·RIDING IMPRESSION T mph Adventurer
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By Alan Cathcart . Photos by Kel Edge
ir Win s ton Churchill on ce
observed th at Britai n a nd
America are tw o countries sep arated by the same language. But
if he'd ridden a motorcycle, he'd have
had a hard time making a similar assertion about the tw o nations' choice of
bike s. Divergent tastes dictated by d isparat e lifestyl es a nd ro ad conditi on s
always meant a Triumph was a very different kind o f two-wheeled pac ka ge
th an a H arl ey-Davi d son - both in th e
'60s when the legendary British marque
spearh eaded Am eri ca' s discover y o f
m ore nimble, spo rty bike s, and now,
when after va rious trials and tribulations, both companies ha ve the best of
all possible pr oblem s: there's a waiting
list for their pr oducts, while they strive
to keep u p with demand.
After the man agement bu y-out th at
turned the Am erican company around,
H arley finall y cracked th e six-fi gu re
ann ual-p ro duc tio n barrier for th e firs t
time, building evo lve d versions of th e
V-twin cruisers that made Milwaukee
famous. And while Triumph, five years
down the comeback trail under John
Bloor's shrewd control, ma y only currentl y ha ve 15 percent of H-D's production levels, they are nearing a time when
they will be able to tri ple that, when
th eir new factory comes on line in 18
months.
This is what makes the new three-
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