Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542337
added kudos, and helped explain why by 1967 Triumph's Heriden factory was turn- ing out 900 bikes a week of all models on its antiquated production lines. Still, it remained unable to keep up with trans- atlantic demand for its products, either in terms of quantit), or - heralding a key fac- tor in its corporate demise iust five years later - quality. But that's not a problem that Bloor and his boys are likely to have to grdpple with in reinventinS the TR6C in a modern con- text, with the advent of the Scrambler. For alongside the ramp up in production to the 40,000 bikes planned fo. manufacture at Triumph's Hinckley factor/ in 2005 (up from 32,000 in the 2005 model year en route to the projected annual build of 70- 80,000 Triumph motorcycles planned for five years from now), Bloor's unfailing emphasis on quality has seen Tiiumph equal and even surpass industry leaders such as BHW and Honda, with bikes sub- ject to warranty claims now numbering less than one percent ot total production, and falling, according to Triumph. Yet in helping fuel this steep increase in produc- tion numbers, the Scrambler represents the funher broadening of the firm's twin- cylinder retro-inspired range with niche- focused versions - think America, Speedmaster and Thruxton - a strate$/ tfiat other Triumph model families such as the Rocket lll, will also be adoptins in future. But the Scrambler is also a significant Triumph watershed in another way, as the final model in the long line of Bloor Triumphs produced over the past l5 years by the company's famed stylist John Mockett (a.k.a Sprockett, of bitingly satiri- cal motorc),cle-cartoon fame as seen in the pages ol Cycle News) before his connection with the company was surprisingly termF nated a year qgo - for reasons not yet explained - even to Mockeft himself. By AllN Carxclnr PHoros By Kvorcxr Nax.arrruu to swap sides with the stacked pipes, because the battery box got in the way for running them down the left - like on the original bike, ''Plus, we ended up having to hanS a pair of really bulky silenceG on to get it through noise tests, which not only looked wrong but also made it hard to ensure passengers didn't burn their right legs on them. But that was with the original Bonneville-spec motor, which made more power. The silence.s the production bike has look a lot beftei beeuse they're smaller - and I sus- pect that comes from using the 270-degree Speedmaster engine, which is the lowest spec motor in the Bonneville range, so they could get away with smaller salencers. "But that's only guessing - I was out of it by the time they got it preproduction ready, though it's pleasing to see that oth- erwise they've kept just about everyrhing else from my original prototype," Stuff, then, like the rubber boots sheathing the nonadiustable 4lmm Kafaba fork; the twin chromed shocks from the same supplier, which are a little longer than I YESIERDAY ONCE MORE Taking a spin down [Vlemory Lane with Triumph's newest Scrambler CYCLE NEWS . JANUARY 25. 2006 27 #fl Itrb-ph 3crombler ffiI old; workr like new. The perfect combinotion? It., 4!t\ It I Essentially responsible Ior the concept and looks of almost every single Triumph motorcycle manufactured at Hinckley over the past decade and a half (including all the early bikes with which Bloor relaunched the company from 1990 onward, as well as morc re.ent iconic modern Triumph mod- els such as the Rocket lll, Speed Triple, Tiger, T595 Daytona, Bonneville, and Bonnwille America, plus the unseen, abort- ed four-cylinder I 300cc ultrasports model), the Scrambler represents Mockett's Triumph desi8n swan son8. ln typical self- deprecating style, Mockeft, however, insists that all he did was follow the design cues of the company'r '6(x styists. "The TR5C street scrambler had such a strong identit),, it was simply a case of try- in8 to produce sc,methinS similar, but in a modern context, using tfie same key fea- tures to hang it all together," l'lo.keft insists. "The biggest problem was packaging the exhausts," he explained. "l'm Slad we maraged to keep the crossover headers, which I think is very Triumph. but we had I