Slippery Sam II - First Look

Hopefully it's some bloke's (or blokette's) job to surf the 'net back at Triumph headquarters in Hinckley, Merry Olde. If so, then between cuppas they've logged on to www.triumphchepassione.com and seen this swoopy Italian re-take on “Slippery Sam.”

Slippery Sam? Only the most famous Triumph racebike ever. It was a hot-rodded version of the 750cc Trident T150, one of three built in 1970 primarily to contest the Isle of Man Production TT race. It was at the Bol d'Or 24 Hours that year, though, where the Triple got its alliterative nickname, courtesy of a malfunctioning oil pump that coated tires and riders alike.

Everything was oil-tight in 1971 and Sam won at the Isle of Man with a best lap average of 100.07 mph, the magic “Ton,” pretty impressive for a streetbike-based machine. It would go on score a record five straight Production-class victories on the Island, despite running against 1000cc bikes in later years. Only a quickly drawn up rule after the '75 TT outlawing models more than five years old put an end to Sam's streak. He went out with a best lap of 102.82 mph.

Later it was revealed that Sam had a little help from the rules-makers along the way. As delivered to customers, the first Tridents had cornering-clearance problems. Norman Hyde, now one of the pillars of the Britbike aftermarket, was then a development engineer at Triumph. Conveniently, he also had a seat on sanctioning body ACU's homologation committee. “When the T150s were too low to race,” he said, “I had the rules altered from 'Frame must be standard' to 'Frame must be of standard type'.”

In due time the retired bike ended up at Britain's National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, enjoying legendary status as one of the collection's headliners. Sadly, Sam was among 400 machines destroyed by fire in 2003 when a carelessly tossed cigarette sent flames licking through the facility.The charred remains were scooped up and deposited at the shops of Les Williams, one of the Triumph “comp shop” crew that fabricated the production racers back in 1970. Happily, Sam is now better than new, back at the museum—which has been retrofitted with a state-of-the-art sprinkler system.

If Slippery Sam has already had a second coming, then Triumphistas in Italy are ready for a third, based on the current Speed Triple, which for whatever reason is almost as popular in the Big Boot as Ducati's Monsters.

Enter Oberdan Bezzi, a designer whose portfolio includes work from seven years at Piaggio, plus consulting commissions from almost all of the Italian bike-makers. The prolifically talented 48-year-old (www.motosketches.blogspot.com) came up with a modern rendition of Slippery Sam—please don't call it Son of Sam—and at least 21 other design treatments for the Speed Triple, nine of which we've included below.