Meeting the Nicest People!

Walking up to the Evanston Y for my lunchtime swim I happened upon this yellow colored gem. A C70 Honda Passport. In stunning condition. A super clean example of one of the most manufactured motorbike in history. It's a shame more of them aren't seen tootling about; gas mileage is measured in the hundreds!

Half a Century ago!

The model range available to the riding masses in the U.S. 50 years ago, short sleeves seem the fashion of choice for the SoCal or FL cruiser bruisers of the day.  The swingin; line-up included: T100 Tiger, TR5, T110, TR6, 5TA Speed Twin and the Jewel in the Crown: T120 Bonneville.

T100 Tiger

TR5

T110

TR6

T5A Speed Twin

The Bonnie

It's Easy... part II

Another in the poster series of speeds that can be attained on your trusty Triumph! This time chasing a UFO; no doubt from a time when more sightings were rampant after Area 51. However our intrepid 'collector' would seem more at home pursuing flitting butterflys across an English meadow; tweed, breeches, satchel 'n' all!

It's Easy...

Back in the thirties T.E. Lawrence took his Brough along an airstrip and raced a Bristol Bulldog Fighter; here's Triumph implying their bikes can take on one of 'them new fangled jets'; Actually an Avro Vulcan Strategic Bomber. Itself hot off-the-presses for the RAF!

Matchbox Sheene

Matchbox made a couple of models, one a scale die-cast another a kit. Anything for the 10 or 11 year old to display on his bedroom shelf. Go No. 7!

A nicely detailed kit.

Here's the Superkings K-81 Sheene bike. No duck faced helmet on this one, just his cool mullet hairstyle flowin' in the air.

Here's a basic Sheene toy for the younger enthusiast.

Race Proven

Race 'em on Sunday, sell 'em on Monday! That's what used to be said; and it applies so appropriately to the Trident; beefy 3/4 litre bike that even to this day four decades on can give a grin to an unsuspecting rider.

Vintage Bike, Happy Couple, Timeless Smiles...

This is just a real nice photo.

Don and Marg Fera - photo by Bob Magill

Psycho-Momo

A contractor told me his son used to call motorcycles psychomomo's - works with this poster...

The stark black and white film images held against the red backdrop is stunning: the leading actors names in red too achieves a balanced page. It's like a pure screen printed race poster for the weekly dirt oval meetings.

Here's the full blown cinema poster or lobby card.

Thunderbirds are Go! x3

A stunning image of three styalized Thunderbirds at blurry speed. Great airbrush work expressing the clean bodywork and lined Triumph badge of one of the finest 650's from Meriden.


And the signifigance of 3x90x500? The 6T Thunderbird was launched publicly at Montlhéry near Paris where three standard production bikes were ridden around a circuit by a team of riders who between them averaged a speed of 92 mph (148 km/h) over a distance of 500 miles (800 km). All three machines were ridden to the circuit and back to the Meriden factory.

In the Round

A couple of really sharp race roundel signs. One displaying unstoppable #9 Gary Nixon 'flying' on a dirt oval steed; the other is Eddie Mulder #12 (The Squirrel).

Worldwide Coverage

A Logo used for a couple of years (1932-33) on the early models was this globe variant. Here shown on what could be a 2/1 250cc or 6/1 650cc designed by Val Page.

Here is a stunning example of a NT500 from 1933, the worldly badge just visible. Remember this was the time of the SS100 Brough Superior 'Superbikes'!

VP's Bike ~ The Bonnie

A neat thin strip vertical ad highlighting the sublime Bonneville as the sporty choice of business executives. Looming office buildings flank the parked ride between lesser 'motorcars'. It's rival of the time was of course the E Type Jag; serious competition indeed!

Still a damn fine machine...

Googled!

Bonneville, Thundebird, Speed Triple, Hinckley models, Speed Twin. A few of the sample you'd see when requesting a google image search for Triumph Motorcycles. Eye Candy All!

Under the Blue Sky

I enjoy looking at the various ways riding is captured with the image; one simple one is the ride-along shot. Here it's taken with a little more angled cropping to achieve a dynamic view, effective with great early 70's Triumph and bubble visored rider who is obviously intent on the open road ahead. Just need to find myself a photographer as well as driver to go alongside me to get some similar shots...

