Triumph Cycle

Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd., based in Nottingham, England, was a bicycle manufacturing company.

History

The genesis of what would become Triumph Cycle Company began during 1884 when Siegfried Bettmann emigrated to Coventry in England from Nuremberg, part of the German Empire. In 1885, aged 20 years, Bettmann founded his own company, the S. Bettmann & Co. Import Export Agency, in London, England. Bettmann's original products were bicycles, which the company bought from other manufacturers and then sold under its own brand name. Bettmann also distributed sewing machines imported from Germany.

In 1886, Bettmann sought a more general name, and the company became known as the Triumph Cycle Company. A year later, the company registered as the New Triumph Co. Ltd., now with funding from the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, who were interested in promoting commercial use of pneumatic bicycle tires. That year, Bettman was joined by a partner, Moritz (Maurice) Schulte, also from Nuremberg. Triumph began manufacturing its own bicycles for sale in 1894.