Triumph Targets Youth

TRIUMPH TARGETS YOUTH

TRIUMPH IS HEADING down-market, targeting younger, less-affluent motorcyclists. Of the British bikemaker's 10 1999 models, only three currently retail for less than $10,000. Despite their racy nomenclature, though, the Ad venturer 900, Legend TT and Thunderbird Sport are not per formance-oriented. Nor do they have strong youth appeal. That will change with the 600cc T-6 repli-racer and half faired Sprint RS. Said to be priced competitively with Yamaha's class-leading YZF R6, the aluminum-framed T-6 has reportedly undergone exten sive track testing. This should come as no surprise. After all, middleweight sportbikes are big money-makers, and Triumph cannot afford to fail. "While it's the largest class here, it's even bigger in Europe," says U.S. Triumph's Mike Vaughan. "Because of licensing regulations, pricing and a lot of other reasons, their (600) market is probably three or four times as II~ great as ours. It's a large, impor tant segment. Plus, it extends our demographic. Right now, our typical customer is older. We'd like to get some of those 24-year-olds riding Triumphs."

` Don't look for the shrink-wrapped Four at Daytona, however. Racing is currently a closed subject. "There will be no race effort from Triumph in the U.S.," states Vaughan. "At this point in our growth, we have so many other pri orities that, al though racing might be important, we just can't ad dress it at this time. We just don't have the re sources. We would have to have an outside sponsor that would be willing to fund 90 percent of the effort. So rather than do anything half-assed, we won't participate until we're able to do something worthy of the brand." There's nothing haif-assed about the new Sprint RS, despite its planned sub-$ 10,000 price tag. Based on the top-selling Sprint ST-a CW Ten Best award winner in its first year out-the fuel-injected, dohc, 12-valve Triple will wear a less pricey twin-beam swingarm, among other cost-cuffing modifications. Meanwhile, the twin-cylinder "Bonneville" retro-cruiser is still more than a year away from production. "It's progressing," admits Vaughan. "We will have a bike in about 18 months."

-Matthew Miles

Budget Triple: Triumph's half faired Sprint RS will re portedly retail for less than $10,000.

Vintage T'bird: Updated Sport gets 1966 Triumph Daytona-esque gas-tank striping and a new exhaust system.