1938 Triumph Speed Twin.
On May 19, 2018 at the All-British Field Meet (ABFM) in VanDusen Garden, Vancouver, the British Motorcycle Owners Club will feature “80 years of Triumph Twins.”
However, all British motorcycles are welcome to join the Club display.
In 1938, Triumph introduced a new model—the Speed Twin— that revolutionized the British motorcycle industry and influenced motorcycle design worldwide for the next 30 years.
Until that time, most British motorcycles were single-cylinder or vee-twin designs. Triumph’s Edward Turner designed a new engine with two cylinders side-by-side—the parallel twin.
By 1949, almost every British bikemaker had a parallel twin in their lineup. Perhaps the pinnacle of parallel twins was the Triumph Bonneville of 1959. The design was copied and emulated around the world and became the must-have engine until the early 1970s.
In 2018, the revived Triumph Motorcycles Ltd (formed in 1983) still makes motorcycles with parallel twin engines, used in the new Bonneville, Scrambler, Thruxton, Speedmaster and Street range.
In 2017, Triumph sold 63,400 motorcycles.
For more information on “80 Years of Triumph Twins,” contact robert@smith.bc.ca, www.bmoc.ca.
For more about the Vancouver All-British Field Meet, go to www.westerndriver.com