There is something quite improbable about a motorcycle like this one that still thumps around the roads of the modern era. It is well over a century since the wheels of this 1912 Triumph first turned, and thanks to an avid enthusiast it continues to rattle down the road over a century later. It is not a motorcycle that has been restored into sterile perfection but is one that feels alive and carries its battle scars with pride.
Words and Photos: Zoltan Ocskay
That the only still-existing major British motorcycle manufacturer was founded by a German is one of history’s small ironies. Siegfried Bettmann left Nuremberg for Coventry in 1883 at the age of twenty, and the company that bears the Triumph name today is far removed from the firm he created back then.
Together with fellow German Mauritz Schulte, he started building bicycles in Coventry in 1888 and, by 1902, had moved into motorcycle production. He proudly advertised the 363cc Triumph engine introduced in 1905 as the first with a ball-bearing crankshaft – a claim that clearly hit home, because before long the Triumph bicycle and motorcycle works had become Coventry’s largest factory.
The rise of Triumph was rapid. Their motorcycles appeared at the earliest meetings at Brooklands and performed with fortitude at the first ever Isle of Man TT in 1907. It was around this period that the famous “Trusty Triumph” nickname began to stick and became a handle that turned to blood in the First World War when machines became mainstays for frontline dispatch riders.
In those pioneering years, the owner’s handbook prescribed a travelling workshop as standard touring kit. Riders were advised to pack two spark plugs, a spare valve with spring and cotter, a contact breaker for the magneto, half a metre of drive belt, a piston ring – and that is only the short list!
If we fast forward a few years to 1912, Triumph were focussed on the provision of a usable motorcycle for the population who needed a mode of transport. One of the biggest steps in that direction was the adoption of a clutch, surprising as that may sound today. Without it, every stop meant the rider had to restart by pedalling or pushing – a demanding business in an era of indifferent petrol.
You might argue that there was no real need to stop, since traffic lights had yet to appear. True enough, but in the big English cities police officers were already directing traffic, and even out in the countryside you often had to pull up for carts, pedestrians or simply to take a letter from a postman. Triumph’s answer was a neat clutch built into the rear hub, marketed under the name Free Engine Plate Clutch.
So, what is it like to start up such an old bike with a primitive clutch built into the rear wheel? The first move is to settle into the saddle with the bike on its stand. Then, take a deep breath, set the levers to the correct position, and pedal. And continue to pedal until the motor clatters into life and the open valves click up and down with a sharp metallic tick. Once all is warm, the motorcycle can be pushed forward from the stand and ridden off into the sunset. At bus stops people stop and stare; most of them confused about what has been presented; and on faster roads, modern drivers cannot comprehend such a contraption and mostly overtake onto their next errand. It is an experience that cannot be described unless you try it.
This particular machine belongs to Zoltán Zilahi and began life in Leeds. Remarkably, its paperwork survives from 1921 onwards, tracing ownership through Arthur Bryden and later his son Bruce. Its last inspection dates to 1954 before disappearing into long-term storage.
Mechanically, it remains wonderfully authentic. The machine runs a Bosch magneto and Triumph carburettor, and carries some nice additions including a German Hella headlamp (powered by acetylene) and a period Watford clock.
The controls are entirely of another age: the right foot operates the clutch, the left foot the rear brake; the front brake works on the rim from the right-hand lever. Two control levers sit under the right hand to control the air flow, with ignition advance is on the left. There is a fuel tap, a sight-type fuel gauge, a small cold-start dripper, and a hand-operated oil pump. This is a far cry from the button press motorcycles of the modern day.
Finding such a machine in Hungary today is quite the rarity. Triumphs were never especially common within the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the First World War, and surviving examples are exceptionally scarce in Central Europe. Zilahi was on the hunt, and eventually found the bike not in a forgotten barn, but on eBay, and after some anxious moments he was able to secure the deal and bring the bike home.
Historically, the 3½hp occupies an important place in Triumph history. It arrived just before the firm exploded onto the world stage with the wartime Triumph Model H, the motorcycle that cemented the company’s reputation for reliability. Thousands of Model H motorcycles would serve with dispatch riders during the First World War and help establish Triumph as one of Britain’s defining motorcycle manufacturers.
As for Bettmann himself, he became deeply woven into Coventry life, serving on the council and eventually becoming mayor in 1913 – the city’s first foreign-born holder of the office. Yet war changed everything. Anti-German sentiment forced him from public life despite Triumph supplying motorcycles to the British Army in huge numbers. He nevertheless guided the company through both the post-war boom and the Great Depression before retiring in 1933.
What survives today in this 1912 Triumph is a direct connection to the experimental years of motoring, when motorcycles still felt halfway between bicycle and machine age marvel. And perhaps most impressively of all, after well over a century, it still goes.
Technical Specification
Engine: Single-cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke, side-valve
Capacity: 499 cc
Bore x Stroke: 85 mm x 88 mm
an article by The Girder Club
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