The model P had a 494 cm 3 four-stroke side-valve engine that produced a claimed 4,8 hp. In 1926 the Model P was upgraded and the sportier Q and QA models were added to the line-up. But Triumph soon sorted out these early teething issues, and before long it was producing more than a thousand motorcycles per week and became the market leader. And due to the rapid production rate of the time, many units where delivered to customers before these teething issues could be resolved by the Coventry plant. Sadly, the first few off the production line were troublesome, showing issues with the clutch, forks and front brakes. However, what we do know is that the Model P Triumph was introduced in 1924 as an entry level 500 at a cost new of around 42 British pounds, and was effectively the company’s first motorcycle to be produced on what we could consider a mass production assembly line. In addition, it appears that this poor bike has been taken apart and reassembled a number of times in its lifetime, which is never a good thing… That the frame number can no longer be clearly seen on the bike does not help either. This is due to the fact there are a few too many facts that don’t correlate between what I see before me and what the wise old guys in the books have recorded for posterity. The engine number dates the bike at 1926, but the machine’s hopelessly inadequate front ‘bow’ brake makes it of 1925 vintage. The subject for this month’s column, a 1925/6 Triumph Model P, has been quite an interesting one to research because I just can’t put an exact date on it. FMM curator Wayne Harley is a self-confessed motorcycle enthusiast and this month he ‘goes forth on a Triumph…’

Onyer triumph