Sunny Sunday ride in May

Perfect early Sunday morning weather, 60's, sun, fragrant woods, cool breezes up the ravines, an occasional glimpse of the lake and quiet roads. Went up to Lake Bluff; bike running well too! Doesn't get much better than this!

Vintage Rally

Arenowned meeting of vintage bikes next weekend in Kansas MO. Triumph being the selected make of the promotional poster; itself having a Milton Gkaseresque look about it...   see Dylan album cover below.

Great Escape movie poster

A week of Steve McQueen and The G.E. is closed off with this super narrow movie poster with the bike jump taking 'center stage', the black and white with turquiose highlight is cool too.

McQueen modelling

One last model kit featuring Hilts on his bike is this small diarama showing him in full posed evading capture.

Simple assembly but a good paint finish would be essential.

Plenty of images to reference too!

Prefab Sprout

An album from the Durham based 80's group Prefab Sprout called "Steve McQueen" features a nice 60's Trophy TR6C on the cover. A good look, and good music of that time. Ah memories...

Hilts rides again...

Keepin' the theme going, here's a 1:6 scale action figure and bike of Hilts on a german bike. Well padded leather flying jacket and small baseball glove. All it needs is a 'Cooler' diarama as well as a fence jump ramp!

Oh to be a kid again!

Now if they added the revving motor of an Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle.... too much fun!

A Model Escape

Here is an accurate 1:12 model of the bike used by Hilts to escape the Germans and the Stalag Luft. Actually a Triumph TR6, painted and detailed a little to replicate a wartime BMW R45 bike of the time; probably its because this is the model Steve and his pal Bud rode to great effect across the SoCal dessert. Nevertheless it is still one of the most classic bike scenes in ANY movie!

Below: a replica built for the Imprial War Museum exhibition on the G.E. in 2005/6 - A 1960 T110.

Desert Sleds

A great image of the Triumphs used for desert racing in south California. That first fella looks a lot like Bud Ekins; west coast bike shop owner and racer as well as pal to Steve McQueen.

Here's an early Dunlop promotional shot of Ekins and his Trumpet Iron; look at that front wheel!

...and here he is with Steve havin' fun on a Sunday desert race no doubt.

Bobber-ville

Here is a selection of the venerable twin customized into the hardtail low seating bobber form. Some nice details and individual bikes. I'm sure a hoot to ride...   ...starting with this pre-unit. #14

High Pipes and chunky tires.

Webbed tank painting, pedal kickstart and springy seat. Lowbrow forsure. 

Whitewalls, lime green and throaty sound.

Even the later oil-in-frame models get the hardtail treatment. And a black finished conical front brake, that ebony patina wont help! Thin saddle and unsprung... ouch.

Parfum de King of Cool

Steve McQueen fragrance should embody the timeless elegance, charm and mysterious character of the man who inspired it, both tough and sensitive, handsome and mysterious, melancholic and mischievous ... This is a fragrance that reflects the man whose appearance set the standards of masculinity and elegance.

Steve McQueen perfume was launched on 20th September 2010 as 100 ml EDP. The perfume is available in collectable limited edition box at the cost of $190 or 140 euros.

A proven performance

With the Trimph models being used extensively in racing of the period, especially endurance at speed, the engines proved themselves to the daily riders as reliable, strong units. No wonder they sold by the truckload.

Florett Gulf

Another twho wheeled adorned with Gulf colours; this time a lesser know German make called Kreidler ~ although in the late fifties one third of German mped were Kreidler. This is a 50cc moped, so quite a diminutive example of the race colors, especially with clubman bars.

Here's the bike in regular livery:

Although a small cc'd engine they did specialize to be Grand Prix winners in the 50cc class. Their better know model of this "Florett" line is the earlier one, nearly Italia in its design lines.

...and here's the racer, a svelte marvel!

All in a Row

Nicely lined up, a chorus of Trumpets ready to blare...



A very proud owner of a pre-unit engined Triton. Nice high pipes, a solid 4LS front brake, low profile polished alloy tank. A swell machine.

Let those who you pass at speed know what you're riding!

Gorgeous fairing clad Bonnie, alloy wheels, bum-stop seat, rear-sets, M-bars a true cafe racer.



  



Tiger on the Mountains

Back in the day when Lancashire working men Don WHillans and Joe Brown, were powering up new climbing routes over North Wales, the Lake District and the Alps, Triumph brought out their sporty model: the Tiger. Appropirate advertising.

Here's Don himself heading off to Grindenwald and an attempt on the North Face of the Eiger; Chris Bonington is pillion. Climbing helmet as a lid, mountaineering mitts for gloves; look at that hemp rope! The bike is most likely a Triumph Tiger.

Workbench Worship

A Bonneville 'Gin sitting patiently to be cradled once more into a roadworthy frame kicked into consciousness to 'go down the road' once more. The pumping sound of the twin hailing "Triumph!"

Slippery Sam

Here's a Triumph from the history books: called Slippery Sam after the 1970 Bol d’Or endurance race when the broken oil pump covered the bike and riders with oil.  It is the only machine to win five TT races in consecutive years (Ray Pickerell in 1971 and 1972, Tony Jefferies in 1973, Mick Grant in 1974 and Dave Croxford/Alex George in 1975). This triple can MOVE! A production Trident 750cc prepared by Les Williams,

1971, Ray Pickerell - 1st, 100.07mph

1972, Ray Pickerell - 1st, 100.00mph

1973, Tony Jeffries - 1st, 95.62mph

1974, Mick Grant - 1st, 99.72mph

1975, Dave Croxford/Alex George - 1st, 99.60mph

The fastest lap was Alex George in 1975 at 102.82mph

Here's Mick Grant piloting this bike. A machne of definite charisma. 

Flat Tracker with futuristic fiberglass bodywork

A racing special raced by Don Castro in '72, then immediately banned due to streamlining rules. A wrapparound tank and seat with 70's pinstriping extraordinaire. Go fast, turn left, repeat. The extended seat is interesting but there's a neat custom in there somewhere...

Bonneville at Bonneville UT

If you want to stretch the legs of your Bonnie where better than the Salt. Here's a couple of shots showing ardent triumph owners taking their rides along for a spin. I'm sure it's pretty adrenaline pumping haring along the rutted white grit of the course ticking over the ton with a seven mile or so run out. Sneck through the gears and open the throttle and pin it.

Marco Raymondin of Paris based Brooklands Motors http://www.brooklands-classic.com/ (above) takes his pre unit T110 (below) through its paces...

Jim et son T110 dans NY

A great shot of a guy and his ride.

All weather Triumph

Necessity, as they say, in the mother of invention! Need to cruise around Minnesota in the snow? No problem; pop off the back wheel, bolt on the tracks, ski assembly strapped onto the front wheel and Peary look out!

Gulf color on a Honda 550 cafe "Le Mans Special"

Here's a beautifully detailed cafe racer prepared in glorious blue and orange. Thiunassuming rebuilt 1975 model has been methodically reconstructed with special care to details such as the sumptuous tank, tail section and he controls.

The orange painted frame is a great detail (ooh if I'd only had that thought with mine!)

A super little feller, probably fun to ride too.Build by Chris Trotter from Bozeman, Montana.