Well this is another tricky one. Two factors colour my opinion considerably. The first - I was a product of my times. There just weren't many new British Bikes about in the late seventies, and of those that were about, I saw very few compared with their Japanese counterparts. Which leads me to the second factor - For that same reason, lack of availability, I just haven't ridden anything British, apart from a 1960's BSA 250 single, which was hardly representative of the breed. So it all leaves me at a bit of a disadvantage to say what was good, bad, innovative and so on.

Is innovation a fair thing to consider when assessing British bikes? I think so. After all, this is the country that brought us the Ariel Three, 3 wheeler scooter. I jest - This is the country that had the Norton Rotary bikes planned in the early seventies, and if they had been able to get them sorted and in to production then, they would have provided the Japanese bike industry with some very interesting competition. As usual, the design took an age to sort, and with the various Norton ownership wrangles slowing the pace still further, the bike hit the market far too late. It was a fact that the competition's design had moved on still further, while Norton's had effectively stood still. Then again, the British Bike industry had exactly the same problem as the British Car industry. Development there had pretty much stopped, compared with the opposition. Badge engineering was the name of the game, leading to such stunning concepts as the variants of Mini's and Austin 1100's - Who can forget the Riley Elf and Wolsley Hornet? Stick some fins on the back and bit of dead tree on the dash, and the punters will think they are getting a totally different car! Or not….. Oh deary me. Our car industry seems to have dissappeared. Anyone know where it went?

For that reason, my thoughts of the only new late 70's British Bike I remember are tainted with embarrassment. The Jubilee Bonneville may have been the best we could offer at the time, and it may have had a few tweeks over its predecessor, but really it was a paint job, and nothing more than that. Not even a very nice paint job. Sorry if that sounds unpatriotic.

Triumph had severe problems in the early seventies, and it's amazing they managed to go on for as long as they did. You can only peddle a tired idea for so long, and the end eventually came.

However….Out of the ashes, as they say. There is no way that the old Triumph company could have got from where it was, to where the new Triumph company is today. The new company relies heavily on the old one's heritage, OK, but the difference is that it successfully makes bikes that are every bit as competitive as the modern opposition in terms of performance, quality and design / innovation, which is what will keep it going. Had the old company kept creaking into this century, we could probably expect to see a plastic coated T140 as "our answer to the Supersports 600".

Now all this probably sounds as though I have a huge grudge against my own country's bikes, and an unfair one given my almost complete lack of experience with them. So let me put that right - I have no argument whatsoever with the British concept of the time - light, good handling bikes with torquey engines. Stick a V-twin engine layout in to that equation, and it seems to me that the Italians are still following that route rather successfully, with good reason - It is an idea that produces a bike that you can really enjoy riding. Granted, I pilot 600 pounds of Honda that doesn't really fit that equation, but that's a question of personal economics rather than choice. Given choice I'd have a Ducati, an Aprilia or a BMW GS in the garage. We did have the idea right, we just didn't develop it, or attend to the important things like modernising the electrics, the switchgear, the reliabilty and so on, all of the other areas where the Japanese industry beat us hands down.

So where does that leave me. - Oh yes….. You must be bored to hell reading my rantings. What about some bikes instead. Of course, but just these two. And before the Vincent / Matchless / BSA / Enfield owners clubs start beating a path to my door, waving pickaxe handles, I know they all made some great bikes, had great racing successes etc. but you really weren't in the running in the seventies and eighties , and that's what this site is all about.

Almost right, the Commando looked the part, had a good engine matched with good handling, and some innovation in terms of the Isolastic engine mounting system that did a pretty good job of smoothing out the twin's vibration. For a British bike it had some style, albeit in a chunky, clunky way. What it certainly had was racing success. Peter Williams and the John Player racing team did the business, and the slogan "Lotta torque about Norton" could be seen on posters across the world. That slogan probably sums up the biggest difference between the Japanese and British engine concepts at the time. British and European bikes were built around relatively low revving, torquey engines. The Japanese went for power rather than torque, and made that power by having a vastly higher revving engine, leading to the term "couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding" being applied by Britbike fans at the time. The Norton was well favoured as a police bike I recall, and a officer I spoke to very much preferred them to the Triumph's he had ridden before. This 750 is OK, but the lottery choice will be an 850 Commando in black and gold.

Just take a good look at this picture. What a beaut of a bike. The styling is spot on. It's a great looking and sounding engine. The engineering is pretty good too - See the disc brakes at each end? Top marks Triumph. This was a superb bike. There's only one trouble. This is 1975, and Honda have been steadily developing the CB750 for the 6 years since it was launched. They are already designing the next generation of 16 valve engines that will power the CBX and CB900, both of which are just a couple of years away from being launched. Kawasaki's Z900 is already with us, and their Z650 and Suzuki's really good GS750 are just months away. If only Triumph had built this one, when they first brought out the original T150 Trident in 1969, things might have been very different.

The Trident concept worked well as a racer, with "Slippery Sam" ridden by Percy Tait, and other triples ridden by Paul Smart (Later to do wonders with Ducati's 750SS). But let's be honest - Considering the blinkered approach British companies had to engineering development, and more importantly to business management, it's actually amazing that such a great bike as this ever got out of the factory gates. A lot of fuss is made about the Craig Vetter designed "Hurricane" version of the Trident, but I reckon that this T160 has to be one of the best looking bikes ever produced - anywhere. Guess which one goes in the lottery collection?