The Triumph Tigress, also sold as the BSA Sunbeam, was a scooter designed to have good performance and handling for the

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 ...

enthusiast. The entry of the BSA group into the scooter field was announced by Edward Turner in October 1958. The 250 cc model would have a cruising speed of and petrol consumption of . A prototype 250 cc BSA Sunbeam was displayed at the 1958

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

Cycle and Motor Cycle Show. Manufacture started in late 1959, but delivery difficulties were acknowledged due to problems with recruiting labour, although it was claimed that the group had a manufacturing capacity of 50,000 machines a year. The design by Edward Turner drew on

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 ...

's long experience of building fast motorcycles, and was sold under two brand names to take advantage of established distribution networks. This

badge engineering In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a manu ...

was one of the last uses of the Sunbeam marque. The differences between the BSA Sunbeam and Triumph Tigress were entirely cosmetic - the former in polychromatic green paint, also two-tone red and cream, with a BSA badge; the latter in a shell blue or mimosa and ivory (two tone) with Triumph badging. The scooter was available with a 250 cc four-stroke twin (10 hp; 7.5 kW) or 175 cc two-stroke single-cylinder engine (7.5 hp; 5.6 kW). Both engines were forced-air-cooled and curbed to keep low petrol consumption. The two-stroke was a development of the

BSA Bantam The BSA Bantam is a two-stroke unit construction motorcycle that was produced by the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) from 1948 (as a 125 cc) until 1971 (as a 175 cc). Exact production figures are unknown, but it was over 250,000 a ...

engine but the four-stroke was a completely new parallel-twin with gear rather than chain drive to the gearbox. The contact-breaker fed two ignition coils, each of which had a lead to its spark plug without a distributor. Drive to the rear wheel was by a fully enclosed chain in an oil bath. Both versions had four, foot-operated gears. Some of the 250 twins were fitted with an electric starter and a 12 volt (not 6 volt) electrical system. The 250 twin sold well and could do 70 mph (113 km/h) with efficient suspension and good roadholding despite having only 10-inch wheels. The weight was low in comparison to other scooters (100/110 kg).''BSA Tigress''. ''Kraftfahrzeugtechnik'' 9/1960, page 367. The only problem was build quality: it was sometimes said that a ''Tigress'' was a joy to own so long as someone else was paying the repair bills. The 250 cc four-stroke model was discontinued in 1964, the 175 cc two-stroke model in 1965. Later in the 1960s, despite internal opposition from those who felt that scooters would dilute the macho image of the brand, Triumph (owned by BSA) produced another scooter and a motor tricycle for "shoppers". The

Triumph Tina The Triumph Tina also known as the Triumph T10 was a small and low-performance Scooter (motorcycle), scooter with a two-stroke engine, an automatic transmission, and a handlebar carry basket. Development In 1962, despite internal opposition fr ...

and the

Ariel 3 tricycle Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

(BSA also owned the Ariel marque) were intended to tap into the market segment for a convenient 'shopping basket'.

References

See also