In 1983, Triumph was struggling at the very end of its strength. Bloor bought the company from liquidation for £150,000 and started to slowly work his way up. With a very tarnished image in both the domestic and international markets, the debut of Triumph’s Bloor era was not particularly successful. However, the big change came when the company owner understood that Triumph’s special twin and triple engines was the thing that customers were most attracted to.
In an industry dominated by the traditional Japanese in-line four bikes, Triumph re-discovered a niche worth exploring. With constant investments aided by money from Bloor’s other housebuilding business, Triumph kept on growing and developing models that have found a loyal following, despite some of them still in need of better craftsmanship and QA.
As cool as the Modern Classic machines look, it is not hard to find riders who can provide a hefty list of things Triumph should do to make these bikes significantly better, with suspensions being only one of the entries.
Triumph operates six factories worldwide: two in Hinckley, UK, three in Chonburi, Thailand, and one is in Manaus, Brazil. In 2014, Triumph sold over 52,000 units and topped the sales charts of new bikes over 500cc in the UK. The company accounts for 18.7% of new motorcycle sales in the UK, up a hefty eight percent since 2013,