Triumph T110 1954

Triumph Tiger 110 1954

Triumph T110

My father had bought a Triumph Thunderbird 650 new in 1950 and on April 3rd 1954 he took delivery of a new 1954 Triumph Tiger T110. It is pictured below.

I think the first Triumph T110's are some of the nicest looking bikes that Triumph ever made. I have always wanted one and finally bought one in January 2012. Some pictures of it are lower down this page.

The Triumph T110 or Triumph Tiger 110 was named "110" due to its claimed top speed. Whilst the factory (tweaked) test bikes were recorded at up to 117mph, a normal bike would may have just topped 110 mph. The Triumph T110 or Triumph Tiger 110 was produced in a beautiful shade of a light metallic shell blue, it really stood out from the rather drab and dull colours of most bikes of the era. The Triumph Tiger 110 had a 649cc engine a claimed 42hp at 6,500rpm.

The Triumph T110 was first seen at the Paris salon in October 1953 and was the first Triumph to feature swinging arm rear suspension. It was the sports version of the Triumph Thunderbird. The Triumph Tiger 110 came with a higher compression ratio of 8:1, modified porting, new camshaft and a larger Amal 289 carburettor.

In 1955 the Triumph T110 changes included: larger main bearings were fitted and a bulge under the timing side case shows if an engine has this. The carburettor was changed to a 1 1/16th bore Amal Monobloc 376 and the Lucas magneto now had a screw in cap.

1956 the Triumph T110 gained a new light alloy head with a higher 8.5:1 compression ratio.

1957 The tank badge was redesigned and a two tone colour scheme became available as an optional extra. Standard colour was now silver-grey or the optional ivory on blue for the tank with ivory mudguards with a light blue centre stripe that was gold lined.

1958 The slickshift gear change was added and allowed clutch less changes, although it was not that popular seemingly as many owners found that it gave quite a jerky gear change so continued to use the clutch lever as usual. Deeper front mudguards were now fitted and the existing 8 inch front brake now took up the full width of the hub and a steering lock now came as standard. A new twin port alloy head was also available in this year to allow twin carbs and to stand up to the extra performance the crank was now a one piece unit. You could now also get your T110 in an optional colour scheme of black on ivory.

The bikes left the factory with matching numbers on the frame and engine and these can be used to date the bike as the numbers ran in sequence. However the numbers that are scattered around the web and in a few books, purport to show bike serial numbers and year produced can be a little misleading. These numbers are in the table below:

I have looked at several 1954 registered Triumph T110's that have numbers several thousand digits past the supposed cut off for 1954 bikes which is 56699. My fathers own T110 was delivered new on April 3rd 1954 and was numbered 49xxx and hence must have been built a month or more before this. Having chatted with the marque experts in this area the following needs to be considered.

Triumph calculated its model years not against calendar years (end of December) but against their year end and its summer holiday/close down. Accordingly the numbers above show production to the summer of each year. These numbers are widely circulated on the web, but require a little clarification.

You could have bought a 1954 Triumph T110 in November of 1954 and according to these widely used numbers it would be considered to be outside the 1954 Triumph model year production run even though it was a T110 built and registered in 1954. In addition Triumph tended to show its new models in October of the year and often not start actually shipping them for several months after the show. With all of this considered you could have:

• a 1954 model built/registered before the summer of 54.
• a 1954 Triumph T110 model built/registered after the summer break and before the October announcement of new 1955 models. These would be numbered after 56699.
• a 1954 Triumph T110 that was built/registered after the October 1954 new model announcements, but still exactly to 1954 model specification . These would be numbered after 56699.
• A 1954 Triumph T110 that was built/registered late in 1954 (perhaps late Nov/Dec) and could have been a standard 1954 specification or have had some/all of the 1955 model updates. These would be numbered after 56699.
• From what I have found out so far it is more likely that full 1955 spec Triumph T110's would have only been built from the start of 1955 and hence 54 T110's would have been built several thousand numbers past 56699.

If we then take the summer to summer production numbers and evenly spread them over 12 months, then we arrive at the guesstimated production numbers by month. This is just my best guess and I am sure they would have had a drop in production numbers over Christmas and New Year, but it is an educated guess. The table below shows the numbers from summer 1953 to summer 1954. Using these numbers my father's T110 would have been built around Jan to Feb. 1954, which would seem to roughly fit in with him buying in on April 3rd.

