1955 Triumph Tiger 110

In the days before Bonnevilles. the Tiger 110 was Triumph's top of the range sports bike. In fact it was the bike that earned the Bonneville its name by powering Johnny Allen's record breaker at Utah's famous salt lake. The model used the company's 650cc parallel twin and. in keeping with its name was reputedly capable of 110mph. In reality. a comfortable 100mph is more realistic. Suffice to say it was the fastest two-wheeler on the road without a Vincent badge.

This matching numbers example is the earlier style with the tramline tank badges. However. it has the desirable swinging-arm rear suspension and aluminium cylinder head. The latter is normally associated with the following year's model. but the frame number puts it in the 1956 model year and was clearly one of the early examples registered toward the end of 1955.

This bike was restored some years ago for display. but has recently been prepared for road use including an engine rebuild. Since then it has done very few miles and. although no longer pristine. is still a very presentable and useable machine that could be improved by some detailing.