Classic Bikes Custom Bikes Individual Racing Bikes AJP AJS Aprilia Ariel Avinton / Wakan Bajaj Benelli Beta Bimota BMW Brough Superior BRP Cam-Am BSA Buell / EBR Bultaco Cagiva Campagna CCM CF Moto Combat Motors Derbi Deus Ducati Excelsior GASGAS Ghezzi Brian Gilera GIMA Harley Davidson Hero Highland Honda Horex Husaberg Husqvarna Hyosung Indian Jawa Kawasaki KTM KYMCO Laverda Lazareth Magni Maico Mash Matchless Mondial Moto Guzzi Moto Morini MV Agusta MZ / MuZ NCR Norton NSU Paton Peugeot Piaggio Revival Cycles Roland Sands Royal Enfield Sachs Sherco Sunbeam Suzuki SWM SYM Triumph TVS Ural Velocette Vespa Victory Vincent VOR Voxan Vyrus Walt Siegl Walz Wrenchmonkees Wunderlich XTR / Radical Yamaha Zero Video Technical
Complete Manufacturer List

Triumph Speed Twin 5T

Make Model	Triumph Speed Twin 5T
Year	1937
Engine	Twin, OHV
Capacity	498 cc / 30.4 cub in.
Bore x Stroke	63 x 80 mm
Cooling System	Air cooled
Compression Ratio	7:1
Exhaust	Two-into-two, chrome
Ignition	6V, magdyno
Starting	Kick
Max Power	20.9 kW / 28 hp @ 6000 rpm
Clutch	Wet, multi-plate
Transmission	4 Speed
Final Drive	Chain
Front Suspension	Girder
Rear Suspension	Rigid, spring loaded saddle
Front Brakes	Drum, 178 mm / 7 in
Rear Brakes	Drum, 178 mm / 7 in
Wheels Front	3.25 x 20 in
Wheels Rear	3.50 x 19 in
Dry Weight	166 kg / 365 lbs
Top Speed	145 km/h / 90 mph
Colours	Black, Maroon with gold striping

Today it's easy to overlook just how radical this bike was when introduced. But Edward Turner's masterpiece was a wake up call to rival manufacturers that the day of the single was coming to an end, and that "multis" were in the ascendancy. The Speed Twin's revolutionary "built up" crankshaft coupled with innovative alloys and a simple, compact design gave Triumph the performance edge it needed to boost it from the 1930s doldrums. This bike, incidentally, was built at Triumph's Dale Street works in Coventry.

The bike that helped bring the post-Victorian, Empire building, white-is-right Brits up to swarthy continental speeds was the ’37 Triumph Speed Twin, one of the shrewdest, slickest, most accomplished commercial moves in the history of British biking.

Designed by Edward Turner, then managing director of Triumph Engineering Company Ltd, the Speed Twin gave the market exactly what it needed (but didn’t know it wanted) and at a time when it would most appreciate it.

This, after all, was the era of increasingly worrying Spanish, Italian and German fascism; an age when, having endured the war to end all wars and having struggled through years of depression, Britain was desperate for something—anything—to help lift the gloom and roll out a carpet to a better, cleaner, brighter and faster future.

Not that the Speed Twin alone was the panacea the country needed. But it was, however, a small and very distinct gem twinkling in a world of despair that would become hugely more despairing less than two years later.