The Triumph Tiger 110 is a British sports

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 ...

that

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 ...

first made at their

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

factory between 1953 and 1961. The T110 was developed from 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 ...

and first appeared in 1954. Although it was supposed to be the sports model of the Triumph range, the Tiger 110 was later fitted with the rear paneling that was introduced with Triumph's 350cc 3TA twin in 1957. This rear cowling earned it the nickname '

bathtub A bathtub, also known simply as a bath or tub, is a container for holding water in which a person or animal may bathe. Most modern bathtubs are made of thermoformed acrylic, porcelain-enameled steel or cast iron, or fiberglass-reinforced ...

' from its shape and made the T110 look somewhat staid. In any event, from 1959, the T120 Bonneville was now Triumph's leading sports model and before the introduction of Edward Turner's

unit construction : ''For the vehicle design where the vehicle's skin is used as a load-bearing element, see Monocoque.'' Unit construction is the design of larger motorcycles where the engine and gearbox components share a single casing. This sometimes includes ...

650cc twin in 1962, the T110 was dropped from Triumph's range.

Development

The Triumph Tiger 110 650 cc OHV Twin was Triumph's fastest production motorcycle to date because it was developed for the American market, which wanted more power. The T110 was first built in 1953 and introduced as a 1954 model. The originally cast iron cylinder block and head soon were replaced with a light alloy cylinder head with special airways to improve cooling and

austenitic Austenite, also known as gamma-phase iron (γ-Fe), is a metallic, non-magnetic allotrope of iron or a solid solution of iron with an alloying element. In plain-carbon steel, austenite exists above the critical eutectoid temperature of 1000 ...

iron valve seat inserts. The external oil feed pipes were also replaced with internal oilways via the pushrod tubes. The

Triumph Tiger 100 The Tiger 100 (T100) was a standard motorcycle first made by the British motorcycle company Triumph in 1939. Production ceased when the Triumph factory was destroyed by German bombing in 1940 during World War 2, but recommenced in 1946. Several ...

was named because it was capable of , so it was an obvious marketing idea to call the new bike the Tiger 110 - although technically the best one way speed obtained by ''

The Motor Cycle ''The Motor Cycle'' was one of the first British magazines about motorcycles. Launched by Iliffe and Sons Ltd in 1903, its blue cover led to it being called "The Blue 'un" to help distinguish it from its rival publication ''Motor Cycling (maga ...

'' magazine in tests was - but the speedometer was reading , so there was a margin of error. By 1959, the Tiger 110 was no longer Triumph's fastest model, the dual carburettor Bonneville T120 having taken its mantle. Triumph added the enclosed panels from the Twenty One which, resembling an upside-down Victorian

slipper bathtub A bathtub, also known simply as a bath or tub, is a container for holding water in which a person or animal may bathe. Most modern bathtubs are made of thermoformed acrylic, porcelain-enameled steel or cast iron, or fiberglass-reinforced p ...

, earned the bike the nickname 'bathtub'.

World Speed Record

On 6 September 1956, at

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...

American racer Johnny Allen secured the

motorcycle land-speed record The motorcycle land-speed record is the fastest speed achieved by a motorcycle on land. It is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions. AMA National Land Speed Records requires 2 passes ...

on a heavily modified Triumph T110 with a top speed of .Mick Duckworth: ''1956 Triumph streamliner'', Classic Bike, October 1999, p. 34
/ref> This success led to the development of the Tiger T110's successor - the

Triumph Bonneville The Triumph Bonneville is a Types of motorcycles#Standard, standard motorcycle featuring a Straight-twin engine, parallel-twin four-stroke engine and manufactured in three generations over three separate production runs. The first two generation ...

References

External links

Review on Real Classic including original brochure
Tiger 110 Land speed record motorcycles Motorcycles introduced in the 1950s Motorcycles powered by straight-twin engines

Development

World Speed Record

See also

References

External links