Taking the same approach with the following 12 months, the table below would apply. So using these numbers and assumptions the last 1954 specification T110's that were also built in 1954 would have been numbered around 61xxx

If any marque experts have more further clarification, then please do contact me and I will update the page. I have had some feedback on my guesstimated numbers above and it would appear that Triumph ramped up production in the new year and spring to have stock to meet the spring/early summer peak of new bike sales. I will have a go at adjusting these numbers to try and reflect this in future. My email is at the bottom of the page.

The colour pictures (below) were taken from Triumph literature that was issued on 31st October 1953. You can see that a few things (such as the front brake) changed before the bike was first sold in 1954. In the literature below they are referring to the bike as a Triumph Tiger 110, though my father and others just seem to call them a Triumph T110. The Triumph Tiger 100 was the 500cc model.

Fact or Fiction? The following are things I have read about T110's that seem to contradict, so suggestions are welcome on which is correct:
Triumph moved away from Iron heads due to iron heads overheating and/or it was more fashionable to have an alloy head?
Early iron head T110's are both descibed as faster and slower than later alloy head versions?

So how reliable was a new T110 and what maintenance was required? My father had worked in his Dads motorcycle shop before WW2 and then worked as an engineer in the RAF, maintaining and rebuilding Merlins during the Battle of Britain - so he was a very well trained engineer and mechanic. He kept detailed logs of all his bikes and I have summarised the one for his 1954 T110 below.

When the engine blew up Triumph were at first reluctant to acknowledge a fault. My father had access to state of the art engineering facilities and had the gudgeon pins analysed as they had failed. The technical report showed that they had not been hardened properly and hence failed. Presented with this report Triumph then took the engine back and repaired it.

This is the cover of the literature. It features the 650 Thunderbird even though the Triumph Tiger 110 is now the top model in the range.

The literature below is from the same document. My father covered almost 100,000 miles in 10 years on three new Triumphs (46 Speed Twin, 50 Thunderbird and Triumph Tiger 110) and where they say below "complete reliability" they should perhaps have said 10-20,000 miles of reliability and then a few issues might come up. My father recorded every mile of all these bikes so every item of maintenance and failure is recorded.

The page below shows the new spring frame of the Triumph T110.

This is the back page of the same literature. All of these pictures are around 1200x900 in size and about 200k file size so they should print out quite well.

In 1955 the Triumph literature for the Triumph T110 was showing the page below.

On March 8th 1956 The Motor Cycle magazine tested a Triumph T110 and the test is below.

In January 1955 Motorcylist tested the Triumph T110, see below for their Review Test of the Triumph T110 1954.

I hope you enjoy this page and if you have any suggestions, additions or corrections then please do contact me - paulg@go-faster.com

The Tiger cartoon was used in period advertising. I like the cartoon and when I get a Triumph Tiger 110 I shall add these to it.

So finally after lusting after a T110 for decades, January 5th 2012 was the day I bought one and here it is below. It is a matching numbers bike that was registered in 1954. As a relative novice owner! I know that it is not all original, but it will hopefully be a good starting point to create an original bike in the coming years.

January 18th 2012
I have been tinkering with the bike now have it running more sweatly as the connections from the magneto to the HT leads were loose. The front brake lever pulled back to the bars and the only adjuster on the fork leg had no leeway for adjustment. I removed the cable and removed a few mm of the inner steel core and refitted it and now I had enough free play to use the adjuster. The lights did not work and a quick checked showed that the 6v battery was dry and dead. Not sure how it passed an MoT like this! Sourced a new 6v battery from my local old Triumph shop ( http://www.rockerbox-motorcycles.com/) but when I came to fit it today noticed that some of the wires are just twisted together in the battery box area! Nice. I need to get an inline fuse and then I can sort out the wiring around the battery properly. I did rig it up temporarily and the headlights, horn and rear/stop lights all worked - so encouraging. The engine oil looks fresh but the gearbox oil could do with a change and I intend to flush it out before I refill it. I also need to lift the rocker covers as I have oil weeping out between the covers and the head and I cannot see if a gasket is in place.

