TinTin takes to the highways of The West in this conceptual idea of an adventure for our young intrepid hero. Like some gallic Wyatt and his knight-companion Billy ‘Haddock’. Snowy is erstwhile George Hanson and no doubt the Thompson Twins represent a bifurcate counterculture; split between the sixties laissez-faire and the serious seventies just around the corner.
When the moto gets all ‘hacky-dorty’ the you need a can if this! Scrub off the old road grime and polish ‘er up. The bike always look refreshed with a bit if elbow grease and a stack of rags. Best done on a sunny day with a beer to whet your whistle.
Let’s keep on this Gary Nixon vein…. A modern day Triumph Daytona in the blue and white color scheme and also numbered nine.
It can lean like a the best of ’em. Under the control of talent of course!
The 675 race bike is a genuine piece of speedy machinery. Needing a big space and fast corners to wring the best out of it!
Post title comes from Badfingers hit Baby Blue used to outstanding effect in the closing scene of the series Breaking Bad.
A screen print poster sold at Motoblot: the creases of a Lewis Leathers jacket hold the classic bike names from the golden age of motorcycling. Lewis are the riders protection of choice that improve with age and mileage: especially in the temperate damp airs of Britain.
Of course Triumph was represented in the majority at the show. I looked at a few examples of how the brand was marked. The traditional name badge as well as the logo is a common touch; sometimes a Union Flag harks the country of origin of these Machines. I particularly like the embroidered name on the seat. The cross stitched padding in nifty too!
Branding is a name, branding is identity, branding is recognition. In the motorcycle world none more so than Triumph. With over a century of visibility the marques logo has developed and adapted with its place through history to create a timeless brand.
The latest logo was developed by the ad agency Wolff Olins.
It has evened out lettering, equal height and rounded off serif to create a hint of slope and movement. Looks good on the tank…
For the nerdy graphic designers…
Here’s the technical font structure and letter space kerning. More to it than meets the eye for sure.
Exquisite technical illustration from the masters hand. This is Lawrie Watts at his finest: taking a complex machine, engine or entire vehicle and in perfectly weighted line work achieves both x-ray vision and form of assemblage.
It reminds me of the old hand drawn plans and details I had to prepare before computers were in the office. Ink, mylar and stinking dyline machines…
Another example of the aggressive shark tooth’d grimace seen on the warbirds of WW2. This would look smart on the Tiger Cub tank. Not too much more room for the bomb ridin’ gal though. Olive Drab and red backed pointy teeth gives a nasty bite! Gnash!
Blue sky graphic with streaming air speeding past this ink print of the suitably dressed period biker and his Triumph. Classic comic penwork with speed lines imply the moving moto.
Fifty Five years ago: from the Tigress moped, Tiger Cub, Thunderbird, the Bonneville; all sold on the promise, and proven speed, of superiority on the road. The Record was Johnny Allen’s Devils Arrow which, under the methanol fuelling reached a two-pass speed of 193.3 mph with a 650 Triumph engine.
When you want go, get a Triumph. Or so says the promotional literature. Another splendid period pen and ink illustration.
After Kipling:
If you can fill the empty hour with sixty minutes worth of distance ridden….
Don’t Draper couldn’t have said it any better: like some promotional imagery straight from the booze guzzling, cigarette smoking, sex addict ad agency cats of New Yorks Madison Avenue in the sixties. Clean graphics, straight to the point and makes sure the guy gets the gal with his Bonneville.
Growing up the flag of the United Kingdom was called the Union Jack. Now apparently it has been given its ‘correct’ term as the plain old Union Flag. The ‘jack’ flag being the bow flag hoisted on the jack staff of a naval ship. It’ll still be the Union Jack to me…. Well until the loss of St Andrews Saltire when Scots independence occurs.
Nevertheless it looks pretty good on the petrol tank of a Triumph Cub too!
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