1958 Triumph Thunderbird

ABOVE: The 1958 Triumph Thunderbird 6T looked very similar to this 1958 Triumph T110 Tiger, with headlight nacelle and full fenders. We need good photos of a ’58 T-bird. If you own one, please send us pictures of YOUR BIKE!

RACING WINS FOR TRIUMPH
1958 was a very good year for Triumph Motorcycles. On the road race circuit, Triumph twins were finally beating BSA Gold Stars, with an overall victory for the 650 twin at the last Thruxton 500-miler. Of course, this work was done by the lightning-fast Tiger T110, not the humble 6T Thunderbird. In fact, the first twin-carb Delta heads began appearing on T110s in competition & were soon available to privateers through their local Triumph dealers. This was the precursor to the legendary Triumph Bonneville, to arrive in 1959.

MINOR CHANGES FOR THE 1958 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD
While the sporty T110 got several performance upgrades, such as a new 8-inch full-width front brake, the bread-and-butter Thunderbird got passed over for most of it. The headlight nacelle was changed slightly, now the same as that used on the 5T 500 twin models, but differing slightly from those of the T100 and T110. The nacelle also now incorporated rubber grommeted holes in back for cables & wiring runs & the clutch & front brake cables now featured knurled finger-adjusters on the handlebars. The oil filler cap was repositioned out of the way of the leg while kickstarting. A Neiman-type steering head lock was offered as an option. Exhaust pipe diameter was dropped from 1-3/4″ to 1-1/2″.

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1958 Triumph Thunderbird SPECIFICATIONS