Brian turned 40 the week of his European tradeshow so we added some personal time to the trip in order to celebrate.

On his birthday, we caught the Eurostar from Paris to London – our first time experiencing the Chunnel! We arrived at King’s Cross Station on time but had to manage through a brief snafu with our Turo car rental before heading north to Hinckley, England and Brian’s requested birthday activity: touring the Triumph Motorcycle Factory and Museum.

We arrived nearly an hour before our designated tour time, which allowed us to grab a bite to eat at the onsite 1902 Café before heading over to the two-story museum.

There was ample parking right in front of the facility and some impressive marketing in the foyer, around the café, and in the museum itself.

We were a bit rushed in the museum since we were keeping an eye on the time for our factory tour. There was way more information than I anticipated and lots of historical parts, signs, and other related materials – as well as the bikes themselves.

Our exhibition is more than just a motorcycle museum. It tells the story of why people ride by bringing together a spectacular collection of historic and modern achievements in motorcycle design, engineering, racing and popular culture. Take a ride through the history of the early pioneers to the latest Hinckley modern legends, race winners and record breakers – exhibit entry is completely free. As well as showcasing legendary iconic motorcycles from Triumph’s long and impressive history, the Triumph exhibition also highlights the amazing engineering technology that makes Triumph the world-class motorcycle manufacturer that it is today.

https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/for-the-ride/experiences/factory-visitor-experience/exhibitions

If you have a chance to visit, I’d allocate at least an hour for the museum. I was learning lots of new information about Triumph’s history and didn’t really get to watch the videos or interact with the exhibits as much as I would have liked.

The main purpose of our visit was the factory tour. It turned out there were no photos or recordings allowed inside the factory – I learned this only after I had snapped the photo of Brian below in his vest and after Brian had taken a photo of some of the motorcycles right outside the second floor of the museum so please forgive the contraband!

There were about 20 of us on the tour and we were each given a headset so we could hear our guide over the factory noise. Teams were mostly done for the day so while we didn’t get to see much work underway, we did get a good understanding that the majority of the machining happens at their plants in India while the majority of the assembly happens at this plant in Hinckley.

I personally enjoyed the areas focused on new prototypes and how they can expedite the process thanks to 3D printing as well as the paint shop where they manage custom designs and even hand-painted elements.

I’ve had my own motorcycle (a Buell Blast and now a BMW F650CS) for more than 10 years and have long loved the look of the old Triumphs. I enjoyed learning more about Triumph’s history and current business model, and I especially enjoyed discovering it all with Brian for his birthday!