– the Swiss Army Knife of motorcycles. It’ll go anywhere, anytime, anyhow, and keep you grinning.
October 26, 2020
Full Frontal
– one more thing I like about the Tiger is its front view. Making sure you are visible to the other road users is imperative.
October 25, 2020
Luminous Leaves
More photos from the Fall outing yesterday. The foliage hues against a striking blue sky was a sublime natural phenomenon. This time of the year is resplendent in a blaze of colors that always seems so fleeting before the naked winter arrives.
October 24, 2020
Fall Color
– a nice autumnal spin along Sheridan Road through the Northshore suburbs which were splendid under the blue October sky. Temperatures were on the chilly side but my heated vest and grips kept this rider toasty.
October 22, 2020
Arranging Objects
Knoll (nōl) vb. Knolling is simply the process of arranging objects so they are parallel or at 90-degree angles. It helps keep everything organised and when photographed creates clean, noticeable images. The term was coined in 1987 by a janitor name Andrew Kromelow who was working at Frank Gehry’s furniture making shop. The story goes that Kromelow would neatly arrange the jumble of the day’s tools at right angles on the benches as he cleaned up.
He dubbed the practice knolling because it reminded him of the right angles in Florence Knoll’s angular furniture (Gehry was designing for Knoll at the time).
October 21, 2020
These Days
Sixties chanteuse Nico looking very Chelsea in London on a parked bike. Born Christa Päffgen she was given her name by the photographer Herbert Tobias, who discovered her at 16. She went on from modeling to acting, singing and Andy Warhol’s muse in 60’s New York. Her version of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” is one of the great covers.
October 20, 2020
Essex
“Call me Ishmael”
On this day 200 years ago the whaling ship Essex was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the middle of the South Pacific. This maritime story gave Herman Melville the idea for his classic novel Moby Dick. This 1928 Brought Superior SS100, also named Moby Dick recently sold for over £500,000. The name was given after Motor Cycling magazine tested it in 1931 and declared it “the fastest privately-owned machine in the world”.
October 19, 2020
Eye of the Tiger
The nose of the Tiger might be unliked by some with its proboscis protruding from the eye-like headlights; but I find it offers a strong moto statement aiming for the road ahead.
October 18, 2020
Only 50p
– I was spoaching through some boxes in our basement when I happened upon my collection of early 2000ad comic. In orbit every Monday. A couple of back to back advertising pages caught my eye. One for a kids sport comic called Tiger, mostly about football, but it had a snippet about Barry Sheene who was at the time at the top of his popularity. The other page was for the statistical card game Aces (like the other Top Trumps game) also promoting the prowess of the GP rider.
October 17, 2020
Turquoise Tank
More patina that a rusty nail. I was filling up at a gas station in Des Plaines and spied this beat-up Chevrolet. It sounded like heck when it started up. Unless the owner didn’t want to wake the dead by revving too much…
October 16, 2020
Logan
– X-Man Wolverine sharpens his retractable claws whilst speeding along the highway. The black Triumph Bonneville provides Weapon X with transportation. Illustration by Adi Granov.
October 15, 2020
Equine Drawn or Tigris Ridden
– two horse versus 94 ponies. Nice old farm box wagon at a driveway in Northern Illinois. To think that people used to travel around the country on dirt roads with transportation such as this. Me? I’d rather have be on my Tiger over those rural lanes.
October 14, 2020
Do you feel lucky punk?
– I just caught the tail end of this 1973 Clint Eastwood film and saw that the “Death Squad” cops were riding ‘67 Triumph T100R Daytona 500cc bikes. Earlier in the movie they rode Moto Guzzi’s Eldorado’s, also in police livery, however the stunt riders preferred the nimble characteristics of the smaller Triumph for haring across the decks of the decrepit aircraft carriers for a final showdown.
October 13, 2020
Roadside Attraction
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost – 1874-1963
