KEITH Pringle is a man of routine - every 30 years he buys a Triumph triple.

Now 1975 doesn't seem that long ago to me. A £1 note would be handed over for a round of drinks, leathers were predominately black, the Kawasaki 900 was king and us blokes wore our hair and sideburns in atrocious style.

New Triumphs and Nortons were purchased new from dealers, rather than as classics from an autojumble.

Keith called into Park Road Motorcycles with the intention of buying a new Commando and started talking with Colin Longfellow about the lovely looking Triumph T160 Trident in the showroom.

At the time the 750cc Triumph triple in export trim was the exotica in the Brit bike world - high bars, long scalloped tank, disc brakes, a three-into-two upswept exhausts that made a mouth-watering sound. And wow! Electric start. The Commando was no ugly duckling though. The larger tank had a serious touring look about it and Norton's legendary handling made it a bike to be respected on the road.

But the looks of the Trident won over and so in March 1975 Keith became the first purchaser of a new Triumph from the new Triumph dealership of Park Road.

During the intervening 30 years Keith has enjoyed many different bikes and last month during a regular visit to Parkroad Power-bikes for a chat, another Triumph triple caught his eye - a pristine pre-owned Daytona 955i.

Instantly he identified a gap in his life and his garage waiting to be filled with a fun bike and the modern version in the yellow guise of the Daytona would fit the bill.

So 30 years to the day Colin handed Keith another set of Triumph keys.