.Replacing the monster loud system
withastock set-up ruined thegreatrunning,
sadly,soitgot its loud pipe back and made a
lot of noise.Fabulous noise,but...
And... this is faintly embarrassin g... while
my student/young person buddies had pics
of movie/music starlets on theirwalls,Ihad
twopics ofaT150 Trident. Istill have them,
brochures both,completewith drawing
pinholes.But don’t tell an yone.
AndofcourseIendlessly ponderover the
wisdom, or even sanity, of treatingmyself toanother.I’d preferaT160, but several people
have explained,withonlyalittle weariness in
theirtones,thatitisperfectly possible tofitan
electric starttoaT150, and T150s areusually
quitealot lessexpensivetobuy than T160s,and
in my experienceatl east T150s arerather less
costly to keep on theroad.
AndofcourseI’ve borrowe dseveral T
Tridents down theyears to provide suitable
targetsforastory or several.Like therather
handsomeexampleyousee beforeyou.Itr eally
is handsome,isn’t it? Alate UK model T150V
Trident, completewith thegreatbig fuel tank
and entirely sensibleriding position.
Oneoft he thingsachapneedsto remember
whenwritingstories forRC–asopposedto
almost all other magazines–ist hatRCreaders
areexpert. This is true.RCr eaders alltoooften
know more about the bikeswe featurethanwe
do.Wesoadvise allcontributors: getyour factsTTrriiuummpphh’’ssbbrochhure ffor tthheiirllast TT150V.
1970s-style out-of-focus is theretoprojecta
feelingof speed,apparentlyInside the brochure,itisrevealed that ‘Trident
wil lgiveyou the greatest ride intwo-wheeled
history...’Adcopywriters haven’t changedmuch
down theyearsr aryc ancase veapos mo erncutc an atr pex
chain...but no alternator.Unusual foraBritish bikeofits time8IAUGUST 2019 More old bikes online: Real-Classic.co.uk
The big triple.Itisamonster engine.And it looks stockuntil youobserve the
carbs.Amals they’re not