Any info on the Triumph Palm Beach??

[Mad Doug Biker]

I may just end up getting an abandonned (and admittedly heavily rusted) Triumph Palm Beach bike some time next week and I would like to know more about them.

I looked them up and saw that it is basically a Raleigh Lenton but only under a different name and that the later versions were Blue like this one is, but, what are they really like, i.e. is it worth restoring??

Thanks.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Also when were they made?? I read somewhere that it was 1960 - 75, but somewhere else said 1955(ish) - 1970.

 

[raleighnut]

My mum had one, it was a step-thru frame with 3 speed SA and a front hub-dyno, Rode quite well when I used to nick it.
As for age hers was certainly pre 1960 (cos I arrived not long after and stopped her cycling for a bit. )

 

[Tony Raynor]

Definitely as early as 1956

http://veterancycleclublibrary.org.uk/ncl/pics/Triumph catalogue 1956 (V-CC Library).pdf

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Thanks.

I read that the blue ones were later, but in that catalogue above, the colour it is is one of the choices!

To be honest, it is badly rusted in places and I'll probably have to replace the wheels and one or two other bits, and it also has a modern Apollo saddle, so a nice Brooks or similar (if I can get hold of a Wright's) could replace that, but I imagine that the frame and forks are probably easily restorable.

I will have to see if I even get it though, the people who work where it has seemingly been abandonned have to go through a protocall with it.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Just been to see it again, it has the serial number on the frame of '62132 AD', and it has seized, so it isn't going anywhere.

 

[Aussie Mike]

Hi from sunny and socially-distanced Australia!
Not meaning to hijack your thread Mad Doug, but looks like we're both on the same search, so I'm happy to provide a bit more background on the model. Best bike I ever owned was a 1956 Triumph Gents Palm Beach Roadster (like the one in my avatar pic), which I bought as a teenager in Bognor Regis for 10 bob a week on the old drip-feed with earnings from a daily paper round. Rode it to and from school in Chichester in good weather (8 miles each way according to the Smiths speedo I fitted to the 26" front wheel - mine didn't have the dyno-hub), and on the early morning paper round in all weathers. Only parted with it when I moved to London to start my first proper job. Regretted it ever since!

Since arriving in Australia in 1976 I've owned a few modern bikes for pottering around on, currently riding a Papillionaire Classic, but haven't enjoyed any of them as much as that metallic red Palm Beach. Could be wrong, but I think the gents' model was in red, and the ladies' in blue (my mum bought one the year after I bought mine). Tend to see more of the ladies' blue models offered for sale in Gumtree and ebay, some of them in good nick. I've been seriously looking on the 'net for the past couple of years and have never come across a good or even worth-restoring gents' version anywhere. That model - and vintage Triumph bikes in general - appear to be pretty well unknown here. I don't think there's any chance I'm going to find anything like it in Australia, so if anyone has or knows of a good one which might be for sale in the UK and you, Mad Doug, don't want it, I'd really love to hear of it.

I had been planning to visit the UK later this year and obviously that's out of the question now, but if the right bike came along I'd be prepared to pay a fair price and arrange for its shipping downunder.

 

[Angiemaroni]

Hi from sunny and socially-distanced Australia!
Not meaning to hijack your thread Mad Doug, but looks like we're both on the same search, so I'm happy to provide a bit more background on the model. Best bike I ever owned was a 1956 Triumph Gents Palm Beach Roadster (like the one in my avatar pic), which I bought as a teenager in Bognor Regis for 10 bob a week on the old drip-feed with earnings from a daily paper round. Rode it to and from school in Chichester in good weather (8 miles each way according to the Smiths speedo I fitted to the 26" front wheel - mine didn't have the dyno-hub), and on the early morning paper round in all weathers. Only parted with it when I moved to London to start my first proper job. Regretted it ever since!

Since arriving in Australia in 1976 I've owned a few modern bikes for pottering around on, currently riding a Papillionaire Classic, but haven't enjoyed any of them as much as that metallic red Palm Beach. Could be wrong, but I think the gents' model was in red, and the ladies' in blue (my mum bought one the year after I bought mine). Tend to see more of the ladies' blue models offered for sale in Gumtree and ebay, some of them in good nick. I've been seriously looking on the 'net for the past couple of years and have never come across a good or even worth-restoring gents' version anywhere. That model - and vintage Triumph bikes in general - appear to be pretty well unknown here. I don't think there's any chance I'm going to find anything like it in Australia, so if anyone has or knows of a good one which might be for sale in the UK and you, Mad Doug, don't want it, I'd really love to hear of it.

