Development History
Designed to appeal to the US market, the TSS had an eight valve Weslake Engineering cylinder head developed by Triumph's Brian Jones from a 1978/9 design originally commissioned from Nourish Racing of Rutland following 1960s designs for the 650cc twins by the Rickman Brothers.
The crank was a fully machined single forging with increased big end diameter making it much stiffer and better-balanced and producing one of the smoothest running motorcycles in the Triumph range. The head had smaller valves set at a steeper angle. Recesses in the pistons allowed a 10:1 compression ratio.
UK models had a pair of 34 mm Amal MkII carburetors while the export models had Bing constant velocity carburetors. Other changes from the standard T140E included offset connecting rods, steel-linered alloy barrels, a strengthened swinging arm, and a high output three-phase alternator.
A modified TSS raced by Jon Minonno for Texan Jack Wilson's Big D Triumph dealership achieved outstanding results in the Battle Of The Twins races for 1981–1982.
According to the Triumph build books, held by the Vintage Motor Cycle Club, the first TSS was built on 27 October 1981 for the North American market.
Read more about this topic: Triumph T140W TSS
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