Triumph Considers Phase Two

TRIUMPH CONSIDERS PHASE TWO

ROUNDUP

TRIUMPUH IS CONSIDERING its next moves, anxious to build on current successes. Part of the plan includes a new retro-style motorcycle, to be included in the U.S. line, according to factory sources.

The British marque will return here in 1995, with most, if not all of its line, plus a bike sporting spoked wheels and a new tank and bodywork. A prototype of the bike, with an engine of unknown size, has been assembled at the Hinckley, England, factory.

Also due next year are heavily revised versions of the Super III, Speed Triple and Daytona. The top-line Daytona will be reworked into an uncompromised sportbike. All three bikes get new steel frames, which are currently being tested. Triumph's use of steel instead of aluminum is said to be

a cost-cutting move. The frames are reportedly similar in configuration to those used on Kawasaki's ZX models, with the engines tucked between the main spars. Triumph considered using alloy frames, with spars coming over the tops of engines, but decided such a design would leave the bikes too tall, with a high center-of-gravity.

Trophy and Trident models, Triumph’s less sport-oriented motorcycles, will keep their current tube-spine frames.

Robert Hough