I had been planning to visit the UK later this year and obviously that's out of the question now, but if the right bike came along I'd be prepared to pay a fair price and arrange for its shipping downunder.

Hi Aussie Mike, just seen this discussion about the Triumph Palm Beach.

They were offered in Carmine Red or Electric Blue for either gender. I had the gent's Electric blue with tan coloured saddle and saddle bag, 3-speed Sturmey-Archer hub but no Dynohub back in 1956. A pal of mine had one in Carmine Red at the same time.

The cost as I remember was £19.19.11 including purchase tax from Halfords in Walsall, Staffordshire and bought for me on H.P. by my parents!

Shortly after getting the Palm Beach, we made the move to Cornwall where the Triumph was well used every day possible and covered many many miles. Sadly, for the life of me I cannot remember what happened to the bike after I got my first car about 1964.
Anyway, I expect this thread has expired by now as I only came across it whilst researching the history of the Palm Beach and discovering that most of the examples displayed online are either incomplete, modified or just complete rubbish. Have a happy day and I hope you are well. Regards, Tony. (Angiemaroni)

 

[Cycleops]

Very interesting @Angiemaroni . I wonder if buyers today would fall for that dropped from a helicopter to test the bottom bracket cobblers?

 

[Illaveago]

Very interesting @Angiemaroni . I wonder if buyers today would fall for that dropped from a helicopter to test the bottom bracket cobblers?

And the wheels remained true !

 

[mickle]

I had one, given to me by a customer, in excellent condition. When I split up from the previous GF it was one of the last things I collected. By the time I went back for it she'd binned it.

 

[rogerzilla]

My mother had one, bought secondhand in the 70s and resprayed Daytona Yellow (same as our Cortina MkIII). I remember it being very heavy. It's a traditional roadster.

 

[raleighnut]

My mother had one, bought secondhand in the 70s and resprayed Daytona Yellow (same as our Cortina MkIII). I remember it being very heavy. It's a traditional roadster.

Yep my mum had one bought in the mid 50s but it was the posh one with Dynohub on the front wheel, I used to 'borrow' it (if I had a puncture when I went to get my bike out) seemed to roll very sedately.

 

[keabo]

Very interesting @Angiemaroni . I wonder if buyers today would fall for that dropped from a helicopter to test the bottom bracket cobblers?

Bottom bracket was fine. As for the rest of the bike, don't ask.

 

[Aussie Mike]

Well folks, Aussie Mike back here - 3 1/2 years after I posted about my search for a Triumph Palm Beach Roadster like the one I had through my long-gone teenage years. And finally, back in June, I found this on ebay.uk!

Not surprisingly, there was a note on the ad, "Seller will not post to Australia", but I wasn't going to let that stop me and immediately contacted the seller in Southampton, explaining my long search and asking if he would be prepared to ship it to me at my expense. Apparently my story struck a chord with him and he agreed to my request as it had been his teenage runabout, which he, unlike myself, had lovingly kept and ridden regularly ever since and he wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate and continue to care for it. It turned out that the "...not post to Australia" condition was inserted by ebay as the bike could not be included in their Global Shipping Program, so when I tried to submit my 'Buy It Now' full price offer the "system" blocked it. It took several emails between the seller and ebay before they agreed that he could withdraw it from the site and complete the transaction outside ebay without penalty. This wonderful gentleman then proceeded to search for a suitable shipping company that would be able to provide suitable packaging, collection, shipping and eventual customs and quarantine clearance and delivery. It took another month and a mountain of different quotes before he found one and was able to partially dismantle, pack it up and send it on its way. We were even able to live-track the consignment on its long voyage from London to Brisbane via Singapore, and mid-September it was safely delivered to my doorstep. After reassembling, I had a quick ride around the block and since then I've done a little light restoration - basically greased all bearings, removed some slight tarnishing, meticulously polished all chrome items (including spokes!), resprayed the mudguards and chainguard, added whitewalls (latex paint) to the tyres. Next tasks will be fitting a kickstand and replacing the metal pedals with white rubber similar to the originals. I'm currently searching (so far unsuccessfully - suggestions welcome!) for a matching paint to touch up a few scratches on the frame to complete the refurbishment. When that's all done I'll come back and post a picture of the finished version.