The
Tiger 100 was the bike on which Triumph's reputation for performance
was built in the years following the Second World War. Powered by a
500cc parallel twin engine and named after its claimed top speed of 1
OOmph (161km/h), the Triumph matched its speed with stylish looks and
good handling to become one of the most desirable bikes of its day.
It remained popular long after Triumph had introduced more powerful
650cc machines in the 1950s.
Like
all British parallel twins, the Triumph Tiger owed its inspiration to
Edward Turner, as it was based on the Speed Twin with which the
Triumph designer had revolutionized the industry in 1938. In fact the
Tiger 100 was also introduced just before war broke out in the
following year, only for production to be halted until Triumph
restarted building motorcycles at Meriden in 1946. In that year,
racer Ernie Lyons won the 500cc Manx Grand Prix on Triumph's GP
racing version of the T100, which was fitted with a lightweight
cylinder head and barrel for extra performance.
The
standard Tiger 100 was essentially the sports version of the T5 Speed
Twin, differing mainly in styling and engine tune, and for several
years was the fastest and most popular 500cc twin on the roads. Its
paintwork was silver instead of the 5T's red, its compression ratio
was listed at 7.8:1 instead of 7:1, and its output was a claimed
30bhp at 6500rpm, compared to the Speed Twin's 27bhp at 6300rpm.
Triumph's catalogue also boasted of polished engine internals,
although by no means all production bikes were fitted with such
parts.
Triumph
did at least provide the Tiger with an alloy top end in 1951, by
which time its chassis had also been uprated with telescopic forks in
place of the original girders. By the mid-1950s Triumph had improved
the chassis again, this time at the rear with a twin-shock swingarm
suspension system in place of the original sprung hub design.
Those
updates kept the T100 competitive in the bends as well as on the
straights, even if Triumph's sportsters of the 19rivals
when it came to handling. Shutting the throttle in mid-corner could
strain the single- downtube cradle frame enough to induce a wobble,
but
Motor Cycling's
1957 test reported that 'handling and steering, one or two-up, was as
good as ever'.50s were generally not
quite up to the standard of Norton's Featherbed-framed
TRIUMPH TIGER
Clubman's
TT success
By
this time further racing success had boosted the Triumph's appeal,
both in America and also on the Isle of Man, where a T100 had won the
Clubman's TT in 1952. The following year Triumph produced a
race-ready replacement for the discontinued GP model. The T100C,
complete with race-kit parts including hot cams, twin-carb conversion
and megaphone pipes, put out a healthy 40bhp.
In
standard form the twin did not initially quite live up to Triumph's
1OOmph (161km/h) claim without the help of hill or tail-wind, but it
wasn't far off.
Motor Cycling
magazine timed a T100 roadster at 96mph (154km/h) ill 1951, when a
race- kitted version was good for almost 1 lOmph (177km/h). And by
1957, when the basic Tiger had gained a twin-carb head and sportier
cams, it managed a genuine 105mph (169km/h).
In 1960
the Tiger was replaced by an all-new model of the same name, complete
with unit- construction engine and revised chassis with bathtub rear
enclosure. By now the 500cc sportster had been put in the shade by
the arrival of the 650cc Bonneville, but the smaller twin continued
right through the 1960s, and formed the basis of the twin-carb
T100T Daytona in 1967. Triumph's 500cc bikes had come a long way from
the original Tiger 100 of almost 30 years before.
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