Bonnies on the Silver Screen

A site dedicated to different vehicles in movies and TV; motorcycles included; in particular for my search, a database of Triumph Bonneville's used.

http://imcdb.org/vehicles.php?make=Triumph&model=Bonneville&page=1

Racing Bonneville

 My next vision for the Triumph is to give it the sleek lines of a cafe racer; clip-on bars, rearsets and a windy country lane. Here are a couple of bikes with the low slung look for inspiration.

Judge Dredd - Lawman of the Future

You can't talk about comic art with motorcycles and not mention Judge Dredd. 'Old Stoney Face' Joe Dredd maintained law in the massive Mega City One riding his Lawmaster. He was Police, Judge and Jury all and kept a semblance of order with a harsh hand.

Motorcycles in Comic Art 2000AD INFERNO

One of the outstanding pieces graphically was the story Inferno; loosely based on the movie Rollerball (the sublime 1975 version NOT the 2002 one!). A future sport being a mix of Football, Basketball, Baseball, Speedway, MotoCross, Kung-Fu based in an arena of cinders with jetpacker flyers and a healthy dollop of ultraviolence thrown in. Artie Gruber being one classic character. Massimo Belardinellis bikes were sumptuous choppers with outlandish engineering and cool riders with harpoon-line powergloves. Sadly the plug was pulled due to the overly violent nature of of the action.

Motorcycles in Comics - 2000AD

Back in the late seventies I read the then new comic 2000AD ~ fantastic and violent stories of the near future. Classic artwork by the likes of Pino, Ezquerra, Bolland and Belardinelli graced the pages. I would devour these stories again and again until the pages were threadbare. I would then draw the action scenes and allow the oft featured bikes to soak in to my subconscious. One early story M.A.C.H. 1 centered around a character called John Probe, with superhuman strengths (man activated by compu-puncture hyperpower! `~ "Six Million Dollar Man"?)  Many of his stories involved bikers on the top models at the time, as well as a few fantastical ones.  

Enjoy the art.... beginning with Probe gunning the throttle of a Benelli Sei.

What strength, lifting rider bike and all (a BMW R69)

Here are the speedy killers, reminiscent to the Bond bike in Thunderball.

This unlucky rider is being unsaddled from what looks like a Suzuki GT750 "Water Buffalo"... 

Another early story involved the invasion of Britain by some ficticious Eastern Block country called Volga; it took the rough edged resistance leader, Bill Savage, a lorry driver armed with his shotgun and working class quips to save the day. However the Volgs were armed with fast sportsbikes equiped with machine guns.

Some More Triumph Ads

From a seranade under the willow...

...to jungle fever!

The coast beckons those who ride the Triumph.....

... and a relaxing beach awaits.



Performance on windy roads; both wheels aloft!

Two up fun!

Robert Craig Knievel aka Evel Knievel

Motorcycle showman extaordinaire ~ Evel dominated the stunt world of riding through several decades, fans eagerly waiting for him to jump cars, buses, fountains, and the Snake Canyon. With star spangled cape flying, there always seemed to be some sort of spill on the landing ramp, stretcher borne exit and shaky 'thumbs up' from the rider who, I'm sure, introduced many a boy to the daredevil world of motorcycling. Where does Triumph come in? Well one of his most famous jumps was over the fountain at Caesers Palace in Las Vegas NV. He rode a Bonneville 650.

Triumph even commemorated the 40th anniversay of the stunt with a special: a sweet looking version of their Scrambler model. High pipes, shortened mudguards and I'm sure a ripping twin sound.

Here's one of the original 650's on display.

Another on a workstand...

Now, any boy growing up in the mid-seventies yearned for the popular Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. I had the chopper. Rev up the 'energizer' and watch him go. Ramps were set up in schoolyards, across back lawns and along the streets. My figure of Evel suffered a fractured ankle: a piece of the wire armature poked through the thick rubber skin. Much like the real guy!

Advertising with comic strip type graphics lured the Marvel, DC, 2000AD crowd...

Smaller die-cast bikes also apeared; raced alongside my Britains bikes. These modelled after Harley Davidsons, his latter s'steeds'. Now, honestly if you were going to jump over things would you want a lump of iron like a Harley under you?

There was even a toy marketed soley for girls, Derry Daring with pink jumpsuit, long blonde hair and matching stunt cycle and energizer: classic stuff.... sadly this didn't make it over to the UK. I wonder how many girls were inspired to ride?