Featured Factory Tour At Last!

All sounds a bit like a pissing up the wall competition - it isn't meant to I can assure you - but I went in (I think) 1992 or early '93.

I was an "early adopter" having bought a 900 Trident as soon as I'd seen one pre-launch at the 1991 Motorcycle Show launch. I was invited to join a small group (5 or 6 customers and 2 shop sales people) organised by Bridge M/Cs., Exeter. We rode up as a group and arrived late morning to be greeted (at the original Hinckley factory) by a senior manager who showed us into the Boardroom where coffee was provided. The manager asked us a few questions then briefed us about what we could expect to see on the tour. We were told that we could ask staff any questions providing it didn't interrupt their work but we did have to stay together as a group and follow a 'tour leader'. We were also informed that we weren't allowed to see 2 areas of the factory which remained "secret" ... I think they were Design and the engine coating area - this latter being a new and unique process. Before we left the Boardroom for the tour, Bruno Tagliaferri came in to the room to tell us something of the plans and proposals for the factory, its products and the brand, and he invited questions which, I seem to recall, were plentiful and varied.

We were then led around the whole factory - except for the restricted areas - and the absolute highlight (for me, personally) was seeing the fuel tanks having gold pinstripes applied by hand. What a skill and what a link to the history of the brand.

It was a really great day out - interesting, informative and, well, inspirational in a way, though I was a Meriden Triumph fanatic before I also became a Hinckley Triumph fanatic. Luckily I now own both. Life is good.

 

Oh great. I am going on Saturday….I was really looking forward to it but you have successfully lowered my expectations..and it was my birthday treat to myself…my only hope is that it the weather stays fine and I can make it a ride out anyway. Thanks for the review. Best to go expecting little …..Might buy a tee shirt to cheer myself up.,

 

As an aside , I have done the Ducati Factory tour. Now that IS worth doing. As is a stay in Bologna. What an amazing city and just superb food. We tied it in with the Misano MotoGP and took the train from Bologna to Misano on race day and back in the evening. Amazing days…

 

Don't be to down hearted old school maybe give us your review also,
be good to hear a second opinion of the tour as I also am expecting a visit at sometime.

 

Like @Col_C i too got an invite from Triumph to visit the factory in 93,they paid for overnight in a Hotel for us ( we were setting off from "Two Wheels" the Edinburgh Triumph dealer ) Bruno Tagliaferri was also answering any questions from us. i was planning on going back at some point but not sure now.
Do they only make the TFC models their now?

 

Be positive chaps. It sounds like they are gearing the factory up to start producing some bikes in Hinckley again - that’s good news.

 

How did your factory tour go then @Oldskool come on tell us all, good or bad

 

Evening all.
It was an eventful trip. But a very good trip…I started out from home on the RS with a plan to meet two mates who I’d got tickets for for the factory trip.
First text of the day and One of them cried off and decided to take his car as he had picked up a bad back through his work. Even though I’d checked the forecast and the weather was supposed to be good, as I left home around 08.00 it decided to start raining. Great… it’s not fully light, tinted visor and roads sprinkled with rain looking slippery as feck…and old super corsas on the bike that I planned to replace next spring…the tyres that is, not the bike!
Anyways, steady ride along the A413 towards Buckingham and gradually it stopped spitting with rain. Headed up to the Super Sausage cafe for my meet up and a breakfast bap. All good then..
But no, off we set after brekkies and half way to Hinckley my other mate collects a puncture. So from 3 bikes down to one..

But when I finally made it the Tour was great. Ian was our guide and as it was a Saturday there was little going on. But Ian knew how to tell the story and he explained that there is production coming back to Hinckley. The exact details are still a work in progress and they are not sure which bikes will become part of the Hinckley line up. There is also a major hold up in getting parts for the production line so they have very little stock at present. Ian talked us through the smart tooling process that they are putting in place and all in all I thought it was value for money. We could see the Cranks being finished and the paint spray booths etc etc. Also it was nice to tour the museum as well. The coffee in the cafe was ok as well…
And better than that I had an absolutely belting ride home in balmy weather, blasting down the A5 and across to the A413. I enjoyed the ride back almost as much as the tour. It confirmed to me that as we have had such a rubbish year for biking( lockdown and crap weather for most of the summer ) I still,love being out on the Speed Triple RS

 

Top Secret inside spy photo…

 

Thanks oldshool it gives another insight into the tour, but being honest and looking secretly at your secret photo it does seem not to be as it should be really, kind of a bargain market sale with nowt on any of the stalls.
Glad you enjoyed the ride though eventually.

