Special Invitation to GT Riders - Triumph Factory, Chonburi

[JohhnyE]

Tweet

Any more news on this yet?

[Rhodie]

Tweet

I am lead to believe that it should be happening early in August.
But despite gentle prods no firm word yet.

[Rhodie]

Tweet

Factory Trip

I'm afraid the badger has gone to earth on this for the present.
Sticking point appears to be that the farang factory management don't work at weekends.

I'm told that it will happen sometime, when the factory fellas get around to responding and setting a date.



2009 Triumph Line-Up

On another note you can see some of the 2009 Triumph line-up here in abbreviated form from MCN
http://issuu.com/motorcyclenews/docs/mc ... yout=white
Odd that anyone should want to take styling cues from the 70s Trumpets

Tho do scan thru as there is also an interesting ride-off [again only a partial excerpt]
of the new Tenere 800GS 650 Vstrom.

From what there is you can still get the general picture.

[JohhnyE]

Tweet

So why don't we organise a visit on a day when they do work? Any day Monday to Friday suits me.
Anybody else available to go on days other than Saturday?

[Pikey]

Tweet

I'm in CNX and work 2 weeks on/2 off with the next time off being from 11/8 so would need a day or two to get there. As I said before, if that suits, count me in. If not, no worries.

The one thing that really pisses me off is that the Britbike crew asked for this sub-forum to be set up a few months back but we have had f*ck all posts from any of their key players. Rhodie has done a great job of sourcing bona-fide information but this should be happening at the dealer level - Dom, if you are reading this and want to be taken seriously (and I believe you are a passionate bike enthusiast), you should at least make a few contributions and the occasional update........

Cheers,

Pikey. (In constructive-critisism mode)

[Azoulay]

Tweet

Hi Friends,

A bit lost, at the end of it when it's gone to happen ? For me any date in August between 9 and 28 would be fine ?

[Rhodie]

Tweet

Prior to the last two posts, I had already passed on my anxiety in having a response from the Factory,
if we were to have an early August date, as even in the LoS people do have diaries that get filled.

I am afraid BB's promise to have a reply before they decamped to the dealer conference in the UK was met with a resounding ....

And, yes I have said that a weekday would be of interest, if a weekend visit was a dealbreaker.

The word from CNX is that BB have plans of a mass ride-out from BB in RCA to the factory.
I don't believe comments on attempting such an enterprise through BKK's traffic need excessive consideration;
unless, of course, BB are able to open @ 0600!

I believe it will happen, as Triumph UK said it will...
but as Kipling said,
-in between baking some exceedingly good cakes -

"Never Hurry the East"!

We can only await BB's efforts with .... interest? ...

[JohhnyE]

Tweet

Even if riding from BB Bangkok goes ahead what about us other non BKK based Triumph owners who for whatever reason could not be part of that "plan"?

[Rhodie]

Tweet

Johnny

Again a pertinent point...

I have pointed this out to BB that those riding from CNX or Isaan woud have little interest in entering BKK needlessly.
A rendezvous in Chonburi would be a better choice.

But BB's response to this has, as ever, been inconsistent ...
Though, I am told by FL, that Badger bating is now considered illegal.

Let's not rush any more hypothetical fences until we have got a date.

Perhaps, we need the blunt diplomacy of The Ambassador ...

[Azoulay]

Tweet

Hi Rhodie,

When it will be at the end ?

[Rhodie]

Tweet

At the moment....

It's a Mystery!

[Snail]

Tweet

Dear GT Riders:

First of all, This is not David Lek, My name is Asawin and I am one of the owner of Britbike. Distributor of Triumph Motorcycles.

Firstly, I just want to say thank you for your enthusiasm in regards to the Factory visit. Due to certain unforseen circumstances, we would like to let you know that the Factory visit will not be available, atleast for this year.

As soon as we get a thumb up from Triumph we will let all of you know. Again, I would like to apologize and as soon as I get an OK from the factory I will ask K. Yuth to inform all of you


Thanks to David for the post.


Sincerely,

Asawin Mallamphut
Director
Britbike Company Limited
Bangkok, Thailand

[Mark Rossi]

Tweet

Myself, Luke (Happy Honky) and John (Rhodie) had the pleasure to visit the Triumph factories situated near Bangkok.
It was a truly amazing experience, with each factory manager giving us a guided tour through their department. A big thanks going out to Steve, Mark, Dave and Jim for their time and patients and we wondered through the 3 huge state of the art factories over 4 hours.

I'm sorry to say no inside pics were allowed be taken, and I wont go into too much detail as you may have the pleasure on touring the factory yourself in the future.
However I will say how totally impressed I was with the state of the art machinery, the quality of manufacture and product, the U.K. regulation work conditions and environment, the Q.C. inspectors and checks at every point of fabrication and the shear size of outfit, these factories produce 62 motorcycles per day!
Mark(Q.C. contol), Myself ( Drink driving and bum photo promoter) Steve(Thailand manager)

Reception teaser

[Rhodie]

Tweet

Happy Feet is being very modest, as he managed to arrange a Factory visit within a week of planning to go racing in Pattaya nearby.
Where, for the last two years, BritBikes have yet to make good on their promise with Triumph UK's blessing.

Perhaps it may be something to do with triumph Thailand management being repeat customers of the TMS Northern GT experience!

So it was a great pleasure to be invited around the Friday before last, as the factory was also entertaining a high level visit from TISA [Thai Industrial Standards Authority] the same morning.
As Mark has said, it was an incredibly impressive operation what Triumph have achieved here in Thailand: building three large factories on what was swamp-land, training a 750 employees into what is now a highly skilled & honed workforce, that Triumph, and the 9 Brits working here, can be justifiably proud of.

