Bike of the Month
November 2017
1977 Triumph T140
by Jeff Park
In 1977 the last British motorcycle manufacturer left was Triumph, and it was on it’s last legs. In just a few more years they too would be gone. The Silver Jubilee was made to get in on the 25th Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s reign as queen. Triumph decided to build 1,000 Special Edition 750 Triumphs. The color scheme was Silver, Red, White, and Blue. The motor featured chrome primary cover, timing cover, and transmission cover. The seat was blue with red piping, and the chrome wheels had blue,red white stripes painted on the chrome rims. The motor was a standard 750CC Triumph twin, kick start only with the federal mandated left foot shifter, and front and rear disc brakes.
The idea was to see if they could sell the 1,000 they made. Those bikes had a special badge on the side cover which read “One of a Thousand”. The bike was a good seller, and Triumph decided to sell another 1,000 units worldwide, but the side panel was changed from one of a thousand, to Limited Edition.
My Silver Jubilee was originally sold in the San Francisco Bay area, and made its way to Seattle, where I found it for sale on Craigs List. The bike had a hair over 1900 miles on it when I bought it. The original owner stored it in less then ideal conditions. I have decided to keep it in its original patina because they are only new once, and it is in pretty good shape considering the years.