Triumph Logo History
Triumph Motorcycles Logo History Since 1885
The history of Triumph Motorcycles Limited Company began in 1885, when German immigrants, Siegfried Bettmann and Maurits Schulte, bought a company in Great Britain which started the production of bicycles under the Triumph brand.
Before that Siegfried Bettmann had already got some experience in selling bicycles: this form of transport was becoming more and more popular in England then, and he organized sales of bicycles manufactured by the Birmingham manufacturer William Andrews. After a rapid increase in sales and a meeting with Mauritius Schulte, Siegfried decided to set up his own manufacture.
The ancestors of motorcycles were bicycles with motors that were released under the Triumph brand.
Bettman kept thinking under what name to sell the bicycles because his own name was not loud enough to promote the product. He knew three languages (German, English, and French), and then the word Triumph, which sounds similar and has only one meaning in many languages, came to his mind.
List of Services
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1902 to 1906List Item 1
In 1902, a ‘first-born’ appeared, which, without thinking twice, was named No.1. and it was on this motorcycle that the first Triumph logo appeared – ‘Shield’ (then the name of the company was official: Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd.).
The emblem was made in the form of a shield on top of which was a crown. The logo had the name of the company at that time: Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd., and a tape with the name of the city (Coventry), where the company’s production facilities were located.
The inscription ‘Trade Mark’ on the Triumph logo meant that the brand was officially registered.
The logo also had 6 flags, the meaning of which is not mentioned anywhere and is not known.
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1907 to 1914List Item 2
Before 1907, there had been several changes in the name of the company, the final one being Triumph Engineering Co. Ltd. Changes of the name of the company did not affect the sales of products.
In 1907, the company’s capacity produced up to 1,000 motorcycle units per year, there was an expansion of the plant’s capacities, and then a new Triumph Script logo appeared. It had absolutely nothing in common with the old emblem.
The new logo was the name of the company written in an oblique.
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1915 to 1922List Item 3
In 1914, the Triumph Script logo was updated. The First World War began, and the company switched to the production of motorcycles for the needs of the government.
Then for better recognition, the Triumph Script logo was made in an oval, the rim of which was made similar to a braided rope. And the inscription Motors appeared under it. This logo appeared on the manufactured products, until the end of the 1920s.
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1923 to 1932List Item 4
In the early 1920s, a new change of the logo took place. That time it was a return to the past, namely to the Shield form. The very form of the Shield was slightly modified. The crown over the shield was also changed, it became bright and clear. There was almost no change inside the Triumph logo in comparison with the logo of 1920.
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1932 to 1933
In 1928 the company began production of cars. The products of the company gained popularity worldwide, and it became apparent that the company’s revenue from export was higher than domestic sales.
Probably in consequence of this, in 1932, a logo with the words ‘Triumph All over the World’ appeared, and it is known among the fans as the Globe Triumph.
The shape of the logo was oval, the globe was placed in the middle of it, and there was the name of the Triumph Company above it in a frame of curls. The slogan ‘Triumph All over the World’ was between them.
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1934 to 1936
Car enthusiasm played a low-down trick on the direction of motorcycle production: it gradually fell into decay, short of financing.
On January 22, 1936, motorcycle production was sold to John Yang Sangster, who owned the factory for the production of Ariel motorcycles, which had won the reputation of reliable and quality ones. The best engineers of the parent company started working on Triumph motorcycles.
The logo changed again in 1934. Now there were no shields, no ovals. There was an ordinary simple inscription ‘Triumph’ made in capital letters, where the line emanating from the letter ‘R’ smoothly merged into the middle line of the last letter ‘H’, on the right side.
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1936 to 1989
After buying the company by Ariel, the logo also underwent changes. The line had a shorter stroke, and it slightly passed under the letter ‘I’. The font itself became bolder, heavier, and found a contour. This logo was known right up to 1990.
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1990 to 2004
In 1983 the plant of the company was closed, and there were rumors that the brand would soon cease to exist. However, its passionate fan John Bloor invested a lot of money to save his beloved motorcycle manufacturer from bankruptcy.
He built a new plant in Hinckley and organized design work to create a new series of motorcycles.
In 1990, at the exhibition in Cologne, the Triumph brand introduced a series of new models with the new flagship Trophy 1200 where the new logo of the company was shown.
The new owners decided not to move away from the previous logo, so only the font of the inscription was changed. Now it was an acute-angled font, the line emanating from the letter ‘R’ also smoothly merged into the middle line of ‘H’, but already on the left side, without touching the letters between them.
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2002 Anniversary
In 2002, the anniversary Triumph logo appeared. It celebrated exactly 100 years from the date of release of the first motorcycle of the company.
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2005 to 2012
In 2005, the logo lost its contour. The same angular slightly modified font remained, but its readability and clarity increased.
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2013
In 2013 a new logo of Triumph with rounded corners appeared. The font transformed from completely angular to the one with rounded corners on one side. This logo design was developed with the help of London office of Wolff Olins with typographic assistance by Rick Banks.
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2013
In 2013 there also appeared a version of the logo in the form of a triangle turned upside down, and the edges of which are drawn like “mechanical wings”.
There may be an inscription ‘Triumph’ in the middle, depending on where the logo is to be used.
