BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident

1960s/1970s British motorcycle made by Triumph Engineering, Meriden

In December 1975 final shipments of 288 and 224 motorcycles were destined for Australia and the US, respectively, but NVT diverted them to fill an order from the Saudi Arabian police force. Most UK police had switched to BMW motorcycles, but a few (such as the Yorkshire Constabulary) still used the Trident. About 450 bikes were sent to Saudi Arabia; the last 130 were still in the UK when the Saudis cancelled the remainder of the order, and NVT Motorcycles sold them as the Triumph Cardinal. At the time, the list price of a stock T160 was £1,215; although the "police accessories" were worth only £150, NVT listed the Cardinal for £1,522.80. In 1982, European dealers imported about 180 low mileage Tridents from Saudi Arabia; the poorly maintained, sand encrusted machines were restored and sold as standard T160s.

The Triumph Quadrant was designed and built by Doug Hele in 1973. It was a 1,000 cc four cylinder motorcycle made from Trident parts (although the camshaft was sourced outside the factory). The fourth cylinder resulted from grafting an extra mid crankcase unit; since the primary chaincase and final drive sprocket could not be moved, the fourth cylinder protruded from the right side of the bike. Why Hele developed this machine is unknown, since the lopsided design could never compete with Japanese motorcycles such as the Honda CB750 or the Kawasaki Z1. An inside view is that Hele's efforts were a waste of resources that, with NVT's precarious finances, should have been directed to marketing the 900 cc triple Thunderbird III.

In 1975 an NVT prototype 870 cc triple, the T180 Triumph Thunderbird III, was developed but it did not reach production. NVT passed on the prototype to the Meriden co operative, which also did not proceed to production (despite experimenting with the engine in an oil bearing frame). A prototype "Norton 900 Commando" was also built with the T180 engine in a Norton Commando frame.

Doug Hele continued to develop the engine, and in 1971 joined frame expert Rob North to produce the Formula 750 racing machines. At the 1971 Daytona 200 the British three cylinder bikes took the top three places; Dick Mann won on a BSA Rocket 3, followed by Gene Romero on a Triumph Trident and Don Emde third on another BSA Rocket 3. John Cooper rode a BSA Rocket 3 to an upset victory over 500 cc world champion Giacomo Agostini in the 1971 Race of the Year at Mallory Park. Cooper finished three fifths of a second ahead of Agostini's MV Agusta. The best known bike was a production class Trident prepared by a team led by Les Williams called Slippery Sam, a roadster prepared for production class road racing to controlled specifications using selected adaptations only, available from the factory as part numbered inventory. Williams' team won consecutive 750 cc production races at the Isle of Man TT for the five years between 1971 and 1975, and in the new F750 event for race specification machines, Triumph and BSA machines with Rob North frames placed first and second. Bert Hopwood recommended a production version of the racing triple, producing at 8,250 rpm, but his suggestion was not adopted. Further racing development was done in Duarte, California under racing manager Dan Macias. Tom Mellor set four world speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in September 2008 with a 1969 Triumph Trident T150.

Financial and management problems at BSA and the disintegration of the British motorcycle industry during the early 1970s led to a government sponsored merger, "NVT", in July 1973 with Norton. Although Norton was very much smaller than BSA Triumph, and it had only one product, the ageing pre unit Commando, nevertheless control of NVT was given to Dennis Poore, the boss of Norton. Poore was much more "in tune" with motorbikes than were the BSA management, but Poore's business plan proved to be an asset strip of BSA for Manganese Bronze, rather than a consolidation of the remnants of the UK motorcycle industry. NVT's restructuring plans triggered a strike at Triumph's Meriden factory in September 1974. Production of the Trident was eventually transferred to BSA's Small Heath factory in March 1974, but the lengthy labour dispute disrupted production, and very few Small Heath Tridents came into being. The last machine off the assembly line at Small Heath, a police specification Triumph Trident for Saudi Arabia, was produced on 18 December 1975.

After Triumph at Meriden collapsed, a new firm, Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, was established at Hinckley. The new firm manufactured from 1990 a new range of motorcycles with a modular engine design. Some of these bikes were called "Triumph Tridents"; and much later a "Triumph Rocket III" was produced.