 

we were told not to take any photos…..but I sneaked that one. There are quite a few bikes on the ground and in various stages of progress. Many of the new Speed Triple RR’s were being prepped for the magazine roadtest fleets etc etc. There were quite a few things going on and it gave me a feel of what is going on now and what will be going on in the future. It appears that the supply chain issues are slowing things down dramatically as they are in the car world. It’s a combination of the Suez problem, Brexit, drivers , Covid and many more things added into the mix. But the exciting thing is that Triumph sales are going really well and manufacturing is coming back to Hinckley

 

Hi all did the tour today.
I see Ians name mentioned before. He was my tour today. Really nice chap.
I found the tour very informative.
Starting from the beginning of the tour you enter the first warehouse where all of the bikes are packaged up and ready to go. I’d say it was at max 40% full. Ian explained certain details about the way certain bikes are packaged in particular Greece are different to many other places because of them being many islands bikes are boxed in recyclable boxes opposed to metal frames to avoid expensive return shipping fees. Also rockets are so long the front wheel needs removing so they are also in cardboard style boxes.
Moving onto the crankshaft room all crankshafts are forged elsewhere amd CNC’d in Hinkley. The staff were busy working at this on a Sun.
Moving further on you pass the R&D department, which is blocked off for obvious reasons. It appears to be a very large, rumour has it a lot of research etc is going into electric bikes however it is being held back until the infrastructure catches up.
From there we went into the paint room where there are spray booths for what seems to be a lot of fuel tanks. The line painting is also done by hand there. It is also the training hub for Thailand in the art of line painting. Its great to see everything is still do e by hand. This is because there is such a variation in meeds amd the programming of robots would be so expensive.
One think which caught my attention was a colour scheme on some pf the tanks and it turns out there are some special editions around the corner in the form of Breitling apparently. From the paint room we entered another warehouse where Triumph are transitioning to build all models in the uk on a production line by hand.
Their philosophy is to store complete bikes in bits and then build to order, this differs from prior posts on here. I think its fantastic as it will clearly open up doors for more uk jobs. Triumph clearly believe in it. They had some new tigers being built there are approx 4 stages amd each bike is built in around an hour or so excluding the seat and battery, mind boggling. I didnt see it in action but really want to go back to see it with my own eyes.
In the next warehouse they had as described priot a st triple on a stand wired up like Robocop. It is used to demonstrate how they stress test bikes. From memory Ian said they leave a bike running at its limit for 50 plus hours. There is a whole area out of bounds, which conducts these tests. I’m guessing due to health and safety plus other privacy issues is the reason as bikes apparently fail on a regular basis. I imagine at such temperatures quite catastrophically.There is also a section of shelving where the tested bikes are stored for several years before they are destroyed.
Continuing through the same warehouse you pass approx 8 bikes on their side stands.
They are well known bikes such as the 2 supercharged bikes and 2 turbo bikes of which carl foggarty rode. The tiger is also there which was rideen by a chap who rode around the world on it and now works in the Wales adventures part of Triumph. Sorry I have not had chance to read up on him.
From the production line there is a rolling road where the mewly produced bikes get a little fuel and are tested followed by a 50 point plus inspection. Finally they are then readied for packaging. There were lots of Tigers lined up for Germany. Finally we looped round down the original warehouse amd there were approx 12 bike on shelving owed mainly by the owner of triumph some all time classics. I also clocked a bike owned by David Beckham which was cool.
All in all I throughly enjoy the tour amd whilst the majority of the production wasnt in full swing I think it allows you to tale more time to observe finer details.
Once the tour had finished I walked around the museum. In here there is literally a goldmine.
The Tiger which jumped over a landrover and the Scrambler which daniel craig rode through the cobbled amd staired streets was there. I was lucky enough to be allowed to sit on it. There is also Daniel Craigs own Scrambler no 007 awaiting his collection in there.
Also bike from mission impossible 2, gut martins bike when he re emacted the stunt over the barbed demce, one of steve mcqueens bikes plus other famous race bikes.
For £20 you cam hardly grumble.
I will reutn when ots warmer on a week day hoping to see more of the production aspect.
Something I missed was the 3d printing room amd manual cnc machines all cnc staff undergo manual training to understand the practice opposed to just learning automated machines which ensures people remained skilled within the industry. Triumph clearly believe in professional development.
I’m sure there is more i can add however here is a shot of Daniel craigs bike pending his collection of it. P.S the 1millionth bike is also in the warehouse.

Thanks for reading thought id share whilst it was fresh on my mind.

In case anyone wishes to purchase one similar to Daniel craigs recent auctions fetch>22k which means the one from the movie and daniel craigs are a name a price……

 

There was a thread going here about the TE-1. It all seems to have gone quiet without the prototype being announced.

https://www.thetriumphforum.com/threads/electric-triumph-announced.28313/page-3

I notice Triumph have also taken down the TE-1 project pages from their website recently.

 

I did wonder what it would be like. One of my lads and I did the tour before the great exodus to Thailand. Plenty to see and our guide was obviously an ex Meriden man because he knew as much about my 60 year old Tbird as he did the current models.

So we need to give it a goodly few months before going again?

 

Went there yesterday - superb day, informative and well presented museum...

 

Yes i to had a tour many years ago. Even got a tee-shirt when i went still got it wear it now and again.
Joe.

 

They produce the Tiger only at the moment the warehouse is undergoing a strip out to expand into other models.