No, actually there is a brand new Taiwan plant. The Thailand plant was to make motorcycles for the Asian market. The Tiumph management decided that making motorcycles in England was too expensive so they buit the Taiwan plant as a way of cutting costs. This part I know to be true. However, even among the dealers, no one knows which factories make which bike.

It kind of @%&$ because while I'm willing to buy a Brit bike, I'm not going to buy a second world one even if it supervised by original British engineers. And at least for me, not knowing the full extent all this fits together means that I won't consider buying a Triumph.

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Alex
It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. WtPooh

My First Custom, Late 90's Sportster, Heavily Breathed On, Big Block, S&S HP Heads, Custom High Performance Pipes. Wickedly fast, Uncomfortable, Front end is a jackhammer. Age 18yrs, Still have the bike!

The test ride will be this weekend and yes, I'll right about it. It is a 2009 and possibly one of the gray ones. As for Triumphs being built better in Taiwan, I withhold judgement until I see physical proof. There was a certain class to having a Brit built bike that maybe (will) be lost if it's built like an appliance.

I am really looking forward to it. It doesn't have to play nice for I have another bike that I ride everyday. However, it will be compared to my Buell and it will have to be pretty good to give me a more intense feeling than the S3 in the twisties.

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Alex
It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. WtPooh

My First Custom, Late 90's Sportster, Heavily Breathed On, Big Block, S&S HP Heads, Custom High Performance Pipes. Wickedly fast, Uncomfortable, Front end is a jackhammer. Age 18yrs, Still have the bike!

Theywayto finout where your bike is made is looking @ the Vin number.
In the number, there's a 4 or 6 digit coder that states the manufacturing plant.
I'll find the guidelines and post it so people can look at it.
I think it breaks down to month, year, cc's, location and something else..

_________________
"Born to Lose and Destined to Fail"

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Alex
It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. WtPooh

My First Custom, Late 90's Sportster, Heavily Breathed On, Big Block, S&S HP Heads, Custom High Performance Pipes. Wickedly fast, Uncomfortable, Front end is a jackhammer. Age 18yrs, Still have the bike!

As far as I know, this is just not true. The Triumph factory in Thailand does final assembly of certain models (e.g. Bonnevilles) for the entire world market, not just for Asia.

Quote your source if you want me to believe this about a Triumph factory in Taiwan (and I don't mean one unsubstantiated old post on triumphrat.net!) Also provide the address of the factory.

By the way, the 11th position of the VIN indicates the source for US imported bikes. J = Hinckley, UK; T = Chonburi, Thailand. (The USA mandates compliance with the ISO3779 VIN standard, bikes for other markets may use different VIN coding. 11th position is point of assembly under ISO3779.)

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2005 Triumph Bonneville
2005 Suzuki V-Strom 1000
2003 Triumph Trophy 1200
2009 BMW F650GS (wife's)
1990 HD Sportster XL883 (for sale; wanna buy a Sportster??)

In actuality, I dunno!?! I didn't even know about the Rat-Triumph forum post until you mentioned it. If it is just a rumor then it has gotten some serious traction. One salesperson that I know gave me the heads up. But I don't have some unconvertable evidence, just major rumors. Kind of sad really. Triumph is trying to make a name for itself and then all these rumors of it being made in Asia somewhere.

However, for myself, I just scratched off Triumph from my list. Buying a piece of British History made by the English had some interest for me. Now, even though I love Triumphs and rebuild them at times, if it is made the same way an appliance is then I've lost all interest.

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Alex
It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. WtPooh

My First Custom, Late 90's Sportster, Heavily Breathed On, Big Block, S&S HP Heads, Custom High Performance Pipes. Wickedly fast, Uncomfortable, Front end is a jackhammer. Age 18yrs, Still have the bike!

as quoted earlier, from the triumphrat site.....

"FWIW the source I'm using is the Triumph NA document called "Triumph Motorcycle VIN Definition Summary". It came from Triumph. I used to work at a dealer, and Triumph faxed us the document. It CLEARLY states that the 11th VIN position is used to designate the Assembly Plant. J = Jacknell Road, Hinkley, England. T = Chonburi, Thailand. There is no indication on this document that indicates that the 11th VIN postition indicates the "market the bike is destined for".

This is what the fields mean:
POS 1 - 3 Manufacturer
POS 4 - 6 Model
POS 7 - Engine
POS 8 - Power Output
POS 9 - Check Digit
POS 10 - Model Year
POS 11 - Assembly Plant
POS 12 - 17 - Sequence Production Number

The VIN you provided belongs to a motorcycle that was manufactured in Great Britain by the Triumph corporation.
2005 TRIUMPH
T100 BONNEVILLE
VIN:
SMT910K175J22XXXX

World region:
Europe

Manufactured in:
Great Britain

Year:
2005

Make:
Triumph

Model:
T100 BONNEVILLE

Body style:
Road / Street

Drive type:
RWD

Cylinders:
2 Cylinders




Mine is obviously for a thruxton, but once you get a VIN number, this may help out a little...


also a website thats supposed to help you decifer your VIn number
http://www.motoverse.com/tools/vin/triumph.asp

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"Born to Lose and Destined to Fail"