In the late '60s and early '70s it was all about Hondas for me. Honda was winning all the Grand Prix races and had models that were decidedly more technically advanced than any of the competition.
Harley's were iron barges that either ran poorly or not at all. Italian bikes were pretty and pretty likely to leave you stranded. German bikes were solid and sturdy but as exciting as cold porridge. Which left the English bikes which performed well but leaked and left bits and pieces along side the road.
Edward Turner designed the Triumph Speed Twin 5T in 1936 which was, according to Wikipedia, "the first truly successful British parallel twin, setting the standard for many twins to follow." Unfortunately, it seemed to be the end of his bright ideas and was essentially the same bike Triumph was still producing 40 years later.
The mighty Honda CB750 debuted in 1969 and signaled the end for the English motorcycle industry. Not that they hadn't done enough harm to themselves with terrible management decisions combined with the horrible labour unions. They were their own worst enemy!
In '71 I had a CB450 and loved to torment Triumphs. 500s were no problem and 650s were all about who had the better tuned bike. To me they were Jurassic in style and power. No overhead cams, no CV carbs, no electric starter, and they leaked!
Then a funny thing happened in the summer of '74. I was working in a Honda/Yamaha/Triumph shop when the manager quit and I was nominated to take his place. Tom was only a mediocre mechanic so he got the Honda tune-ups that even he couldn't screw up. Joey loved dirt bikes so he got all of the 2-stroke Yamahas. Which left me with the Triumphs. UGH!
That funny thing was that I learned to love them, sort of. Back then, anyone could afford a Honda and you had to work really hard to kill them which meant there were a lot of squids on two wheels.
To own a Triumph you really had to want to own a Triumph. They were expensive, down on power, hard to get parts for, and they leaked all over your driveway.
What Triumph did have was great handling and a great ride. My CB450 might have had the power, but hit a lot of twisties and I was working hard just to keep up. All those years of making the same bike over and over had lead to refinement that Honda had yet to achieve.
With a little ingenuity I was able to make the Bonnevilles even better. Using vacuum gages I was able to balance the carbs properly for power and less vibration. Dynamic timing with a strobe light instead of the old static timing yielded even more power. YamaBond would seal the covers so they wouldn't leak (mostly). Recalibrating my outlook led to thinking of the bike as a whole and not just power and brakes. Motorcycles could be enjoyable, not just thrilling!
Another piece that led me to love Triumph was the people who rode them. I don't want to single them out as real motorcyclists but there was definitely something different about them. The bikes were personal, not just toys. The owners cared about them because they loved riding, not just showing off.
One owner came in with his Tiger and we were talking about it when he mentioned that he had lost 3rd gear. I told him to bring it in and I'd put him to the top of the queue. He said No, he'd wait until winter when it was too cold and icy to ride. Parts would take too long and he could just short shift pass the missing gear to keep riding.
About the same time a guy with a Gold Wing came in and demanded that I drop everything to replace a cover that was scratched when he had dropped it in a parking lot. He was afraid of being embarrassed and laughed at if his friends found out that weekend. I told him I had real work to do and threw him out of the shop.
-- More of this story tomorrow --
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