New (to me) bike just delivered
Discussion
The standard answer to ‘what naked’ seems to be ‘buy a Triumph triple!’.
What first big bike? Buy a Triumph triple.
Moving down off a heavyweight and want something lighter? Buy a Triumph triple.
…and so it goes.
OK, alright already – I’ve caved in and bought a Triumph triple; it’s just been delivered
Pics to follow shortly...
What first big bike? Buy a Triumph triple.
Moving down off a heavyweight and want something lighter? Buy a Triumph triple.
…and so it goes.
OK, alright already – I’ve caved in and bought a Triumph triple; it’s just been delivered
Pics to follow shortly...
Am I doing this right?
It’s a 1973 Triumph X-75 Hurricane. Sex on wheels…at least for those of a certain age.
For the young’uns (those under 60) they’ll probably be thinking ‘what the hell is that?’. For the old fogies (those over 65) they’ll be thinking ‘a face-lifted Rocket 3 with a smaller tank’, why bother? But for those in the goldilocks generation who were in their earliest formative biking years in the early 70s this thing was a revelation. Sure, Honda had the 750 four by then, but although sophisticated it was a bit slab-sided and dull. We’d seen pics of the new Z1 and spec and performance-wise it looked astounding, but then out of left-field appeared the X-75 Hurricane.
WOW!
I remember it vividly – my mate used to buy a lot of US bike magazines and when this appeared on the cover and centre-spread it really was from a different planet; unlike anything we’d seen before…in a good way Young whipper-snappers probably look on the late 60s and early 70s as a very dull black-and-while time. My experience was quite the contrary – we’d seen the moon landings, Concorde, 747s; hell even British Rail had revealed the sleek new Inter-City 125s. Folks were getting colour TVs and we’d seen Woodstock in colour; Ferrari had revealed the 512BB. And as kids we knew Fireball XL-5’s sidepods were red/orange and yellow. It was a time when we were all looking forward to a sleek new modern future, and this was the sleekest most modern [looking!] thing we’d ever seen on 2 wheels. At the time it looked like we imagined all bikes would be in the 21st century!
A couple of years later when I had the pennies (student grands and HP!) to buy a big bike, Hurricanes just weren’t around, but more importantly time and my preferences for power and sophistication had moved on so I bought a Z900 in ’76, and the idea of a (now seen as primitive) Hurricane was a distant but fond memory of being gob-smacked as a 16-year-old.
I only ever saw one for real on the road – I can date it to 1973 as I was riding in to Edinburgh on my SS50 feeling like the coolest 16-year-old in town and a Hurricane passed me in the opposite direction. Jeez, I think I almost fell off twisting my neck to see it go by. Cooler than a cool thing. And the seed was sown. The only ones I’ve seen since have been in museums or at shows, but I’m just drawn to them.
I can’t tell if it’s stood the test of time as I’m undoubtedly biased; I still look at them as a wide-eyed teenager; but it’s still looks jaw-droppingly good to me. I feel pretty privileged to have this thing in my garage now. But for all old bikes it’s like you’re just a custodian for a while as they’ll outlive you. One day it’ll be someone else’s and so on…
Anyway – a brief bit of history…
In the mid/late 60s Triumph’s flagship model was the Trident, and BSA’s was the Rocket 3. Although they were quick in their day and competitive on track against the new Honda 750 four, they were fairly primitive beasts with engineering that really belonged in a previous decade (or earlier!).
The Hurricane was commissions in secret by BSA’s US distributor in order to boost sales against Triumph, and also to compete against the emergence of the Japanese ‘fours’. The work went to Craig Vetter who’d previously designed and sold the ‘Windjammer’ fairings that were popular with the US touring brigade (IIRC Prince’s bike on Purple Rain sported a Windjammer). The prototype was revealed in the summer of ’69 (same year as someone else bought their first six-string at the five and dime) sporting a BSA badge, and of course BSA Rocket 3’s slanting forward cylinders and frame as opposed to the upright cylinders on the Triumph Trident.
Anyway, by the time Triumph/BSA had seen and accepted the design and agreed to put it in to production the BSA factory has closed its doors, so the ‘Triumph’ Hurricane was made from the BSA parts that remained after the closure – so only 1154 bikes were ever built and revealed to an astonished World in 1973, with only 40 being available in the UK. World-wide if a dealer wanted one, it was limited to only one-only per dealer. It does appear a large number have now been consigned to museums and private collections. But this one will get ridden, although only in nice weather!
