The old Triumph marque was in receivership when John Bloor bought the name and manufacturing rights in 1983. Bloor was conservative, but smart, reportedly breaking even on his investment in the year 2000, after putting well over £100 Million of his own money into the new Triumph. Sponsoring a race team, or race efforts, was not in the budget until recently, and now Triumph is stepping squarely into the middle of the world stage by agreeing to supply Moto2 engines beginning with the 2019 series. Honda will continue as the Moto2 engine supplier next year.
The Triumph Moto2 powerplant will be very similar to the production 765cc triple found in the new Street Triple. Engine output should slightly exceed 130 hp with torque at roughly 60 foot/pounds. A significant step up from the Honda 600s currently in use.
Triumph expects the new Moto2 engine to be very reliable considering these power figures do not require advanced tuning or extraordinarily high rpm levels to achieve. Indeed, they are not substantially higher than the top spec Street Triple RS production engine.
With roughly 34 teams participating in Moto2, Triumph will have to supply well over 100 engines beginning in 2019, and the firm will continue to develop both performance and reliability aspects of the engine prior to that time.
See more of MD’s great photography:
re: “Triumph is stepping squarely into the middle of the world stage by agreeing to supply Moto2 engines beginning with the 2019 series”
BNE, Best News Ever…!!!
As a former owner of a multiline dealership which included Triumph I can not say enough good things about the company their products and Mr. John Bloor.
I guess you have to do something with those engines since the Daytona 675 no longer sells well in the USA.
Neither do most sport bikes…
does any mid-size sport bike sell as well as it once did?
Cheers to Triumph and Mr. John Bloor! Having owned a 07 Speedy a few years ago, and hopefully picking up a new S3 in the near future, I’m happy to see Triumph becoming the new motor supplier. As many here on the MD board know, the triple motor, especially the 1050, is a great blend of linear torque and power, making it almost ideal for a street motor. Not the highest in the latest naked horsepower wars, but certainly one of most enjoyable to ride. Glad to hear it. Pip pip.
…I just remembered a description someone gave of a “rough around the edges” motor, a motor not as seemingly refined as a Honda – a motor such as the early Triumph 955’s and 1050’s, and the Kawasakis. He said that they were like that guy that “always chewed with his mouth open” – not very refined, but it got the job done. I think the new generation Speedy may chew with his mouth half open now. Ha Ha! Go for it John!!
I’m glad to see that Triumph got the nod and that a triple, which is a favorite engine configuration of mine, will be the new standard.
That said, I’m not happy about the “super-sizing” of grand prix motorcycles. A Moto2 motorcycle and rider weigh at least 100 pounds more than did a competitive GP250 motorcycle and rider. And with that bulk comes bike handling that looks more and more like Supersport bikes than two stroke Grand Prix bikes.
Instead of pushing for more displacement in Moto2 to “stay ahead” of World SBK Supersport bikes, they should have reduced the displacement and weight and avoided the inevitable comparisons of 600cc I4 vs 600cc I4 bikes in the two series. It’s made for too big a jump in horsepower and weight from the Moto3 to Moto2 and not enough between Moto2 and MotoGP. I expect that we are going to see a lot of riders skipping one of those two classes on their way to MotoGP.
I agree with some of your points, however I think on the bright side is that this will help riders coming from Moto 2 into the ‘Big Show’ to transition easier to the 1000cc machines and be more competitive sooner.
Ultimately, that should be the goal of every rider anyway.
Re: “Ultimately, that should be the goal of every rider anyway.”
It’s not a realistic goal since there are only a tiny number of spots on the grid. I think more must be done to legitimize other categories or the whole sport becomes a feeder league.
I get why Moto2 was created since lightweight 2-stroke motos were disappearing from manufacturers assortments, there was no good reason to keep making and racing them. I don’t think the worry of comparison between racing leagues is important to many. A spectator can’t “see” 2 seconds difference in lap time with their eyes so slower/faster is almost arbitrary in the context of racing action. Fans want to see racers race each other. At that, Moto2 has been very successful.
I think it is every racer’s goal to race in the premier class regardless of how few seats are available. If they didn’t think they could achieve that one day, they probably don’t have the confidence and swagger necessary to be a successful racer in any professional class.
Angel Nieto (World Champion 13 times)would probably disagree with you. And all those other great 125, 250 and 350 stars of the past.
