Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech who makes the electrics/wiring harness

I hear so much about the poor quality of the Lucas electrics that were of great controversy for Triumph in years past.

It seems if anything people who like to denigrate Triumph often bring up the "Ghost of Lucas" issue.

Who is the mamufacturer of the electrics in our Triumphs?

Is it still Lucas?

Gill makes the black box.

If I'm not mistaken, the old Lucas was the same as Lucas/Verity that TRW bought and then spun off with the Automotive division before Northrop Grumman bought TRW. So that would mean that Lucas is American-owned (assuming the Blackstone group is American).

I know the Lucas name is still around, they make a new point plate for the old twins that is a vast improvement over the origonal and it still comes in the familiar red Lucas box with the same logo, looks right out of the 50s but is new.

Used to work for Lucas. The wireing harness for vehicles at least were made by a Lucas owned company Rists at Newcastle-Under-Lyme and Accrington.

About the time of the Varity/TRW/Northop/Blackstone saga , Rists was sold to a Japanese company.

I doubt very much if Lucas made looms for Triumph since the resurrection of Triumph, as way back in 1978 they had already outsourced most of the switchgear/bulbs/points etc to Hugarian manufacturers only keeping alternator/starter motor (Shaftsmoor Lane )and auto headlight manufacture (Cannock)in the UK which they then sold to Magneti Marelli.

Gotta say, I make the same jokes about Lucas as everybody, cause it's fun and some truth. However, to be fair, I have ridden thousands of miles and more on some stock Lucas wired trumpets, and they were every bit as dependable as other stuff. A lot of what us older riders don't say is that we were constantly modifying and "improving" our trumpets by chopping and messing around otherwise and the stock systems didn't always take to our improvements. Still again, old joke, "Why do the Brits drink warm beer? Lucas makes refrigerators also!"

>they were every bit as dependable as other stuff.

Woe unto him with electrical problems on a '50s-'60s Sportster.

I have a 1969 650 Trophy that I rode for about 15 years until about 10 years ago that never gave me any problems till the end when the wires up around the triple tree started getting brittle and they would loose contact on and off. That is when I parked it and figured I would rewire it then I started taking different parts off figuring I would redo that while it was apart and another and another and before I knew it I had a bare frame. But I have not experienced the Lucas Wiring Woes that so many speak of. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones?????