Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Origination ot the Triton

[danod]

Hello All,
I'm new to this board.
I've just seen three Tritons for sale at www.od-racing.co.uk of various years and values. Does anyone know the true origination of the Triton? I've heard one story involving Cooper racing cars, but don't know how true it is. Can anyone help?

[Spen]

Triton's were usually home made specials, Triumph engines in the better Norton frames.
Norbsa's too. Norvel's. Tribsa's....... Tricati's......

[Jools]

Yep, I remember a few home made specials...

A guy called Roy Shearwood lived just down the road from me and put two pre unit BSA engines into a stretched Norton frame.

I think he was working on the basis that since Honda had just produced the 750 Four, he could produce a four as well....trouble was it ate gearboxes for breakfast and wouldn't go round corners...oh well, back to the drawing board

[philthy]

I think ( From memory ) that Cooper ( And others ) racing cars wanted to use Manx Norton engines in their cars, but Norton would only sell complete bikes, so that left spare rolling chassis. At the time the Norton featherbed frame and roadholder forks were the best available and people fitted Triumph pre unit T110 or T120 engines into them as these were some of the best engines of the day. That was back in the fifties and sixties.

All tritons are home made and as such quality and price vary greatly. If you are thinking of buying one the old adage of '' Take someone with you who knows what they are looking at'' is a definite requirement.

I had a triton with weslake 8 valve heads fitted and an 8 leading shoe front brake ( A nightmare to set up )and out of about 30 bikes I've owned this is the one I wish I'd kept. I sold it to buy a Ducati 860GTS. There you go

Hope that helps.. And welcome to the board

Phil

[Paul James]

Originally posted by danod
Hello All,
I'm new to this board.
I've just seen three Tritons for sale at www.od-racing.co.uk of various years and values. Does anyone know the true origination of the Triton? I've heard one story involving Cooper racing cars, but don't know how true it is. Can anyone help?

Why not fill in a bit more info about yourself in your profile ? Maybe soimebody will offer to come and look at them with you if they are nearby.

I had a Triton back in the days when they were about the quickest bikes on the road. Mine was a wideline "featherbed" frame with double leading shoe front brake and what we used to call "cafe racer" styling. Engine was a pre unit T120 top end with splayed head and central plugs, E3134 cams and 6T bottom end running a standard Triumph gearbox. They used to handle really well, particularly when you consider the tyre sections available at the time.

Mine was totally destroyed when I hit a Ford Escort van head on at around 100 mph that pulled out of a side turning and came at me on the wrong side of the road. I got away with a couple of bruises but my passenger was nearly killed. I still owe the ******** driving the van a good smack !!!

[ath748]

I have one in my bathroom. :P

Welcome.

[doogalman]

Mines almost up and running. Just waiting for the tanks to comeback from the sprayers. First one raced was built by Dave Degans (of dresda fame).
Theres a great book that details the cronalogical history of cafe racers. If you can get it . Its titled;
Cafe racers- Rockers, rock'n'roll and the coffee bar cult
Written by Mike clay
Published by Osprey

sadly its out of print but amazon ebay etc can sometimes help.

Where abouts are you in the coountry.

[doogalman]

Also do a search on ebay for triton. and see the bikes and parts offered there.

[danod]

Originally posted by philthy
I think ( From memory ) that Cooper ( And others ) racing cars wanted to use Manx Norton engines in their cars, but Norton would only sell complete bikes, so that left spare rolling chassis. At the time the Norton featherbed frame and roadholder forks were the best available and people fitted Triumph pre unit T110 or T120 engines into them as these were some of the best engines of the day. That was back in the fifties and sixties.

All tritons are home made and as such quality and price vary greatly. If you are thinking of buying one the old adage of '' Take someone with you who knows what they are looking at'' is a definite requirement.

I had a triton with weslake 8 valve heads fitted and an 8 leading shoe front brake ( A nightmare to set up )and out of about 30 bikes I've owned this is the one I wish I'd kept. I sold it to buy a Ducati 860GTS. There you go

Hope that helps.. And welcome to the board

Phil

I'd heard the same story about Cooper racing cars using the engines for the Formula 500 class of the time, so I suppose there must be some truth in it. Any idea who built the first Triton?
You mention yours had a weslake 8 valve head, take a look at the Nourish Metisse for sale at www.od-racing.co.uk , this does look very special.