Trident t150
MNPGRider
June 6, 2009
Vehicle nickname:
Trident t150
Tracking started on:
0000-00-00 00:00:00
Tell the world a little bit about your vehicle
My hobby is finding, restoring, and riding older motorcycles, and collecting motorcycling related articles of things that, as a youth, defined my future. My eBay id, trident_t150, comes from my classic, 1975 Triumph Trident T150, a very rare three cylinder British motorcycle. Many people have contacted me to tell me there is no such thing as a 1975 T150 (the official records show production from 1969-1974), but with a JK serial number on this one (denoting a 1975 model year), along with many others I have documented here in the states, including several which have come up for sale on eBay, there are definitely 1975 T150's. They often have manufacturing quirks, such as mine, which has a red and black color scheme from a 1973 model, and a useless 1976 T160 electric start button. I believe, as do other owners of these oddities, that the Triumph factory and its workers, in an attempt to keep Triumph alive, took whatever parts they had and built bikes, creating these oddities, which all seemed to have been shipped to U.S. dealers. Further proof of their existance are the numerous Triumph ads that appeared in American motorcycling magazines, that often come up for sale on ebay, featuring 1975 T150's.
Introduced to the motorcyling world in the fall of 1968, the Trident was one of the fastest production motorcycles ever built to that date. The racing version, one of them known as Slippery Sam, and driven by the late Ray Pickeral, won the prestigious Isle of Mann motorcycle race five years in a row, from 1971 to 1975. One of the items in my collection is an old poster denoting the Trident's racing success.
The sundown picture on the album cover is the first picture I took of my Trident, on the day I brought it home. Note the tarnished sidecovers from sitting for over a decade and a half.
I found this beauty in 1996 in original, but unrestored condition, minus only the passenger grab bar, having been left sitting in a garage for 15 years after its owner died. It had about 7400 miles on it. Two years later, coming home from the British Biker Cooperative rallye in Wisconsin, I sought shelter from a coming storm at a gas station in New Ulm, Mn., and no sooner got off the bike when the town was hit by a microburst wind shear, a 100mph straight down, non-stop blast of wind from a collapsing thunderhead. I got to watch as my Trident rolled through the gas station, while I hung on for my life to a gas pump. Pretty much anything that stuck out was broken or damaged--turn signals, foot pegs, kick start lever, headlight, bars, wheels, swing arm, exhaust, etc. Remarkably, the tank survived with only a minor ding.
Engine/Drivetrain Modifications:
I now have about 29,000 miles on it, and did have to do a valve job. Otherwise the 30 year old engine is good, still oil tight, but now needs a ring job. I have modified it with Boyer electronic ignition, a 5.10 x 16 inch rear tire on rim with chrome spokes, a new front rim with stainless steel spokes, a smoked windshield, and oil pressure, voltage, and temperature gauges, shorty turn signals, an early model air cleaner, and an 180 watt Norton stator. A WIPAC 100 watt Halogen with a visor lights up the road. Where the missing grab bar should have been, I built a backrest/luggage rack--that and the saddle bags have allowed me to take many trips more than a 1000 miles at a time with no problems, including two trips to Sturgis. An extra thick copper head gasket reduced the need to run 106 octane gas in its high performance engine--that and a 51 tooth rear sprocket (53 tooth was standard) allow it to purr on 92 octane at 75 mph, nearly vibration free with its 120 degree crankshaft.
Suspension Modifications:
None
Wheels/Tires Modifications:
5.10 x 16 inch rear, new front rim with stainless steel spokes
Interior/Exterior Modifications:
New paint, shorty turn signals
Trident t150
Tracking started on:
0000-00-00 00:00:00
Tell the world a little bit about your vehicle
My hobby is finding, restoring, and riding older motorcycles, and collecting motorcycling related articles of things that, as a youth, defined my future. My eBay id, trident_t150, comes from my classic, 1975 Triumph Trident T150, a very rare three cylinder British motorcycle. Many people have contacted me to tell me there is no such thing as a 1975 T150 (the official records show production from 1969-1974), but with a JK serial number on this one (denoting a 1975 model year), along with many others I have documented here in the states, including several which have come up for sale on eBay, there are definitely 1975 T150's. They often have manufacturing quirks, such as mine, which has a red and black color scheme from a 1973 model, and a useless 1976 T160 electric start button. I believe, as do other owners of these oddities, that the Triumph factory and its workers, in an attempt to keep Triumph alive, took whatever parts they had and built bikes, creating these oddities, which all seemed to have been shipped to U.S. dealers. Further proof of their existance are the numerous Triumph ads that appeared in American motorcycling magazines, that often come up for sale on ebay, featuring 1975 T150's.
Introduced to the motorcyling world in the fall of 1968, the Trident was one of the fastest production motorcycles ever built to that date. The racing version, one of them known as Slippery Sam, and driven by the late Ray Pickeral, won the prestigious Isle of Mann motorcycle race five years in a row, from 1971 to 1975. One of the items in my collection is an old poster denoting the Trident's racing success.
The sundown picture on the album cover is the first picture I took of my Trident, on the day I brought it home. Note the tarnished sidecovers from sitting for over a decade and a half.
I found this beauty in 1996 in original, but unrestored condition, minus only the passenger grab bar, having been left sitting in a garage for 15 years after its owner died. It had about 7400 miles on it. Two years later, coming home from the British Biker Cooperative rallye in Wisconsin, I sought shelter from a coming storm at a gas station in New Ulm, Mn., and no sooner got off the bike when the town was hit by a microburst wind shear, a 100mph straight down, non-stop blast of wind from a collapsing thunderhead. I got to watch as my Trident rolled through the gas station, while I hung on for my life to a gas pump. Pretty much anything that stuck out was broken or damaged--turn signals, foot pegs, kick start lever, headlight, bars, wheels, swing arm, exhaust, etc. Remarkably, the tank survived with only a minor ding.
Engine/Drivetrain Modifications:
I now have about 29,000 miles on it, and did have to do a valve job. Otherwise the 30 year old engine is good, still oil tight, but now needs a ring job. I have modified it with Boyer electronic ignition, a 5.10 x 16 inch rear tire on rim with chrome spokes, a new front rim with stainless steel spokes, a smoked windshield, and oil pressure, voltage, and temperature gauges, shorty turn signals, an early model air cleaner, and an 180 watt Norton stator. A WIPAC 100 watt Halogen with a visor lights up the road. Where the missing grab bar should have been, I built a backrest/luggage rack--that and the saddle bags have allowed me to take many trips more than a 1000 miles at a time with no problems, including two trips to Sturgis. An extra thick copper head gasket reduced the need to run 106 octane gas in its high performance engine--that and a 51 tooth rear sprocket (53 tooth was standard) allow it to purr on 92 octane at 75 mph, nearly vibration free with its 120 degree crankshaft.
Suspension Modifications:
None
Wheels/Tires Modifications:
5.10 x 16 inch rear, new front rim with stainless steel spokes
Interior/Exterior Modifications:
New paint, shorty turn signals
