The diminutive nature of our wee 200cc Cub makes for a smart shooting stick to thump around the estate on. The hound will need willing legs to keep up though… And a shotgun holster is required to tote the Purdey DB 12 bore.
A Barber jacket isn’t just for an ISDT!
The diminutive nature of our wee 200cc Cub makes for a smart shooting stick to thump around the estate on. The hound will need willing legs to keep up though… And a shotgun holster is required to tote the Purdey DB 12 bore.
A Barber jacket isn’t just for an ISDT!
A branding is the essence of a company’s presence in the publics psyche and how it is communicated. Triumph aren’t just about a motorcycle or a logo with swoosh, but it’s also the story behind its name, the history, the icons connected to it, its performance, its recognition. Here’s a promotional piece by a great branding master Mike Salisbury of the British marque and one of the most recognizable riders who welcomed being seen and racing on a Triumph.
We’ve been watching Mad Men
A movie poster with a violent intent. However the color touched-up still have the Triumph riders in clean brown leather and pink. The bikes are rendered quite brightly too. Looks more like a jaunt into the countryside; I’m sure the biker gang must show up at some point and cause disruption to this bucolic Californian scene…
Here’s a studio shot of Anne Neyland and Steve Terrill who star as the main protagonists gang moll Terry and Randy.
They hare around the dusty Golden State on British iron like there’s no tomorrow, talk ‘sickle lingo, dodge the cops and drag-strip race for kicks. The studio riding shots with projected moving roadway are fun and the writing much to be desired but for a bit of B-Movie antics…
Watch it here:
Motorcycle Gang
…on a Triumph. A smashing old poster regaling the virtues of two-wheeled transport; even when the roadwork season (summer) hold up traffic. The old tramlines offer a balance beam way over lifted cobbled streets. As always I love the inked brushwork of these classic bike adds. The intent and attire of the gal is spiffy too!
A photoshoot of the missus, moto and me! Taking the classic portrait of Charles & Ray Eames sitting atop a Velocette as inspiration.
No pipe though…
…fun stuff!
The Cub was sold as a low cost transport for the post-war population who needed to get to their factory or office job, have a jaunt out with the gal across town or into the countryside, or want to tootle around on something more than a Lambaretta scooter but find the big Bonnevilles little too bike to handle.
This classic advert in grayscale with blue background has a nice active composition with a lithographical appearance. Lineweight is classic heavy edged shaped for depth which works to superb effect for this fabulously!
This poster says it all: Brit iron across the rolling Kettle Moraine in southern Wisconsin and winding up at a pub to quench your thirst with a Newcastle Brown Ale.
Gan canny young ‘un!
“Noel I’d like to swap my dart board for a football”. I spent the day up at the swap meet held in the McHenry county fairground in Woodstock. Indeed the organizers Walneck held a 100th meet celebration at the nearby Harley, Triumph KTM dealer, so it was bikes all round old and new; rusty and polished.
There was engines galore cat Ed Zenders post, alas no Cub items. But I managed to pick up the much needed Haynes manual an a set of Whitworth spanners.
I’ve never seen a copper tank either- steam punk anyone?
There was other two-wheeled offerings too: this immaculate “Christmas Morning” fresh Schwinn Stingray chopper, the Lemon Peeler was propped against a pig stall, yours for $1,400. “What do you mean? Won’t ‘aggle?”
I’ll report other discoveries over the coming weeks blog entries. Plenty of moto fun!
As part of the work involved in a restoration you get to enjoy delving into the history of the bike; part of which is examining original advertising illustrations. Here’s a smashing item from some brochure extolling the virtues of these fifth liter machines. A Tiger Cub and Sport Cub: both T20.
Of course having the words of a real world champion quoted on the ad doesn’t do any harm either. Here Belgian Roger Vanderbrecken give a positive review of the Cubs.
When men were men and roads were barely tarmacadam’d from the cobbled and dirt roads of yestercentury; there was a need to give some shock absorption to the steering proceedings. Otherwise anything above a running pace and the ‘bars would be whipped out of your gauntletted hands. Not Good. Unless you enjoy testing your Tweeds and cloth cap! Here’s the Coventry Company’s early efforts of a girder fork. Simple action, serviceable and met the needs of the expanding moto-denizens. Indeed Phil Vincent used this system on the classically sublime Vincent over its lifetime of much sought after models.
A couple of examples of advertising for the fun lifestyle to be had as a Triumph cyclist. One an ideal couple sauntering through the idyllic English countryside without a care in the world. The storms of World War Two are barely a grey cloud on tomorrow’s horizon. “Fancy tea and scones honey pie?”
Here we are again, this time the other side of world altering hostilities and the weary elders want to evoke some idea of youthful jollity to the growing generation. Don’t worry folks Rock ‘n’ Roll will take care of that! Then punk, then New Wave, then grunge…
“Not that there is anything wrong with it!”
I forgot to post this last year when all of the Diamond Jubilation hullaballoo was going on… well here it is: the original silver celebration Triumph. A limited edition red, white (well silver really) and blue seven fifty Bonnie. That’s Ma’am as in jam, not as in farm… or so they say!
“I should like to be a horse” Elizabeth Windsor
geordiebiker.com 