Wayne Moulton

Wayne LaVar Moulton (June 19, 1932 – August 21, 1995) was a motorcycle designer called "the father of the Japanese cruiser" after introducing specific designs for importers to the lucrative US motorcycle market. The custom/cruiser market continually occupies one of the biggest slices of the important large displacement US motorcycle market.

His industry positions included Vice President of Professional Racing for American Motorcyclist Association 1983–86; President, Triumph Motorcycles America Company, vice president of Kawasaki Motorcycle Company and president of Vetter Fairing Company.

The basis of his designs was his marketing philosophy that, "a popular motorcycle can have four different variations- a standard, a limited, a cafe racer and a touring bike." These brought custom-styling touches to the in-line four-cylinder Kawasaki Z1 standard street-bike/roadster model. The LTD style was typified by shortened mudguards (fenders), stepped seat, high handlebars, a 'tear-drop' petrol tank, large rear tyre and short megaphone exhausts. Moulton was quick to emphasise that his design was not influenced by the American manufacturer, Harley-Davidson but rather privately customised British motorcycles like the Triumph and Birmingham Small Arms.

On the back of his success with Kawasaki, Moulton was invited by the British Triumph factory's Brenda Price to head up Triumph Motorcycle America (TMA), then struggling to market the high-priced but old-fashioned standard 750 cc Triumph Bonneville T140 roadster model. Moulton accepted the post, his change of heart being due to the struggling Triumph, then run by a workers' co-operative at Meriden, now being very flexible in their approach to design suggestions for the US market. Wayne Moulton's favorite design, the 1982 Triumph TSX was copied exactly into production.

Harking back to his LTD series, he designed the similarly styled Triumph T140 TSX advertising it, without irony, with the slogan A Yamakawahonzuki It Ain't! The 8-valve engine was later marketed as the Triumph T140W TSS. Moulton insisted the production version of the TSX replicate his design exactly and this Triumph did.