RICK TESTS A TRIUMPH BANDIT
Rick Parkington rides the National Motorcycle Museum’s Triumph Bandit 350 – does it live up to its reputation as the model that could have saved the British motorcycle industry?
Meriden is a name that has been engraved on my heart since my teens, but as a lad I didn’t expect it to be so rural and leafy. I imagined gloomy ‘industrial heartland’ streets dominated by huge iron gates that said ‘TRIUMPH’. Mind you, I didn’t imagine my first ride around here to be on a Bandit, either – the Triumph that never was.
I’m riding the prototype Bandit from the National Motorcycle Museum’s collection – I could have picked their ‘Fury’, the Bsa-badged equivalent, but the museum is so close to Meriden that would have seemed contrary.
The question I hope to answer is whether this lastminute modern design truly was the bike that could have saved an industry. OK, that sounds dramatic, but picture the times. In 1960, Triumph supremo Edward Turner had returned from visiting Japan with a troubled brow, observing that while the country’s motorcycle industry was concentrating on the low-profit small bike market, there was nothing to suggest they might not make life very difficult for the British factories if they built bigger machines. Nobody listened. Small bikes have always been unprofitable, costing nearly the same as a big bike to produce but selling for much less. The sentiment in British boardrooms was ‘Let the Japanese have them and good riddance! Our customers love our gutsy big twins.’ But they were out of touch with young riders. Japanese lightweights far out-specified British models, offering electric starters, trafficators and a notable ability to retain their lubricant. Learner riders, more interested in performance than heritage, had no scruples about buying Japanese and, having enjoyed a 125cc or 250cc Honda, were likely to look for a bigger one after passing their test rather than a big Triumph or BSA, less equipped than their learner bike.
The industry spotted its error and attempted to modernise their smaller range – but it was a big ship to turn. A fast 250 triple was already under design, but abandoned in favour of a middleweight designed by Turner himself. The designer of the original Speed Twin and former Triumph top man was retired by the late ’60s, but working ‘freelance’ he had secured factory support to design a completely new 350. The twincylinder engine had gear-driven double overhead camshafts and a 180° crank throw, linked to a fivespeed gearbox. The bike was entirely new throughout