Editing Triumph Engineering (section)

== The Meriden Motorcycle Co-operative ==

Concerned about unemployment and losing their products to a rival factory, the workers at the Meriden factory demonstrated against the proposed relocation to the BSA site at [[Small Heath, Birmingham]], and staged a sit-in for two years. With political aid of the newly elected Labour government and, in particular, the then minister for Trade and Industry, [[Tony Benn]], the Meriden worker's co-operative was formed, supplying Triumph 750&nbsp;cc motorcycles to its sole customer, NVT.

After the collapse of NVT in 1977, the co-operative bought the marketing rights for Triumph with more government loans, later becoming Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Limited. The venture, with only two 750&nbsp;cc models, the Bonneville and Tiger, started well with a successful variant, the 1977 [[Triumph Bonneville T140|Silver Jubilee Bonneville T140J]] and by 1978 was the best selling European motorcycle in the vital USA market.

Emissions compliant models during 1978 and 1979 such as the aluminium alloy-wheeled Triumph T140D Bonneville Special and T140E Bonneville were introduced to the dominant USA market, but the strong [[Pound sterling|British pound]] made these bikes prohibitively expensive and they failed to sell in significant numbers. Moreover, despite updates such as electric starting and a faired Triumph Bonneville Executive T140EX with luggage, by 1980 Meriden's debt was £2&nbsp;million—in addition to the earlier £5&nbsp;million loan. In October 1980, the new Conservative British government wrote off £8.4&nbsp;million owed but still left the company owing £2&nbsp;million to Britain's [[Export Credits Guarantee Department]].

Meriden introduced several new models such as the dual purpose [[TR7T Tiger Trail]] and budget 650&nbsp;cc [[Triumph TR65 Thunderbird]] during its last years but none were able to stop the decline, worsened by a UK recession and a continuing strong pound harming sales to the US. However, the Triumph Royal Wedding T140LE Bonneville celebrating [[Charles, Prince of Wales|the Prince of Wales']] nuptials was a popular collector's item for 1981 and that year a 750&nbsp;cc TR7T Tiger Trail won the [[Rallye des Pyrénées]] on/off-road rally. Large orders for [[police motorcycle]]s from [[Nigeria]] and [[Ghana]] were won at critical moments thereby saving the firm during 1979 and 1982 respectively. 1982 was the last year of "full" production, with the custom-styled [[Triumph T140 TSX]] and 8-valve [[Triumph T140W TSS]] model initiated—although a porous cylinder head made by external contractors and insufficient development quickly eroded the latter's initial market popularity.

In 1983, the debt-ridden company briefly considered buying the bankrupt [[Hesketh Motorcycles]], and even badged one as a marketing trial. Despite also touting a 900cc prototype water-cooled twin at the 1983 National Exhibition Show to attract outside investment, Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd itself became bankrupt on 23 August 1983.<ref name="IC">{{cite web|url=http://www.ianchadwick.com/motorcycles/triumph/|title=Triumph|last=Chadwick|first=Ian|access-date=20 December 2008}}</ref>

<gallery>
Image:1977 Triumph T140 Bonneville Coventry Transport Museum.jpg|A special edition 750cc Triumph Silver Jubilee T140J.
Image: Triumph Tiger 750 - Flickr - mick - Lumix.jpg|1977 Triumph TR7V Tiger with aftermarket reverse-cone silencers
Image:The demolition of the Triumph Motorcycles factory - geograph.org.uk - 1182972.jpg|Demolition of the Triumph Factory at [[Meriden, West Midlands|Meriden]] in 1984
</gallery>