The Triumph TR65 Thunderbird is a
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
made by the
Triumph
The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...
worker's co-operative at the
Meriden factory from 1981 to 1983. The TR65 was a reintroduction of the
Triumph Thunderbird
The Triumph Thunderbird is a British motorcycle that was introduced by Triumph in 1949 and produced in many forms until 1966. The name was used three more times for new and distinct Triumph models.
Original Triumph: 6T Thunderbird
To capture ...
model name first used on the original 6T Thunderbird of 1949. A short stroke model, the Daytona 600 was designed in 1983 but not produced.
Development
![Tr65 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Tr65_4.jpg)
The TR65 was a 650 cc
parallel twin
A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.
Straight-twin engines are primarily used in motorcycles; ot ...
with a
short-stroke version of the 750 cc
T140 Bonneville engine. This made the engine livelier with a better throttle response and with maximum torque produced at higher engine speeds. The TR65 also has a single 30 mm
Amal Amal may refer to:
* Amal (given name)
* Åmål, a small town in Sweden
* Amal Movement, a Lebanese political party
** Amal Militia, Amal Movement's defunct militia
* Amal language of Papua New Guinea
* Amal (film), ''Amal'' (film), 2007, directed ...
carburettor and a mild cam.
Aimed at the economy market, it was cheaper to insure than the T140 and could return . Costs were reduced by having a single silencer, using mechanical contact breaker points instead of electronic ignition and using a drum rear brake instead of the more expensive disc brake. Instead of a tachometer, the warning lights and ignition switch were housed in the right hand pod of the instrument binnacle. Cycle parts, including the
Girling rear suspension units, were painted in satin black rather than being chromed or polished and the exhaust system was black chromed to match.
Dunlop Gold Seal economy tyres were fitted instead of the more expensive
Avon Roadrunners specified for the 750cc roadster range. Triumph however included newly introduced European components such as German ULO direction indicators and Italian Radaelli wheel rims and Paioli petrol taps. The original 'paper dart' Thunderbird logo designed by
Edward Turner for the first Thunderbirds in 1949 was retained on the side panel badge as a reminder of the model's lineage. Triumph described the TR65 in their publicity poster as combining ''Performance With Economy''.
Although produced in a USA variant with a 2-gallon tank and high handlebars as compared to the 4 gallon tank, with low handlebars for the UK and the rest of the world, no TR65 was ever exported to the United States because, as with the 750 cc TR7V Tiger, from mid-1978 on, the fitted
Amal Mk 1 carburettor offended that country's
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
's regulations. The TR65 was exported to Western Europe and to
British Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, albeit in small numbers.
A TR65S Thunderbird model was one factory-fitted with the
electronic ignition
An ignition system generates a spark or heats an electrode to a high temperature to ignite a fuel-air mixture in spark ignition internal combustion engines, oil-fired and gas-fired boilers, Rocket engine#Ignition, rocket engines, etc. The widest ...
and
electric starter
A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. ...
options. A TR65S fitted with after-market Hedingham
leading link front forks carried London residents Richard and Mopsa English and a
Squire sidecar around the world from 1982 to 1986. The journey is detailed in their book, ''Full Circle,'' and the TR65S combination used has been on display at the
London Motorcycle Museum
London Motorcycle Museum displayed a range of over 150 classic and British motorcycles. It closed in October 2019, partly due to inability to meet the running costs.
A charitable trust, it opened in May 1999 at Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, ...
since 2010 having initially been housed at the
National Motorcycle Museum upon the English's return.
Models
![Triumph Thunderbird TR65 1982](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Triumph_Thunderbird_TR65_1982.JPG)
All UK/RoW TR65 models were to come with the newly designed, Italian-sourced, 4 gallon fuel tank (pictured) but in his 2009 book
Save the Triumph Bonneville!''' former Triumph chairman, John Rosamond, details shortages of this part meant that the older 4 gallon 'breadbin'-style tank was initially used.
A trail version with electronic ignition, the TR65T
Tiger Trail, was also introduced in 1981 but together with the earlier 750 cc version was dropped from the range due to poor sales in late 1982, perhaps understandable given that it was priced the same as the 750 cc version.
