The Big Four
 

Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and....

Triumph.

Against a backdrop of overall UK motorcycle sales tumbling by 20 per cent, Triumph's sales increased by 26 per cent in its home market. The firm sold 7,450 new motorcycles last year compared to 5,890 in 2008, overtaking Kawasaki to become the fourth-largest big bike brand in the UK.
The British marque trailed Honda by just one bike in December in the over-500cc sector, in which its UK market share increased from 9.2 to 13 per cent.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorbikes/7019345/Winter-checks-for-your-bike.html



Well done Triumph. It's great to see a British manufacturer that's successful. A 25% increase in sales when the rest of the market has dropped by 20% is nothing short of amazing.

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Hopefully they're doing the same in the rest of the world's markets.

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As my wife says, "I'm not surprised, they make some lovely bikes" :)

Druid

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I loved the build quality of my Daytona 955i SE, it spent many thousands of miles being ridden through three winters and never suffered a bit. My Versys has corrosion all over the bottom half, having been ridden twice in winter conditions. It's not surprising Triumph have overtaken them to be perfectly honest, and good luck to them too. If they made a 675 Tiger I'd be queuing up to buy one.

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Rumour has it that they might well launch a 'Tiger Cub' this year. Though rumours concerning Triumph are often not very accurate. I want to replace my Speed Triple, but I can't decide what with. The Sprint ST is tempting, but I think that might be due for replacement this year (as it's now 5 years old), so should I wait. But then, if it's launched in September then it won't be available until next Spring anyway. I'd seriously consider a smaller Tiger as a commuter-tourer.

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I love the 675 engine, but want something upright, faired to some extent and touring friendly, which the Street Triple isnt. I'd have considered buying a used 1050 Tiger if they were alot lower in seat height, but I remember trying to ride them when I was working at a Triumph dealer and they are simply too tall for me to ride with any confidence and lowering them isn't easy.

Hopefully if they do make something like that with a 675 engine it'll have a lower seat height to help us stumpy people.

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:smt081 woop. now watch it all go down the pan when i start work there in july...

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I remember having a chat with a dealer while waiting for my Speed Triple to be serviced earlier this year, Some of the waits for new bikes were awful... I thought he was having a laugh when he was talking about not being able to get the bikes in quick enough... Till I spoke with another dealer having the same problem.

Good on em though, Must admit I do have a real hankering for a Sprint ST but i've not even had the triple a year yet so will leave it a bit longer

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Great! The Soho Kawasive like exclusivity. :D

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That is good news for British jobs and British manufacturing.