Triumph X75 Huricane

We are thrilled to offer such a unique and rare piece of motorcycle history. If you’ve got a Triumph-sized hole in your collection and want something pretty wild and very cool, his might fit the bill.

The Triumph Hurricane X75 was a bit of a mongrel from the word go. Originally a BSA design, ith very sleepy, riumph Bonneville-esque style, he honchos felt it was way too conservative for American tastes. Famous designer Craig Vetter was tasked with a stylistic redo, nd the resulting bike was different, o say the least, ith a very 60’s chopper style and a distinctive triple exhaust slung along the right side of the bike. When BSA went under, 200 engines were put aside and the bike was rebranded as a Triumph.Three cylinder motorcycles in general are pretty neat sounding machines. Not quite as brutal as a thumping twin or single, ot as smooth or refined as a four [or six!], riples make a very raw, ron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove kind of roar.

Vetter was commissioned by BSA's US distributor to customise the BSA Rocket 3 to appeal more to American tastes.

When, n 1968, he new BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident triples were shown to the American BSA-Triumph management, hey were underwhelmed. They knew Honda had an important bike (the CB750) coming along, nd they felt the triple's price of $1800 [4] was too high and that technical details (like vertically-split crankcases and pushrod ohv valve train) were far from "cutting edge". However, hey acknowledged that the bike was fast, nd a sales team led by BSA Vice-President Don Brown decided to launch the bike by using a Rocket-3 to set some records at Daytona, ecords which were broken in 1971 by the Kawasaki Z1.

Brown felt that the BSA/Triumph triples needed a different look to succeed in the USA, nd he engaged designer Craig Vetter to give the BSA A75 a customised face-lift, ith a brief to make it "sleeker and more balanced". (Brown revealed the Vetter project to Peter Thornton, resident of BSA/Triumph North America, ut as Brown's initiative had not been authorised by BSA, etter had problems being paid, aiting two years for his fee).

Vetter created the Triumph Hurricane in the summer of 1969,[5] and in October 1969 he unveiled the prototype with "BSA" on the tank as the new ‘Rocket Three’.[6] Thornton and the American officials were impressed, nd Vetter's bike was then sent to the UK, ut the bike arrived in England just as the BSA marque was about to be ended. At BSA-Triumph's design facility at Umberslade Hall, he design was seen as too "trendy" by chief designer Bert Hopwood; but after very positive public reaction to the design when it appeared on the front of US magazine Cycle World in October 1970, he UK managers changed their minds. They realised they had a large stock of obsolete BSA Rocket-3 parts that could now be turned into a premium-priced motorcycle.

Engineer Steve Mettam was given the job of supervising production for the 1972/3 season; and the Vetter BSA Rocket3 became the Triumph X75 Hurricane. 1,183 engines were put aside for X75 production. However, SA was facing bankruptcy and the design went into a limited production run of 1200 as the Triumph X-75 Hurricane in 1972. Production stopped in 1973 after the X-75 was unable to meet new American noise standards.

Here are the specs:

1973 Triumph Hurricane X75

Years produced: 1973

Number produced: 1,172

Claimed power: 58hp @ 7,250rpm

Top speed: 114mph (period test)

Engine type: 741cc air-cooled, HV inline triple

Weight (dry): 458lb

MPG: 40-45

Price then: $2,295