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Hi Greybeard,
I agree! That made me wonder. Why did they hang our engines to the right in the first place. Could the countershaft not be extended by 25mm (one inch).
I like Mikesr's idea too for a tour bike, but a cruiser needs to be 2 or 3 cylinders. I would love to see a mid size Rocket3, maybe a "Missle III" or "Bullet".



That was to keep the major engine castings and gearbox the same as the Bonneville and T100. Extending the countershaft would change the bearing loading drastically and may have even required a bearing in the sprocket cover. Since the America/SM had a new frame anyway, it was more practical to just shift the engine over a bit. It was a considerable risk for Triumph to try to jump into thr cruiser market, so it made sense to minimise the cost as much as possible by using as many existing bits as they could without compromising the design.

Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python