THE FIRSTOILIN FRAMETRIUMPHTWIN - WAS IT A DOG ORA DELIGHT?

Of all the Triumph twins, the early Oil in Frame (OIF) models from the 70s were the most controversial. Introduced in 1971, these Triumphs had an unhappy birth. The last of the pre-OIFtwins have become loved and respected as the pinnacle of the twin's design. With the decision to radically change the frame, when the team at Umberslade Hall Technology Centre - set up by parent company BSA- came up with their new frame they were always going to have a tough job winning hearts and minds.

The late 60s twins had been so popular in the US that Triumph had to place press adverts apologising for not being able to make enough of them to meet demand. For 1971 Triumph had the new frame for their biggest twins.

The frame, using a design that was also used on the BSA twins, was said to be too tall for the average rider, especially if you were a Brit, who tended to be smaller in stature than their American cousins. When the frames arrived at Meriden the workers found that they couldn't get a complete Triumph twin engine into the frame without removing the rocker boxes. Efforts were made quickly to modify the frame, but by now the first, flawed bikes were in the showrooms and along with the height, new owners discovered more faults. The OIFdesign has the filter in an inaccessible spot just behind and below the engine, where it collected all the crud from the road. The early frames fractured and leaked there too, cracking around the centre stand pivot. Vibration caused brackets, petrol tanks and mudguards to fracture, until they were beefed up for the 750 twins. With the factory facing financial and industrial relations crises, owners saw their new bikes languish in workshops, waiting months for warranty parts. Where Triumph once had trouble supplying enough twins, they now had warehouses full of unsold bikes as buyers walked away. Adjustments were made to the frame and the seat height was lowered, sometimes by the simple expedient of fitting a thinner seat, and eventually by lowering the frame tubes.

The early OIF650 twin has the conical hub brake front and rear, a good-looking item that features a sexy air scoop at the front. A poorly set up conical hub will perform badly, but a bit of care will make all the difference. It should be remembered also that criticisms of the brake at the time were largely down to fade during hard braking and hard riding, neither of which are likely to apply to modern ownership. Those forks were a new design in 71 too, with alloy bottoms, and represented a marked improvement on the older design.

Thanks to its largely undeserved reputation, an early OIF Triumph twin is likely to be the cheapest way of getting into big Triumph ownership. Even if it is still running around today, most of the SO-year-oldfaults will have been sorted. It'll be £3,000 or more cheaper than a pre-OIF model, and a fair bit cheaper than a later 750, too.

"The late 60s twins had been so popular in the US that Triumph had to place adverts in the press apologising for not being able to make enough of them to meet demand"