1962 Triumph T100SS 500cc Motorcycle

Description

The ‘100’ in the Triumph Tiger’s name refers to its top speed in miles per hour; a heady number indeed for a bike first built pre-World War Two.  The Tiger was powered by a development of Edward Turner’s parallel twin, a four-stroke motor displacing 498cc. Lighter and sportier than its Speed Twin counterpart, the Tiger was launched by way of an endurance run from John O’Groats to Land’s End before heading to the Brooklands circuit , where it lapped for six hours.  Averaging 78.5 miles per hour, with a fastest lap of 88.5 miles per hour, it won the Tiger instant respect amongst the Sport bike fraternity.  During the war the Triumph factory was destroyed, production of the Tiger recommencing in 1946, though now it had a telescopic front fork.  From there development continued apace, with a finned alloy cylinder barrel arriving in 1951 and swinging-arm rear suspension debuting in 1954.  1959 saw the last of the original-style Tigers, the separate engine/gearbox design replaced with a single ‘unit’ construction, for 1960’s T100A.  In 1962 the range expanded to include the high performance SS with revised camshafts and raised 9:1 compression, generating a class-leading 34 horsepower at 7000rpm and enabling the new Triumph to top the ton.  With its smaller mudguards and stand-alone chrome headlight, the T100 SS was also better looking than the regular T100.  The SS remained top of the Tiger family until the arrival of the twin-carburettor Daytona.