Nowadays they seem to get the moniker ‘first factory custom’ and/or the first ‘cruiser’; but at the time it was just stunning bike in the coolest (for the 70s!) colour scheme! We liked orange and yellow back then. Hell, I’ve a pair of one-piece baggy-bum racing leathers in black with orange and yellow stripes up in the attic I bought in ’76. Sadly, I’m rather larger now than I was then; either that or they’ve shrunk.
Anyway – I’m off to the garage to tinker with it, do an oil change and other bits and bobs before trying to fire it up (kick starter, no electric start – hell the factory didn’t even fit indicators or mirrors).
It’s a 1973 Triumph X-75 Hurricane. Sex on wheels…at least for those of a certain age.
For the young’uns (those under 60) they’ll probably be thinking ‘what the hell is that?’. For the old fogies (those over 65) they’ll be thinking ‘a face-lifted Rocket 3 with a smaller tank’, why bother? But for those in the goldilocks generation who were in their earliest formative biking years in the early 70s this thing was a revelation. Sure, Honda had the 750 four by then, but although sophisticated it was a bit slab-sided and dull. We’d seen pics of the new Z1 and spec and performance-wise it looked astounding, but then out of left-field appeared the X-75 Hurricane.
WOW!
I remember it vividly – my mate used to buy a lot of US bike magazines and when this appeared on the cover and centre-spread it really was from a different planet; unlike anything we’d seen before…in a good way Young whipper-snappers probably look on the late 60s and early 70s as a very dull black-and-while time. My experience was quite the contrary – we’d seen the moon landings, Concorde, 747s; hell even British Rail had revealed the sleek new Inter-City 125s. Folks were getting colour TVs and we’d seen Woodstock in colour; Ferrari had revealed the 512BB. And as kids we knew Fireball XL-5’s sidepods were red/orange and yellow. It was a time when we were all looking forward to a sleek new modern future, and this was the sleekest most modern [looking!] thing we’d ever seen on 2 wheels. At the time it looked like we imagined all bikes would be in the 21st century!
A couple of years later when I had the pennies (student grands and HP!) to buy a big bike, Hurricanes just weren’t around, but more importantly time and my preferences for power and sophistication had moved on so I bought a Z900 in ’76, and the idea of a (now seen as primitive) Hurricane was a distant but fond memory of being gob-smacked as a 16-year-old.
I only ever saw one for real on the road – I can date it to 1973 as I was riding in to Edinburgh on my SS50 feeling like the coolest 16-year-old in town and a Hurricane passed me in the opposite direction. Jeez, I think I almost fell off twisting my neck to see it go by. Cooler than a cool thing. And the seed was sown. The only ones I’ve seen since have been in museums or at shows, but I’m just drawn to them.
I can’t tell if it’s stood the test of time as I’m undoubtedly biased; I still look at them as a wide-eyed teenager; but it’s still looks jaw-droppingly good to me. I feel pretty privileged to have this thing in my garage now. But for all old bikes it’s like you’re just a custodian for a while as they’ll outlive you. One day it’ll be someone else’s and so on…
Anyway – a brief bit of history…
In the mid/late 60s Triumph’s flagship model was the Trident, and BSA’s was the Rocket 3. Although they were quick in their day and competitive on track against the new Honda 750 four, they were fairly primitive beasts with engineering that really belonged in a previous decade (or earlier!).
The Hurricane was commissions in secret by BSA’s US distributor in order to boost sales against Triumph, and also to compete against the emergence of the Japanese ‘fours’. The work went to Craig Vetter who’d previously designed and sold the ‘Windjammer’ fairings that were popular with the US touring brigade (IIRC Prince’s bike on Purple Rain sported a Windjammer). The prototype was revealed in the summer of ’69 (same year as someone else bought their first six-string at the five and dime) sporting a BSA badge, and of course BSA Rocket 3’s slanting forward cylinders and frame as opposed to the upright cylinders on the Triumph Trident.