January 22nd 2012

Went out for a ride on it today having rewired the battery box and changed the gearbox oil beforehand. It started up nicely and off we set for a whole 6ish miles before it started to run very roughly and I pulled over to have a look. The end of the magneto was coming lose and a quick tweak with a borrowed screwdriver and it was back on tight and the bike fired up and ran fine.

By the time I had put my helmet back on the carb was pouring petrol (float stuck) and flooded the engine and it refused to kick start and a bump start was required. I consider this to only count as a single breakdown as it all occured in one location!

It then managed a whole trouble free 5 miles to the pub where I stopped for a celebratory pint. It was dark when I left and happily my lights all worked and the temptation of opening it up on the way home was given into and not sure how fast we went as the speedo has its own ideas about velocity.

I consider it a successful ride (all 13 miles of it!) as I returned home under my own power. Here it is basking in its success in the darkness of the garden.

January 29th 2012

I have three iron heads with my Triumph T110 and I think may be correct for a 1954 Triumph T110. I have seen pictures of 54's with heads like these but also ones without the little small fin by the exhaust port. I have put some pictures below and would welcome anyone telling me exactly what model they are for?

Head No1

Head No 2

I will need to source quite a few bits to make it original, so if you have any parts that you would be prepared to part with, please do contact me.
My email is paulg@go-faster.com

I know I need to change the mudguards, headlight unit, seat, handlebars and no doubt much more ... so please do drop me an email with suggestions.

If you like bikes of this era then you should like another web page I have created. It is the story of my fathers 1953 trip around Europe on a 1950 Triumph 650 Thunderbird with his pals on a Brough Superior SS100, Triumph Tiger 100 and a couple of Sunbeams. It contains many beautiful period photographs:

See: http://www.go-faster.com/SS100.html

If you like even older bikes, then you may be interested to read about my exploits on my 1914 4hp Triumph. I bought it in November 2011 and being a novice to such ancient machines have started to record my experiences of owning and riding it. It is quite an experience riding a bike with no gears, clutch and almost no brakes! See: http://www.go-faster.com/1914Triumph.html

I have created a page about Triumph T110 For Sale or recently sold - so you can get an idea of values.
See - http://www.go-faster.com/TriumphT110ForSale.html

I have been contacted by a fellow T110 owner who has created a great blog on restoring her Triumph T110 1955, see - http://tiger110.blogspot.com/

Below is a list of articles in various magazines about Triumph T110's.

Classic Bike, October 1982. 3 pages on a restored 1956 Triumph T110 and a double page colour picture.

Interesting web pages about Triumph T110's:

A owner restoring a 1955 Triumph T110 - http://tiger110.blogspot.com/

Brian is rebuilding a 1954 T110 engine into a 1949 Tiger 100 frame, you can see his progress here: www.britishironworks.com

In October 2011 I published a few pictures of old bikes - my father and his pals riding around Europe in 1953 on a Brough Superior, Triumph Thunderbirds etc and in just a couple of months the page has had over 13 million hits! That web page is here - http://www.go-faster.com/SS100.html

If you like even older bikes, then you may be interested to read about my exploits on my 1914 4hp Triumph. I bought it in November 2011 and being a novice to such ancient machines have started to record my experiences of owning and riding it. It is quite an experience riding a bike with no gears, no clutch and almost no brakes!
See: http://www.go-faster.com/1914Triumph.html

I have also created a page about a 1911 Triumph that was once owned by my grandfather,
see http://www.go-faster.com/VeteranTriumph.html

As people have contacted me asking where they could a similar Veteran motorcycle, I have created a web page listing any that are for sale or recently sold - so you can get an idea of values.
See: http://www.go-faster.com/VeteranMotorcycleForSale.html

As people have contacted me asking where they could buy a Triumph T110, I have created a web page listing any that are for sale or recently sold - so you can get an idea of values.
See - http://www.go-faster.com/TriumphT110ForSale.html

I have a page about the TVR Griffith 500, see http://www.go-faster.com/TVR_Griffith_500.html

I have a web page about the VW Golf GT Tdi 170, see http://www.go-faster.com/VW-Golf-GT-TDI-170.html