We saw a whole host of production methods, traditional skills and modern 21st century manufacturing that we found awe-inspiring having lived in Thailand for a little while now. Without writing reams here are a few highlights of our visit:

Two production lines for the 865-engined Bonnie/Thruxton/Scrambler bikes and the 1050-engined Tigers & Speed Triples;
as well as a comprehensive rolling-road dyno test of all the bikes coming off the assembly lines.
Watching a Thai rider in a safety box riding like Ogri thrashing through the gears at various RPMs, going nowhere fast, was quite comical as it was impressive.

The craftsmanship skills of pin-stripe fender painting by hand of the new Thunderbird tins, a tradition that continues, to this day of Triumph since they began over a century ago.

The casting of the huge Thunderbird engine parts on million-euro machines - they have three.
As well as the copper, then nickel plating and finally chroming of the T'bird's huge engine covers.

In another factory they were making the T'bird's fenders with rolled edges
a practice that almost doubles the manufacturing costs, but it is what the US market expects.
I hadn't realised that until Triumph opened up in Thailand that they were sourcing tanks from Germany & Italy.
Now they are making them all here in Thailand.
Elswhere, plastic fairings were being produced for the 675 Daytona.
Frames for all the 675, 1050 & 865 bikes were all being produced using, in part, chrome-molly spars from Japan and special alloy extrusion sections on the 675 frames from Taiwan.
Also, all the pipes are now being made here, with jigs being set up to bend, shape and cut correct lengths.

Later this year they will bring the 865 engine manufacturing all in-house,
so that the engine will be cast and put together in Thailand.
At the moment the heads are made in Italy, then sent to Thailand for coating & finishing, before being sent back to the UK for assembly.
With the completed engine then being sent back to Thailand to be incorporated with the rest of the bike, which is made here.

The management's attention to detail was extraordinary.
Each production process has been broken down into parts: A,B,C,D etc.
With encapsulated instructions.
Also, where appropriate, testing jigs have been created to check the finished product - holes drilled in the correct place and correct depth etc.
At the end of each process it is checked by a part of the QC team, answering to a separate QC management, checking the finished item before it proceeded to the next stage.
We were astonished to be shown examples of those that had failed the test: a white tank that was covered in felt-tip circles indicating -to our eyes at least- invisible blemishes: too orange here, a spec of dust there.

The same went with the chroming, where we saw a number of the new T'bird engine cases that had failed their rigorous standards.
Maybe we have been in Thailand too long and thereby inoculated to "Thai Style", but these were unperceivable imperfections that should & could not be applied to Somchit or Mr Balls, the KTM killer.

Another element in modern manufacturing is the need for stringent metallurgical tests.
An ingot is taken from the batch of every casting and checked for its content.
Also each machine is recalibrated before each shift starts work.

Mistakes, if any had been made from the previous shift's production, is highlighted, discussed and understood before production resumes.
Sadly we could not take pictures, but it would be good if others could witness the Triumph in Thailand experience,
as you would have no issues of confidence of having a bike made in Thailand.
Unfortunately, it appears to be up to BritBikes to make the arrangements.
So, unless you can 'persuade' Trans Moto Sports to go to Pattaya again...

As regard to pricing, the reason that they are so high here -for the moment- is that they are being taxed @ 100% percent as a foreign made and imported product.
When, in fact, those of the 'Classic' range [Bonnies etc] are trucked to a bonded facility in Thailand and thereby imported from there - a few, I am told by BritBikes, do still make the sea crossing twice and get brought in from the UK.

To get the excise brought down either Triumph Thailand, BritBikes, or a combination of both, need to agree with Customs & Excise the percentage of tax due per model that is imported and what is manufactured here.
This particularly applies to the 865s, 1050s & T'bird.
We should then have a real competitor in pricing terms to Kawasaki.

However, the units sold per annum here would make this a costly exercise.
Also, it is clear that in marketing terms Triumph/BritBikes wants the bikes be a 'luxury, premium life-style choice' brand;
considered in the same niche as H-D or Ducati,
and not in the same price bracket as the cost effective green Kawa conveyance we can all buy now.

[dirthonk]

Tweet

yes again a big thanks to mark for arranging the trip, however hard it may have been to drag him out the bar to actually arrange it all. much appreciated even as a very un-mechanically minded person/flasher i really enjoyed the factory visit. the triumph lads were great hosts and obviously deeply care about their mission and company. very good to see.

[David Learmonth]

Tweet

Went around the original Hinckley factory twice before it burned down. Been around the new factory. Was impressed by enthuisiasm shown by all the staff. Only sad part was that any outsourcing came from abroad - cranks from Germany,carbs (before F.I) & electrics from Japan - all the small UK firms that used to make parts had long since gone out of business. Pleased to hear the Thai factory has the same commitment to quality! I do wonder if someone like John Bloor had been around the UK motorcycle industry in the 1960's whether the Japanese & others would have the same stranglehold on the motorcycling industry that they have now!

[Azoulay]

Tweet

Hi Friends,

Very happy for you this visit has been finally possible, a pitty nobody informed me about it I would have been delighted to join.

[Mark Rossi]

Tweet

Hi Friends,

Very happy for you this visit has been finally possible, a pitty nobody informed me about it I would have been delighted to join.

Sorry for no invitation Azoulay, this was organised from friend to friend, however I will be meeting with Steve this weekend ask if there is any possibility if Brit Bikes will organise a tour in the near future.