A great opportunity to buy a rare and collectible Triumph, one of the last from the original Meriden factory before its closure in 1974.
Original unmolested condition - most rare and difficult to find parts are present.
25 years in dry storage in Provence, South France.
The bike turns over, runs, needs general maintenance for fully functional use.
All period service and parts manuals come with the bike.
UK papers and a service file present - imported from California in 1998, originally sold by West Coast Triumph importer Munro Motors.
Help and advice with European papers gladly given after a confirmed sale.
Price is negotiable.
Following are excerpts from an article in Classic Bike Guide by Frank Westworth in July 2022.
In 1973 the market was shifting rapidly, propelled down the primrose path of progress by the great Japanese invasion. And the TR5T reflects this.
The engine is as lively as 500 Triumphs almost always are. It sounds like it should, and indeed it goes exactly as it should, with that design’s appetite and enthusiasm for revs. It is as well developed as you might expect for a design dating from the late 1950s, and although it rattles in the great ohv Triumph tradition, it’s willing, punchy and even oil-tight.
The handling is simply excellent, as you would expect from what is a light and stiff frame. If anything, with the 21-inch front wheel, the steering is almost too quick, twitching like a trail bike. Great in traffic. Except for the front brake – the back stopper is fine. The front, a decently weedy six-inch single-leading shoe device, is intended for the dirt, plainly.
But, somehow, the strange styling, with the engine sitting high up so that the tubby twin crankcases can fit into a frame intended for a slim single; the totally bonkers exhaust that flies in the face of the entire notion that off-road bikes should keep their silencers well out of the way of water and rocks; the frankly bizarre gearing… somehow these combine to produce a completely entertaining ride. Every time I’m offered one I fall in love again, just like that.