According to Triumph's 1982/3 range brochure the cycle parts of that season's 'USA' styled Thunderbird dispensed with the satin black finish, instead adopting bright chrome, polished alloy, a tachometer, twin bright-chromed exhausts and
Marzocchi
Marzocchi is an Italian manufacturer founded in 1949 by brothers Stefano and Guglielmo Marzocchi. The company profile doesn't include hydraulic industrial pumps anymore but only suspension components for motorcycles and bicycles. The Marzocchi Pom ...
rear suspension units which came with black springs as standard. The UK version added the twin exhausts, Marzocchis suspension and a tachometer but retained the satin black cycle parts of the 1981/2 models. Whilst both versions retained their
contact breaker points ignition, they were now, like the 750 cc models, shod with Avon Roadrunner tyres. There were price differentials for 1982 USA and UK/RoW styles.
Ten TR65 were specially ordered from Meriden and modified as
Derny
A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing and motor-paced road races. Some riders train behind a derny on the road. The Derny is so-called as it was originally produced by the Fren ...
s for bicycle speed trials work/pace bikes at the
Leicester Velodrome[ although they were since located at London's ]Herne Hill
Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the borou ...
facility.
Planned for 1984 and styled after the T140 TSX, a custom model and further sleeved-down TR60 600 cc Thunderbird was exhibited but not produced, the co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
closing down towards the end of 1983.[ The new 600cc engine's bore and stroke was 76mm x 66mm with a compression ratio of 8.5:1. Electric starting came as standard with no ]kick start
Kick start is a method of starting an internal combustion engine (usually that of a motorcycle) by pushing a ratcheting lever with one's foot. Kick start mechanisms were almost universally a part of motorcycle engines before the mid-1970s, and w ...
fitted. These were aimed at the newly qualified rider for whom the cost of insuring Triumph's larger models was too expensive.[
The prototype Thunderbird 600 was converted by the factory into a conventional kick start TR65 to fulfil a Ministry of Defence order. From the Meriden Triumph factory production records held by the ]Vintage Motor Cycle Club
The Vintage Motor Cycle Club (VMCC) is a UK-based vintage motorcycle club with over 14,000 members, which aims to promote and preserve all makes of motorcycles over 25 years old.
History
The Vintage Motor Cycle Club was founded on 28 April 194 ...
this TR65 made on 1 June 1983 was the last 650 cc motorcycle and the second to last motorcycle made at Meriden before the factory's closure that August.
Triumph Daytona 600 cc prototype
A 600 cc Triumph Daytona 600 was manufactured in 1983 by Triumph Motorcycles in their Meriden factory. It was a short-stroke twin-carburettor version of the 650 cc TR65 Thunderbird with an 8.5:1 compression ratio, but it was exhibited at the 1983 motorcycle show at the National Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway stati ...
as a new model for their (eventually unrealised) 1984 range. Unique for that year's home market models, it featured rear-set foot rests and a plastic 'ducktail' rear end over the short chromed rear mudguard from the Triumph T140 TSX
The Triumph TSX was a British motorcycle credited by the factory as being designed in 1981–1982 by Wayne Moulton, president of Triumph Motorcycles America(TMA), the factory's American arm.''Save The Triumph Bonneville ! The Inside Story Of ...
. Although sporting a front disc brake, it retained the drum rear brake of the TR65 Thunderbird.[Daytona Return ! Motor Cycle News (02.03.83)]
With a claimed top speed of over 100 miles per hour, the target market was said by Meriden to be newly qualified riders for whom the cost of insurance made their 650cc and 750cc bikes prohibitively expensive. Two prototypes were made, one show version with electric start, the other with a kick start for testing. The latter, the only one left after the Meriden factory finally closed in 1983, is on display at the London Motorcycle Museum
London Motorcycle Museum displayed a range of over 150 classic and British motorcycles. It closed in October 2019, partly due to inability to meet the running costs.
A charitable trust, it opened in May 1999 at Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, ...
.[Rosamond, John ''Save The Triumph Bonneville ! The Inside Story of the Meriden Workers Co-Op'' (Veloce 2009)]
See also
*List of Triumph motorcycles
Motorcycles produced under the Triumph brand, by both the original company, Triumph Engineering Co Ltd, and its later incarnations, and the current Triumph Motorcycles Ltd.
Triumph Engineering Co Ltd
Known as the Meriden, West Midlands, UK era ...
Notes
References
*
*Richard & Mopsa English ''One Lap of the Earth'' (''Cycle World'' magazine)
* Triumph Motorcycle (Meriden) Ltd publicity material
* Contemporary road tests from ''Motor Cycle News'', ''Motor Cycle Weekly'', ''Superbike'', ''Motorcycling'', ''Bike'', ''Motorcycle Mechanics'', ''Classic Bike'' magazines
{{Triumph motorcycles Meriden
TR65 Thunderbird
Standard motorcycles
Motorcycles powered by straight-twin engines
Motorcycles introduced in 1981