Valentine Page was a British motorcycle designer and arguably the greatest of all British motorcycle designers. Most of his design time was spent at Arial Motorcycles, he ultimately left Arial in 1932 to become the chief designer at rival motorcycle manufacturer Triumph Motorcycles.
On his arrival at Triumph Valentine started by transforming Triumphs aging range. At Triumph Valentine developed the vertical twin and range of singles, including a 150cc two-stroke and 250, 350 and 500cc four-strokes, with Edward Turner.
Valentine also designed a solid parallel twin, the Model 6/1, introduced in 1933 for the ’34 season. The 6/1 was a heavyweight, OHV, 70mm x 84mm, 649cc machine intended largely for sidecar work; an interesting and technically well-conceived, wet-sump design with a bolt-on gearbox, a single camshaft at the rear of the cylinder barrels (an arrangement later typified by BSA twins), a single carburetor, and a helically-geared primary drive with no intermediate gear—which meant that the engine ran backwards.
The feature of today is a 1935 Triumph 350cc Sprint Special; this beautiful machine was in 90% restored state when the current vendor purchased it. Since then this machine was fully re-commissioned, and was rebuilt as a sprinter with all electrics removed to lighten this beauty. Most of the parts have been repainted and the seat was recovered and a speedometer was fitted.
The engine has been completely rebuilt to its original glory, while the gearbox is a later addition with closer ratios. The beautiful alloy tank holds up to 4 litres and the oil tank approximately 2 litres. The clutch on this Triumph 350cc Sprint Special is standard and runs open. The other remarkable features include alloy wheel rims, REH conical hubs and rear-set footrests.
This 1935 Triumph 350cc Sprint Special was auctioned at Bonham’s with a final sale price of £4,600 .
