After the commercial demise by 1975 of Triumph at Meriden Works and Norton Triumph (Andover) together with the closure of the Triumph race shop, L.P. 'Les' Williams established a private business catering for spare parts and performance upgrades for the BSA and Triumph triples.

He also created replicas of Slippery Sam, a road race machine and five-time TT race winner in the production-class which retained road equipment.

Whereas Slippery Sam was race-styled with road equipment, Williams developed a new model with updated equipment, styled as a general sports-tourer with single/dual seat options. The "Legend" models were specials, each based on rebuilt complete donor T160V Triumph Trident machines, using three cylinder pushrod engines with five-speed gearbox and electric start.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The machines were completely re-made using many new parts, but were based on earlier-registered machines from the factory's pre-1975 production which were older than the appearance suggested. Braking was uprated with a Lockheed hydraulic system using twin discs at the front and single rear.

Many were tuned for maximum performance to specific customer requirements, and between the early 1980s^[4] and 1992 a total of sixty Triumph Legends were built - although Les Williams received hundreds of orders following articles in Classic Bike (UK) and Cycle World (USA).^[5]

The Triumph Legend name was later resurrected by Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, of Hinckley, England for a version using their three-cylinder 900 cc overhead camshaft engine, entitled Triumph Legend TT.^[6]

Triumph Legend
Three cylinder Triumph Legend motorcycle at the UK National Motorcycle Museum
Manufacturer	L.P. Williams
Production	1983-1992
Engine	964 cc (58.8 cu in) and 741 cc (45.2 cu in), triples
Transmission	5-speed manual

See also

References