Tee Triumph – once relegated to undergarment duty the ubiquitous t-shirt has become the mainstay of casual clothing. Whether the plain white tee as worn by US sailors in WW2 or the black concert tee adorning teens at their bands live show. Me? I’m fond of a soft cotton ‘shirt emblazoned with my favorite motorcycle marque. There are more and more out there every year. Vintage graphics work the best.
Miniature Portrait- Before the advent of photography people would have a small painting of their loved one prepared and mounted in a suitable pendant. Here is someone’s rendition of a Triumph Trident T160.
Pops – The post-war period in Japan saw a push in engine tuning to wring out any available additional horsepower to not just be faster but the fastest. This would eventually lead to the superbikes of the seventies and eighties and the current flock of hyper sports.
Leading this evolution of power and speed was Hideo ‘Pops’ Yoshimuro (1922-1995). After maintaining aircraft for the Japanese Empire during WW2 he redirected his masterful talents to the British bikes being brought to the land of the rising sun by American servicemen. This photo shows our man astride a fettled BSA preunit drag bike readying for a speed run.
Later he shifted his works and racing team to California where big reliable Japanese superbikes like the Kawasaki KZ and Suzuki GS’s went on to dominate the burgeoning AMA road racing circuit.
All Smiles 🙂 Old Triumphs with enthusiastic owners ready for racin’ & ridin’. The sun is shining and the outlook is rosy.
Woodworking Wonder – Russian Carpenter Yuri Hvtisishvili has created a marvelous full size replica of a Soviet era IZH 49 out of pine & beech. With superlative expertise in sawing, planing, routing, augering, chiseling and sanding; it’s a wonderful expression in wood.
Resolute – It is typical of the New Year for us to put on the mask of Janus and look back at what we achieved (or not) the previous year and thus look forward to the coming twelve months and make a determination of what we want to achieve. Usually in an effort to better ourselves; and, in a way, make this time we have count. Me? I’m not a big one for ‘resolutions’ but it’s fun to think of things that you would like to try and do. A list you ask? Well, here goes:
GB Logo for page header- draft example of a look similar to the Triumph Tiger logo yesterday.
Logo – looking for inspiration for an update to the blog page header… watch this space!
‘Ard as Nails – superb ink drawing of Tank Girl on a heavy booted Norton from the capable illustrator hand of Jamie Hewlett.
I, Robot – in 2017 Yamaha displayed their autonomous riding motorcycle being hurled around a racetrack at speed. Today is the 99th birthday of science writer Isaac Asimov who created the three rules of robotics:
Cuba – Triumph of the Revolution (Triunfo de la Revolución) – 1st of January marks the anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution by Fidel Castro in 1959. We travelled there in 2003 on a Cultural Exchange program between the US and Cuba.
It would be a tremendous adventure to travel across the island on two-wheels.
The Broons – every year growing up we’d have either an Oor Willie annual in our Christmas stocking or a Broons one. Beautifully pen & brush ink work by Dudley D. Watkins for DC Thompson they epitomized the straightforward Scottish character of the Twentieth Century.
Maw & Paw Broon with their eight children: Hen, Daphne, Joe, Maggie, Horace, the Twins and The Bairn. And Gran’paw too.
This is a great spread of the parents trying to get away for a peaceful weekend only to be overrun by their offspring and friends.
As they would declare: “Jings, Crivvens an’ help m’Boab!”
In the upper right Maggie rides in with one of her beaus (aplenty) .
Merchandise- the New Years Honours list was published today… little did I know but actor Henry Winkler was made an honorary OBE back in 2012. As we know he was The Fonz, cool greaser in the hot 70’s tv shoe Happy Days. As with any popular character there was plenty of supporting items for sale.
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