Triumph celebrates building its millionth motorcycle since its 1990 resurrection

The official millionth bike, a custom-painted Tiger 900 Rally Pro, was unveiled by CEO Nick Bloor in front of Triumph's UK team at company headquarters in Hinckley, England, and will be displayed in Triumph's stand at the Motorcycle Live show this weekend. Then it will take its place in a display in Triumph's Factory Visitor Experience center that will celebrate next year's 120th anniversary of the first Triumph motorcycle.

Triumph has more to celebrate than just being around almost 120 years after the company produced its first powered two-wheeler (a bicycle fitted with a two-horsepower engine). Triumph reported it is having its best year ever, with more than 75,000 bikes registered globally in the past 12 months, which adds up to $877 million in motorcycle sales.

From triumph to failure to triumph

From that first motorized bicycle in 1902, Triumph became a key player in the British motorcycle industry that led the world for part of the 20th century. But by the 1970s, it was also an example of how that industry had not kept up with new competition from Japan, and like other British manufacturers, it died a lingering death.

Self-made billionaire John Bloor bought Triumph and rebuilt it anew. In 1990, the first new Triumphs emerged from the modern, new factory in Hinckley, England. Triumph started with a small range of 750 cc and 900 cc triples in naked, sport and touring versions that intentionally resembled the old air-cooled vertical twins in no way. If those first bikes were a bit clunky-looking, they were also sturdy, and showed that the new Triumph had distanced itself from the outdated motorcycles of old. From that start, an entire line has grown and today, in addition to its design center and headquarters in Hinckley, Triumph has a manufacturing and production facility in Thailand, plants in Brazil and India and about 2,000 employees worldwide. Triumphs are sold in 57 countries. CEO Nick Bloor said the company's growth will continue.

"We are committed to taking the brand to even greater heights, and with the forthcoming launch of our brand new Tiger 1200, new competition MX and Enduro motorcycles, plus our strategic partnership with Bajaj to create smaller capacity bikes, I am delighted to say that the future for Triumph and its fans across the world will be just as exciting and rich as the last 30 years has been," he said.

Quite a few of those one million Triumphs ended up in the hands of Zillans. Back before remote working was a thing, the employee parking lot at RevZilla HQ featured a disporportionate number of Triumphs, with Street Triples and Bonnevilles appearing to be especially popular.

Then of course there's Spurgeon's long-term relationship with the 2005 Bonneville he bought new. And at the risk of repeating myself, I'll mention my 1997 Speed Triple, a significant model because it was Triumph's first foray into fuel injection and an aluminum frame, branching out from the original modular triples that got the company back in the game. I bought a used, low-miles 1997 in 1998 and still own it today.

There is no charge to visit Triumph's Factory Visitor Experience and the company is planning special events for 2022 to mark the anniversary.