I’ve had one or two of these before on the blog, but I do like a good cuttaway engine. With cut lines in red and carefully sliced to maintain moving parts integrity it’s one of the best ways of seeing how the combination of parts work together.
This is of course the diminutive 200cc Triumph Tiger Cub single cylinder engine. I’m becoming familiar with the workings and the component integration.
In past days when smoking was more widespread one thing that was a bonus with each packet of tabs was cigarette cards. They came in broad ranging themes including motorcycles. Here’s a few from one mid century collection featuring our favorite make…
A close up of an early model on a Lambert & Butler.
Miniature print art collection? You can nearly smell the tobacco on the card stock. Of course it was the icons of the day who kept smoking a popular past time… Cool fellas indeed on the silver screen but known for their two-wheeled interest.
Hey! There was even a fag named after our titular marque…
Got a light pal!
Warhawk! The premier fighter aircraft of WW2; typically adorned with tiger teeth for a roaring attack. The Curtis P-40 was the third most manufactured US plane after the P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang. But that visual growl.
Could this be a tank paint treatment on a motorcycle? Hmm a wee growl on a Triumph Cub… It works on this street fighter!
A few choice illustrations by a fine Canadian artist include these action trials paintings. Very evocative of a Highland scene with appropriately clad riders in tweed, flat cap or boiler suit.
An Ariel Hunter set up for slow speed over rugged terrain. Sammy Miller special.
James: two stroke beaut! Lightweight and geared to hop like a rabbit; in the bright hands of course.
Suzuki mid wheelie: another two stroker being revelled over damp grass. The Barbour jacket uniform of the ISDT rider. Must be Scotland!
Stumbled upon this fab painting of a gal riding a Bonnie along a sunny coastal road. Great color, simple daub-work, and perfect subject. Need to get out my oils and canvas and get back to some paintin’.
More arty stuff; this time a sketched image of my Bonneville engine… Well this passes the winter!
I like the way it looks like a quick scribble with a 2B pencil including construction lines, which adds a revealed signature of the artists hand. But it’s just an app on my ‘phone!
My new Google phone has some neat photo editing apps available; here’s a few examples:
Sometimes you need to dream about the open road: flat cloth capp’d, gal sidesaddled on pillion and the hint of a breezy rural view around. Onward! Fresh air beckons and adventure awaits the travelers.
The sea wafts a briny perfume across coastal meadows; a lone sentinel winks a beacon to lost ships and harks the country revellers alike. The turquoise horizon drops into the infinite sky. The road ahead, a day to fill and a gal by your side.
the Mufflers
In Baltimore MD there’s a bunch of gals who promote two wheeled FUN! They’re called The Mufflers, a double entendre is in there somewhere! Blokeyness is forbidden and lady laughs are in; and a few Triumphs are evident in their rides, old and new.
Neat logo with road paint lines used.
What a ride it would be: racing a steam train. The powerful coal driven powering along and a Speed Twin following alongside. The 1960 Evening Star 2-10-0 heralded the closing pages of the steam age, a ’60 Triumph eyes the future of road speed.
Fire up the engine stoker, keep shoveling!
A Racer in seafoam…
A Venus…
…and another Venus.
All have perfect form for the beholder.
Aphrodite of Milos (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη τῆς Μήλου, Aphroditē tēs Mēlou), 130 BCE Venus de Milo.
The Birth of Venus (Italian: Nascita di Venere) 1486 Sandro Botticelli.
Clean comic illustration of a draughting board where some inspired moto-engineer is dreaming up a bob-framed bike to house his Triumph twin engine. A navajo Zapotec rug underfoot give a nice backdrop to the overhead point-of-view; that particular angle chosen so the table lamp illumination lights the object of interest, that being the drawing itself. A technique that reminds me of Joseph Wright of Derby and his outstanding piece “A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery”;
The illustration of particular review, however, is crisply illustrated by Adam Nickel. Go look at his other motorcycle related images… nice stuff!
Here’s the Wright piece, painted in 1766 it describes, for visual explaination, the use of a lamp in place of the sun. This was novel for its time as paintings representing awe were religious in nature; here technology and science is what gives wonder to the lit faces.
Proud? Certainly! Especially when your forearm is the banner for your ride of choice. Make sure the artist has a good hand and eye: a logo that is ‘off’ can look a copy. Like my new Rolax watch? Or my Somy Walkman?
British bikes and oil go well together. This time oil paints; here is a well executed Triumph portrait daubed by George Frizzell. To quote this Southwestern fella: “…biker, painter, writer…drain on society! To be continued…until I’m dead! ‘GTP'”
geordiebiker.com 