Tim Remus’s book, “Triumph Motorcycles Twins & Triples” predates his book “Triumph Motorcycles from Speed Twin to Bonneville.”
Both books, however, begin with what is perhaps one of the most striking classic Triumphs ever built — an amaranth red and chrome pre-World War II Speed Twin.
From there, the 96-page softcover book leaps to the post-war years with a look at the very rare 1953 “Blackbird” American special 650cc Thunderbird.
Remus, a professional photographer, worked with a lot of classic bike collectors, experts and restorers to track down and photograph the excellent examples shown in the book. The names include Bobby Sullivan, Garry Chitwood, Dick Brown, Al Charles, Dave Flory, Jaye Strait, Mike Benolken, Rodney Birosh, Jim Godo, Ron Peter, Randy Baxter, Mike Lunsford, Lindsay Brooke and Jim Rogers at the Motorcycle Heritage Museum to name a few.
The result is not only a superbly photographed book with more than 80 images, but an authoritative reference book, as well.
Introduction of key models such as the Bonneville in 1959 and the Daytona in 1968 is chronicled as is the development of key advancements such as the move from pre-unit to unit engine and transmission packages, the move from Whitworth to UNF threaded fasteners in 1969, and optional five speed transmissions and Lockheed front disc brakes in 1971.
Also covered in this book are some of the “specials” that came along such as the Silver Jubilee produced in limited quantities in 1977 to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II ascent to the throne, the Craig Vetter designed X-75 Hurricane of 1973 and some great competition bikes like the Thruxton Bonneville and Randy Baxter’s Rickman-framed Trident 750 race bike.
Book Data:
- Title: Triumph Motorcycles Twins & Triples
- Author: Tim Remus
- Published: 1997
- Publisher: MBI Publishing Co., 729 Prospect Ave., Osceola, WI, 54020 USA
- ISBN: 0-7603-0312-6
Note to readers: many of the books that we’ll feature in Rider’s Library may be out of print and some may be difficult to find. That could be half the fun. The Internet should make the search relatively easy but ironically, none of the books currently scheduled for eventual retro-review for the Rider’s Library section were found with the help of the Internet. They all were found at book stores, used book stores, antique shops, motorcycle shops, yard sales and so on.