Anyway, by the time Triumph/BSA had seen and accepted the design and agreed to put it in to production the BSA factory has closed its doors, so the ‘Triumph’ Hurricane was made from the BSA parts that remained after the closure – so only 1154 bikes were ever built and revealed to an astonished World in 1973, with only 40 being available in the UK. World-wide if a dealer wanted one, it was limited to only one-only per dealer. It does appear a large number have now been consigned to museums and private collections. But this one will get ridden, although only in nice weather!
Nowadays they seem to get the moniker ‘first factory custom’ and/or the first ‘cruiser’; but at the time it was just stunning bike in the coolest (for the 70s!) colour scheme! We liked orange and yellow back then. Hell, I’ve a pair of one-piece baggy-bum racing leathers in black with orange and yellow stripes up in the attic I bought in ’76. Sadly, I’m rather larger now than I was then; either that or they’ve shrunk.
Anyway – I’m off to the garage to tinker with it, do an oil change and other bits and bobs before trying to fire it up (kick starter, no electric start – hell the factory didn’t even fit indicators or mirrors).
Hi
I saw this get sold on the H&H on-line auction a few weeks ago. Nice purchase and congratulations. I have only seen one of these once (at a bike show) love the exhausts and I bet it sounds great.
Like you my formative bike years were the 70s and I remember seeing Norton 850s and Triumph tridents and thinking they were something to aspire to. Life moves on of course and I have moved through a selection of Japanese stuff and the bike I still really want is a Moto Guzzi S3. Even if I got one I suspect that with my old tubby body I could ride it for about 5 minutes.
I saw this get sold on the H&H on-line auction a few weeks ago. Nice purchase and congratulations. I have only seen one of these once (at a bike show) love the exhausts and I bet it sounds great.
Like you my formative bike years were the 70s and I remember seeing Norton 850s and Triumph tridents and thinking they were something to aspire to. Life moves on of course and I have moved through a selection of Japanese stuff and the bike I still really want is a Moto Guzzi S3. Even if I got one I suspect that with my old tubby body I could ride it for about 5 minutes.
Well I fall into the age bracket that remembers these bikes. Couldn't afford one when they were available and settled on a Yamaha XS650 in orange instead. Never seen an example on the road.
Congrats on your purchase and enjoy getting it out on the road, once we are through the lockdown.
Congrats on your purchase and enjoy getting it out on the road, once we are through the lockdown.
tvrolet said:
Am I doing this right?
It’s a 1973 Triumph X-75 Hurricane. Sex on wheels…at least for those of a certain age.
For the young’uns (those under 60) they’ll probably be thinking ‘what the hell is that?’. For the old fogies (those over 65) they’ll be thinking ‘a face-lifted Rocket 3 with a smaller tank’, why bother? But for those in the goldilocks generation who were in their earliest formative biking years in the early 70s this thing was a revelation. Sure, Honda had the 750 four by then, but although sophisticated it was a bit slab-sided and dull. We’d seen pics of the new Z1 and spec and performance-wise it looked astounding, but then out of left-field appeared the X-75 Hurricane.
WOW!
I remember it vividly – my mate used to buy a lot of US bike magazines and when this appeared on the cover and centre-spread it really was from a different planet; unlike anything we’d seen before…in a good way Young whipper-snappers probably look on the late 60s and early 70s as a very dull black-and-while time. My experience was quite the contrary – we’d seen the moon landings, Concorde, 747s; hell even British Rail had revealed the sleek new Inter-City 125s. Folks were getting colour TVs and we’d seen Woodstock in colour; Ferrari had revealed the 512BB. And as kids we knew Fireball XL-5’s sidepods were red/orange and yellow. It was a time when we were all looking forward to a sleek new modern future, and this was the sleekest most modern [looking!] thing we’d ever seen on 2 wheels. At the time it looked like we imagined all bikes would be in the 21st century!
A couple of years later when I had the pennies (student grands and HP!) to buy a big bike, Hurricanes just weren’t around, but more importantly time and my preferences for power and sophistication had moved on so I bought a Z900 in ’76, and the idea of a (now seen as primitive) Hurricane was a distant but fond memory of being gob-smacked as a 16-year-old.
