Triumph threw open the doors to their factory at Hinckley in 2017, allowing visitors to enjoy the hospitality of the Factory Visitor Experience. Paid tours of the factory to see how bikes are made were on offer but the Visitor Experience was (and is) free to all.
On display you’d find a range of bikes spanning Triumph’s long history, including one the the very first motorcycles they made…
…and a showcase for Steve McQueen’s iconic TR6 Trophy.
Worth a visit for any Triumph fan.
I don’t want to be a nitpicking partypooper here but I think it’s worth pointing out that TRIUMPH ‘opened the doors’ to the (original) Hinckley factory in 1992. I was one of those relatively few - and very fortunate - customers to go on a factory tour in early 1992.
I’d bought a 900 Trident in late 1991 (still got it!) from Bridge Garage in Exeter and, as a Triumph main dealer they were allowed (encouraged?) to take small groups of customers to the factory for a tour! Two Bridge salesmen and three customers (I seem to recall that I was, the only one of the whole group on a Hinckley Triumph!) rode up from Exeter. On arrival at the, then new, factory building (I think it was called T1 and was, I think, the one that later suffered extensive fire damage?) we were offered tea and coffee, shown into the boardroom on the ground floor and then Bruno TAGLIAFERRI came in, welcomed us all, sat down at the table and asked what bikes we had bought. As I say, I was the only one there to have actually bought a Triumph so I got into a fairly extensive conversation with him … what made me buy it; what did I like about it (everything!); what would I change (nothing! No, wait, the seat height - I’m 5’ 5"!!); was I happy with it (and then some!) and would I buy another? (does the sun rise in the east?) We were in the boardroom for probably half an hour chatting before he left us and we were then shown around the factory. The only place we weren’t allowed to go (if my rather wayward memory serves me right) was the area of the factory where the special engine “painting” facility was - we were told the process was a secret and was still not patent registered. We were able to talk to the factory operators - where it was possible/practical - and the highlight for me was watching the artisan craft of brush pinstriping by hand aTrident tank … I could have watched that guy all day!! It was a really great day, one to be treasured as a rare privilege.
It was some time before the ‘Factory Experience’ became a more formal facility with much wider public access and that, I think, was affected heavily by the unfortunate factory fire in 2002.
Could you book a tour before 2017 and did they have the ‘museum’ back then? It sounds like the main even was after your visit, though that sounded like a good day out!
In the early 90’s you couldn’t (as far as I know) ‘book a tour’ per se. As I understand it, the dealerships were given a number of dates that they could take 3 or 4 customers to the factory and get the ‘tour’ that I rather poorly described above. It may well be that the factory tours developed into bookable events during that first decade of operation - I know the factory operation expanded rapidly during that decade with new plant buildings emerging.
I’ve got the notion that the whole deal changed following the factory fire in 2002 which, I seem to recall, actually halted all UK production for quite a time. I think it was when the new factory premises were put up that the ‘Visitor Experience’ was based in one of the new buildings but I may be completely wrong about that.
I was definitely very fortunate to have been included in one of those early tours - it was a very personal, relaxed and rewarding event, especially having met Tagliaferri who must take a LOT of credit for getting the brand to where it is today.
I have fond memories of a factory tour with the dealer back in 1998 when I committed to buy the Daytona T595 I still own and love today 
It was a convoy of something like 8 bikes and they loaned me a Daytona for the trip up from the south coast. The tour itself would probably be a health and safety nightmare these days but it was good to see bikes close up being put together by hand. With a few variations based on destination country requirements, such as the Californian models with overflow containers.
A new Thunderbird came my way in 1995 - it was a bonus from work - and there was a wait of about 4 months or so for it to arrive.
Picked the bike up from the motorcycle shop in Plumstead High Street where I used to take my new build custom bikes for MOTs. I think the shop’s gone now. Along with the bike there was an offer from Triumph of both a factory tour and a trackday outing on the Thunderbird.
Did you do one, the other or both?
Neither, not really a track racer type - I’d be a scaredy wuss at it.
I sold it a few months later to a mate who wanted it to slow him down a bit as he was a hooligan on his Gixer fighter monster thing.
