@gumbud This website about the Triumph factory may be of interest to you. I realise you reside in Australia therefore the factory visit would not be possible. However, the details on the link below may be of general interest:
The Japs had already arrived when I started taking notice, so have a foot in both camps, the Brits were heavy sloggers and unstylish (arguably), the Japs were lightweight with Rizla thin chrome plate, and screamed at the push of a button, just a different type of appeal spose.
Triumphs have always been stylish.A few Beezas too but Honda were more reliable,werenât they.
There are probably more Triumphs in Glass Cases than Hondas at the moment.
Perhaps or perhaps not.
Ah yes itâs all beginning to come back to me now those bloody Hondas ; Iâd been riding a Dot scrambler ; my mate Frances Barnett and we thought we were cool. the first triumph I fell in love with was the triumph cub [was it called] - not too big to handle around the legs but was 4 stroke so had that gutsy growl about it - never managed to secure one though. Then I caught glimpses of the BSA ; Velocette, Vincent etc. But clever as ever small cheap and Japanese flooded the markets and I eventually succumb.
Thanks for the link Bazz; Barry that was a very impressive one and trust they are still functioning - so a niche part of the serious market. Is that the only British bike now being produced?
When previously looking for information re: Triumph factory I found something about being partly manufactured in Thailand. The article was not dated. Today Iâve found a link again about production of Triumphs, itâs quite interesting to see what is produced where and that the UK is 15% of the market. Worth a read if you are interested, there is a date on the right hand side under Latest News â 31 08 2021, which leads me to believe it is up-to-date:
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Yep, one could tolerate flaky chrome as a guaranteed certainty, that a machine would start and perform. What does take the biscuit is the Chinese Lexmotoâs, donât matter how you look after them, the exhaust for a start will be rusty within a month. 
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@gumbud They started producing Nortons again over the last few years but not that successfully I think from a marketing standpoint, but I believe a Chinese company has now bought them out and are going to pump some more cash into the business, so hopefully we may see more of them back on the roads before too long. 
Ah yea the good old Norton - forgot about that one - you wouldnât have a pick of one and remember the velocette was that the one with the leather cover to its tank?
Didnât the police used to ride around on the Velocette way back in the distant past?
that would be flashy how could they afford them?
The Police in the UK used the Velocette LE 200. It was known as a Noddy bike. I think it was a water cooled flat twin.
It featured in the popular TV series, Heartbeat, set in rural Yorkshire.
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@Barry , Yes it was Barry!
But donât forget it was meant to assist the " Bobby on the beat" and so it didnât need good handling
to travel at slightly higher than walking pace ! It also saved the âBobbyâ from having to lug a radio
about as well as being virtually silent ? Which allowed it to approach the crime scene
without disturbing the suspects ??
Donkeyman! 
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Yep, all true Donks, just not the sort of thing for a sunny bank holiday in Brighton⊠
Nice to keep something as a memento though Emjay, many happy days pastâŠ
I think I have still got a couple of lapel badges somewhere. Iâll have to dig them out.
From memory there should be a Royal Oilfield badge and possibly an Ariel one, as well as a Castrol Oil badge.