Heeeey!

A well known bike to millions of American TV viewers of the 70's is comng up for sale. The 'cool' Triumph we see The Fonz riding on during the opening credits of Happy Days. It's a 50's 500cc TR5 Trophy with rigid frame. A moto used by the desert racers in SoCal at the time; this one beginning in the hands of Bud Ekins. When Happy Days was in it's conceptual infancy Hollywood called their biker pal Ekins to supply a chopper for a new cool character to ride on; he put high bars on, stripped the front fender and sprayed the tank silver...  an icon was born!

Roll-on 3 decades and Ekins was clearing out his not inconsiderable collection passing a warehouse of bikes, parts and memerobilia to another Triumph dealer 'Mean Marshall' Ehlers. This old Trumpet was sitting forlornly amongst it all. Now Mr Ehlers needs to sell it so this bike is up for grabs to the highest bidder through Bonhams.

Full Story: www.cycleworld.com/fonzies-triumph

T-Shirt, Triumph Shirt

Nice clean graphic of the logo name and a quarter of the Union Flag,

Shinya Kimura

One of the great recent motocycle craftmen on the west coast is Shinya Kimura; he shapes, hones, whittles the frame, tank, fairing of Triumphs...

A great short film about his ethos in bikebuilding.

"The Needle"



Triton fit for a Queen

The classic True Triton: pre-unit Triumph engine enveloped by the curvy Norton Featherbed frame. A choice combination shown here at speedwith appropriately dressed rider: Frank Thomas boots, gauntlet gloves, puddin' bowl lid. Poetry in motion.

That 70's Show

There was a time when some riders got bored with the staid styling of the Triumph machines. They responded with a few choice add-ons to achieve a hot-rod, chopper, dude look. Some weren't so successful as these two images show...

First off: a pipe bending excercise that even Uri Geller would be astounded by. I believe you can fire spears out of them. But windows will be broken nonetheless!

Hi-Back? Ape Bars? Captain Britain? At least getting this lost soul back to stock would be a fairly straight forward proposition. I believe my Bonnie met this fate sometime in its shady past before I rescued it.

of Handicraft and Flea

No riding this weekend, but a couple of fun motorcycle themed items seen at the Wicker Park Renegade Craft Fair and Wolff's Flea Market respectively. A ceramic tile to dress up your workshop backsplash; and a kids bike, pedla power, looking like a v-twin.
The moto-graphic on the tile is an interesting take on two wheeled transport; I can't tell if it's a Harley or Ariel.

I can see a young (very!) Geordie Biker riding one of these along Brommey Road in Wooler back in the mid-70's! It looks like fun, just needs a card in the spokes for a motorcycle noise...

A Triumph Rat Packer

How better to tootle around the studios of Hollywood in the sixties than on a white Bonnie; here's Dean Martin with pillion, actress Stella Stevens, enjoying the British Bike in the California sun... the movie "The Silencers" starred Martin as secret agent Matt Helm in his first outing.

The Road ahead...

A beautiful panoramic image of a modern Thruxton (yes close to the top of my want list!) being sped along a clean stretch od asphalt. Nicely composed photom wheel spin blur, a little background movement, classic!

Another couple of great black and white photographs of the Thruxton and fair haired owner.

Red Carpet Treatment

Go on, give the Triumph an entrance it deserves! This is Nicholas Biebuyck and he is a motorcycle specialist with Bonhams auction house. What a fun job that would be! incipeindustries is a design review blog that he has created. It explored the wide world of design ranging from products, places and people. A great site!

Everyday Cool...

It's been a while since we've had a bit of the King of Cool, Mr. Steve McQueen. Here's a couple of Triumph-centric shots: one with a great T-shirt; probably quenching a dry thirst after a ride in the desert; the other pushing his moto around some film lot, shades & hanging fag seal the deal.

The Enjoyment of Two Wheels

Sometimes bike photography can look sterile, lifeless, technical. But biking is more than that; it's vital and exciting, dynamic and thrilling, ego-centering and mind-expanding.

A bunch of folks take their Triumph bobbers out to the wide spaces of the desert; the sun, the air and the horizon...