I only ever saw one for real on the road – I can date it to 1973 as I was riding in to Edinburgh on my SS50 feeling like the coolest 16-year-old in town and a Hurricane passed me in the opposite direction. Jeez, I think I almost fell off twisting my neck to see it go by. Cooler than a cool thing. And the seed was sown. The only ones I’ve seen since have been in museums or at shows, but I’m just drawn to them.
I can’t tell if it’s stood the test of time as I’m undoubtedly biased; I still look at them as a wide-eyed teenager; but it’s still looks jaw-droppingly good to me. I feel pretty privileged to have this thing in my garage now. But for all old bikes it’s like you’re just a custodian for a while as they’ll outlive you. One day it’ll be someone else’s and so on…
Anyway – a brief bit of history…
In the mid/late 60s Triumph’s flagship model was the Trident, and BSA’s was the Rocket 3. Although they were quick in their day and competitive on track against the new Honda 750 four, they were fairly primitive beasts with engineering that really belonged in a previous decade (or earlier!).
The Hurricane was commissions in secret by BSA’s US distributor in order to boost sales against Triumph, and also to compete against the emergence of the Japanese ‘fours’. The work went to Craig Vetter who’d previously designed and sold the ‘Windjammer’ fairings that were popular with the US touring brigade (IIRC Prince’s bike on Purple Rain sported a Windjammer). The prototype was revealed in the summer of ’69 (same year as someone else bought their first six-string at the five and dime) sporting a BSA badge, and of course BSA Rocket 3’s slanting forward cylinders and frame as opposed to the upright cylinders on the Triumph Trident.
Anyway, by the time Triumph/BSA had seen and accepted the design and agreed to put it in to production the BSA factory has closed its doors, so the ‘Triumph’ Hurricane was made from the BSA parts that remained after the closure – so only 1154 bikes were ever built and revealed to an astonished World in 1973, with only 40 being available in the UK. World-wide if a dealer wanted one, it was limited to only one-only per dealer. It does appear a large number have now been consigned to museums and private collections. But this one will get ridden, although only in nice weather!
Nowadays they seem to get the moniker ‘first factory custom’ and/or the first ‘cruiser’; but at the time it was just stunning bike in the coolest (for the 70s!) colour scheme! We liked orange and yellow back then. Hell, I’ve a pair of one-piece baggy-bum racing leathers in black with orange and yellow stripes up in the attic I bought in ’76. Sadly, I’m rather larger now than I was then; either that or they’ve shrunk.
Anyway – I’m off to the garage to tinker with it, do an oil change and other bits and bobs before trying to fire it up (kick starter, no electric start – hell the factory didn’t even fit indicators or mirrors).
Stunning It’s a 1973 Triumph X-75 Hurricane. Sex on wheels…at least for those of a certain age.
For the young’uns (those under 60) they’ll probably be thinking ‘what the hell is that?’. For the old fogies (those over 65) they’ll be thinking ‘a face-lifted Rocket 3 with a smaller tank’, why bother? But for those in the goldilocks generation who were in their earliest formative biking years in the early 70s this thing was a revelation. Sure, Honda had the 750 four by then, but although sophisticated it was a bit slab-sided and dull. We’d seen pics of the new Z1 and spec and performance-wise it looked astounding, but then out of left-field appeared the X-75 Hurricane.
WOW!
I remember it vividly – my mate used to buy a lot of US bike magazines and when this appeared on the cover and centre-spread it really was from a different planet; unlike anything we’d seen before…in a good way Young whipper-snappers probably look on the late 60s and early 70s as a very dull black-and-while time. My experience was quite the contrary – we’d seen the moon landings, Concorde, 747s; hell even British Rail had revealed the sleek new Inter-City 125s. Folks were getting colour TVs and we’d seen Woodstock in colour; Ferrari had revealed the 512BB. And as kids we knew Fireball XL-5’s sidepods were red/orange and yellow. It was a time when we were all looking forward to a sleek new modern future, and this was the sleekest most modern [looking!] thing we’d ever seen on 2 wheels. At the time it looked like we imagined all bikes would be in the 21st century!
A couple of years later when I had the pennies (student grands and HP!) to buy a big bike, Hurricanes just weren’t around, but more importantly time and my preferences for power and sophistication had moved on so I bought a Z900 in ’76, and the idea of a (now seen as primitive) Hurricane was a distant but fond memory of being gob-smacked as a 16-year-old.