Remember how logical it was to have GP125, GP250, and GP500? Each was double the displacement of the next lower class. Now we start with Moto3 and the next class will have triple the the displacement and number of cylinders. The step from Moto2 to MotoGP is a jump of just 1.3x displacement.
I disagree that every rider’s goal should be to race the 1000cc machines. They are just too big and heavy for some of the smaller riders to be competitive on.
Riders don’t get much smaller than Dani Pedrosa, and he manages quite well.
That’s great for Triumph. Exposure and more production at the same time. I always liked Triples, had a Tiger once upon a time, may have to get another model one of these days.
Not bad for a home builder. No really.
Sir John Bloor is a huge asset for England.
On the engine, I like 60 hp air cooled, but that is unimportant.
As the original owner of a 20-year-old 1997 Triumph Daytona T595 (955cc), I’m thrilled to hear this news. I was very disappointed that Triumph dropped out of the liter-bike sportbike wars back in 2007, and one of the main reasons I’ve hung on to my T595 all these years is because there’s no Triumph replacement. I absolutely love the response and sound of the large-displacement triple; nothing else can match it. Now it’s rumored that Triumph might also soon be discontinuing the Daytona 675, which would be a real shame. But hey, this exciting news of Triumph being the supplier of Moto2 engines beginning in 2019 brings a smile to my face and renewed hope for the brand. As a MotoGP fanatic for 10+ years, I might now even have to start watching Moto2 races ! Yes, I know, the racing is great, it’s everything that MotoGP is and more (so I’ve heard), but for the same reason my smallest motorcycle is 955cc, I haven’t been interested in watching the “underclass” race).
Re: ” I was very disappointed that Triumph dropped out of the liter-bike sportbike wars back in 2007″
You should have been encouraged that they took this step (along with getting out of the 600cc super sport business). These are the moves that made them successful. Fighting larger, better resourced companies in the areas where they’re dominant is a quick way to lose. If Triumph hadn’t taken these steps, there might not be Triumph motorcycles today.
Interesting move to this engine. There was talk some years back that GP categories would be wrapped up into a 250cc single, 500cc twin, and 1000cc 4’s, all using exactly the same cylinder/piston/head parameters in order to drive cost down. I can see that the big makes aren’t interested in tooling up an engine that may not translate into a good category for retail sale (the 500cc twin..). I guess it’s better that they’ll use displacement to offer an under-stressed, reliable race engine with plenty of easy to use power, so no need for electronics, which have turned out to be such a major cost driver.
Dave, I agree with you completely. If anyone wants to see what happens when an underfunded, smaller manufacturer tries to compete in World Superbike, they need look no further than Erik Buell Racing (EBR). It was an unmitigated disaster that accelerated the brand’s demise rather than giving them the positive exposure they had hoped for.
True, but Triumph still could have chosen to remain in the market for 1,000cc street Sportbikes, since they never showed any interest anyway in either AMA or World Superbike racing, only Supersport with the 675. The problem was that they couldn’t keep up with the pace of change brought on by the Japanese manufacturers even for just the street. Sales declined when the Japanese brands (and to a lesser extent the Europeans, this being the mid-2000’s) kept winning the comparison performance tests in the magazines. The uniqueness of the triple engine configuration didn’t count for anything, except to us fans.
They wouldn’t have been able to avoid comparison and sport bike customers are more spec-sheet sensitive than those in other segments. They could see there were already too many players in the space. They grew while the Japanese brands shrank. It was the right move.
Again, I agree with Dave. EBR made great sport bikes for the street, but their bikes were constantly compared via horsepower specs to Japanese Superbikes that were more track-oriented and less suited to street use.
The same thing would have happened to Triumph. In fact, it did happen to Triumph when they made a 600cc I4. It was a flop because it got compared to the Japanese I4 600cc bikes.
Totally agree with Dave and Fred as well. I am so excited about their new Street Triples. The refinement and changes they made to the engine (765cc) has made them a very enticing option. And the ST even (according to the tests) looks like a very fun and viable option for track use.
re: “it’s rumored that Triumph might also soon be discontinuing the Daytona 675”
WNE, Worst News Ever…!!!
Exciting news for Moto2. Great to see Triumph step up. Racing improves all aspects of motorcycling, tires, suspension, braking, engine management, finally better products for the consumer. Support those who support the sport.