BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident - Quadrant

Quadrant

The so-called "Quadrant" (aka "Quadrent") was a "bitsa" designed and built in secret by Doug Hele in 1973. It was a 1,000 cc four-cylinder motorcycle made up from Trident parts (although the camshaft was sourced from outside the factory). Essentially, the fourth cylinder came from grafting on an extra middle crankcase unit; but since the primary chaincase and final drive sprocket could not be relocated, the fourth cylinder protruded on the right hand side of the bike.

Quite why Hele developed this machine is something of a mystery, as the lopsided machine could never have reached production to compete with modern Japanese machines such as the Honda CB750 or the Kawasaki Z1. An inside view is that Hele's efforts in building the Quadrant was a waste of precious resources that (given NVT's precarious status) should have been directed elsewhere, such as getting the 900 cc triple "Thunderbird III" (below) to market sooner.