I only ever saw one for real on the road – I can date it to 1973 as I was riding in to Edinburgh on my SS50 feeling like the coolest 16-year-old in town and a Hurricane passed me in the opposite direction. Jeez, I think I almost fell off twisting my neck to see it go by. Cooler than a cool thing. And the seed was sown. The only ones I’ve seen since have been in museums or at shows, but I’m just drawn to them.
I can’t tell if it’s stood the test of time as I’m undoubtedly biased; I still look at them as a wide-eyed teenager; but it’s still looks jaw-droppingly good to me. I feel pretty privileged to have this thing in my garage now. But for all old bikes it’s like you’re just a custodian for a while as they’ll outlive you. One day it’ll be someone else’s and so on…
Anyway – a brief bit of history…
In the mid/late 60s Triumph’s flagship model was the Trident, and BSA’s was the Rocket 3. Although they were quick in their day and competitive on track against the new Honda 750 four, they were fairly primitive beasts with engineering that really belonged in a previous decade (or earlier!).
The Hurricane was commissions in secret by BSA’s US distributor in order to boost sales against Triumph, and also to compete against the emergence of the Japanese ‘fours’. The work went to Craig Vetter who’d previously designed and sold the ‘Windjammer’ fairings that were popular with the US touring brigade (IIRC Prince’s bike on Purple Rain sported a Windjammer). The prototype was revealed in the summer of ’69 (same year as someone else bought their first six-string at the five and dime) sporting a BSA badge, and of course BSA Rocket 3’s slanting forward cylinders and frame as opposed to the upright cylinders on the Triumph Trident.
Anyway, by the time Triumph/BSA had seen and accepted the design and agreed to put it in to production the BSA factory has closed its doors, so the ‘Triumph’ Hurricane was made from the BSA parts that remained after the closure – so only 1154 bikes were ever built and revealed to an astonished World in 1973, with only 40 being available in the UK. World-wide if a dealer wanted one, it was limited to only one-only per dealer. It does appear a large number have now been consigned to museums and private collections. But this one will get ridden, although only in nice weather!
Nowadays they seem to get the moniker ‘first factory custom’ and/or the first ‘cruiser’; but at the time it was just stunning bike in the coolest (for the 70s!) colour scheme! We liked orange and yellow back then. Hell, I’ve a pair of one-piece baggy-bum racing leathers in black with orange and yellow stripes up in the attic I bought in ’76. Sadly, I’m rather larger now than I was then; either that or they’ve shrunk.
Anyway – I’m off to the garage to tinker with it, do an oil change and other bits and bobs before trying to fire it up (kick starter, no electric start – hell the factory didn’t even fit indicators or mirrors).
Great Bike, living piece of history, I hope you have fun with it.
Serious question; was there any technical need for the 3 pipes hanging to the right ?
I know that H-Ds have right side exhausts to balance out the heavy primary & clutch on the left side,
but your bike is a unit engine (?) thus no external primary drive case ?
I would like it even more if the answer was : because they look cool in a 60s craze way.
Serious question; was there any technical need for the 3 pipes hanging to the right ?
I know that H-Ds have right side exhausts to balance out the heavy primary & clutch on the left side,
but your bike is a unit engine (?) thus no external primary drive case ?
I would like it even more if the answer was : because they look cool in a 60s craze way.
Thanks for the kind comments folks. I thought it might be a bit more 'marmite'.
Benni said:
I know that H-Ds have right side exhausts to balance out the heavy primary & clutch on the left side,
but your bike is a unit engine (?) thus no external primary drive case ?
I would like it even more if the answer was : because they look cool in a 60s craze way.
Just for looks. Craig Vetter said:but your bike is a unit engine (?) thus no external primary drive case ?
I would like it even more if the answer was : because they look cool in a 60s craze way.
Craig Vetter said:
For me, the function of the Hurricane was to make me stand out in a world of foreign motorcycles. The function of my design was to look American. Its function was also to make its rider be noticed by women. Further, I wanted my design to withstand the test of time. Something that looks new and exciting today will look old and tired tomorrow. My work must be classic and enduring.
Only thing is the women it probably attracted in the 1970s will be in their 60s now. Still that's a step in the right direction from the Indian which seems to attract women in their 70s and 80s!
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