October 17, 2013
The leeward side of hump-day: given great prominence in Norse mythology to the God of Thunder – Thor. Comic book giants Stan Lee & Jack Kirby saw him and his Hammer Mjolnir, as a superb character created in 1962 to illustrate in their Marvel publications. Blonde locks, bulging biceps, strength beyond ken. You didn’t stand in his way!
So why would to take him on in a feat of strength? This biker thinks he can try this on – it’ll end in tears – on what looks like an early BSA Lightning unit twin itself the sportiest ride of the day.
Side note: the recent Movies Thor as well as The Avengers is played by Chris Hemsworth (recently seen as James Hunt in Rush)
He also knows what a cool moto is: Triumph. Here looking moody on a 60’s bobb’d bike.
Posted in BSA, Motorcycle Art, Superhero |
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October 9, 2013
By the late seventies, and with the success of Lee Majors in The Six Million Dollar Man, the networks were all jumping on the ‘ordinary superhero’ bandwagon. Some unassuming protagonist is dowsed in either a radioactive ‘elixir’ or rebuilt with means beyond his physical ken. Well NBC in ’76 came up with this gem. The titular character, one Sam Casey, had a handy condition that allowed him to be invisible (including his clothes!) For 15 minutes a day, with a wristwatch countdown controller. If he went over that though he was in danger of becoming permanently invisible. Tsk!
He was a good lookin’ denim wearin’ motorcycle ridin’ bloke, played by Ben Murphy, who got into a scrape or two… At least until the show was canceled nine episodes into its first season. I can just about remember it as a kid escaping into the few episodes that made it across the Pond.
The actor was Ben Murphy and the bike? Why a Triumph of course!
Posted in Film and TV, Superhero, Triumph Motorcycle |
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September 20, 2013
Comic art is one of my favorites: especially garish but graphic 70’s work. Here’s a Marvel offering much in the light of the material I grew up with such as 2000ad and Action. – Silver Jubilee celebration! Classic!
I love the rider heading towards you out of the page in true Stan Lee exaggerated dynamic fashion. You see this format elsewhere…
My favorite of all is the Judge Dress cover by Mike McMahon of a Lawmaster riding JD heading into the Cursed Earth… Drokk!
Pen and Ink wizard Brian Bolland used this perspective to good use back then also.
As Tharg would say: Zarjaz!
Posted in Graphics, Motorcycle Art, Superhero |
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August 31, 2013
Don took his power and skills further afield: The Alps, Himalayas, Patagonia. Again putting up inspiring first ascents on difficult lines that stymied his contemporaries.
I’ve posted a similar image before, but here it is a a different light. A late fifties shot of Triumph Tiger pilot Whillans and pillion Chris Bonington setting off for an attempt on the notorious Eigerwand.
This is recreated in the eighties about the same time as yesterdays posts subject. Both travel worn and aged but still a twinkle in their eyes.
Here’s Don & Chris in the Alps at the Central Pillar of Freney, a severe rock face high up on the Mont Blanc massif.
Exploits took him to the South Face of Annapurna.
And Karakoram…
He developed mountaineering equipment: the expedition box tent, Whillans climbing harness. A background as a plumber not only strengthened forearms..
This image epitomizes his later years. An ’81 expedition to Gangotri – the ubiquitous monsoon season brolly strapped to his Adidas bag and approaching rake-thin yogi set the scene for one of Don’s tales:
Whillans rounded a bend and stood face to face with a mysterious Indian in a large turban. As was customary, the Indian held out his hand to receive a contribution. “Hmm, are you on some sort of sponsored walk?” asked Whillans and shook the surprised man’s hand.
What a place to sit with a brew, smoking a fag after a good day on the mountain… A deepening shadow in the Chamonix valley and the Aiguille Rouges deepening in color of an Alpine sunset.
Though my favorite tale is this one while participating in the 1972 European Everest Expedition. The atmosphere was not the best among the various nationalities, no one wanted to carry loads because everyone was saving himself for a possible summit attempt. The German climbers heard on the radio that England had lost a soccer game to Germany. The conversation went “It seems that we have beaten you in your national sport”, said a proud German to Don. After a minimal pause Don replied “Aye lad, and we’ve beaten you at yours, twice.”
Posted in Photography, Superhero, Travel, Triumph Motorcycle |
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August 30, 2013
“Is that to protect yer head or to keep yer fag dry?” Quips the great Joe Brown to a rope-wound motorcyclist as he dismounts from a damp ride along the craggy mountain bound Llanberis Pass in North Wales.
The dour response in straight Mancunian: “me fag!”. This is none other than climbing Legend Don Whillans. These are captured scenes from a recently unearthed documentary from 1985 capturing Don’s last climb.
There are some well filmed shots of the road up the ‘Pass’ . Don ever the motorcyclist winds his way along smoothly on a Kawasaki 440 twin.
Coming to a halt in the layby below the imposing open-booked corner of Dinas Gromlech he meets up with his climbing partner of decades before and that day, Brown. His blue Belstaff jacket will have seen many damp miles across Northern England.
Whereas Joe cuts a lithe figure for his, at the time, mid-fifties; Don is a heftier, pot-bellied, mountain of his younger and doughty youth. Back in the day they were a force to be reckoned with putting up the hardest routes, still test pieces to aspiring hard climbers, considering they climbed with rudimentary gear: hemp rope, M&S plimsols and sack loads of working mans bottle.
The climb they were retracing that day was the steep crack system called Cemetery Gates, graded E1 5b (E for extremely severe).
Joe strolled up it in fine style as leader, however Don needed a few tugs of the rope as second to help his 14 stone figure up the crag. He died two months after this was filmed at the age of 52. The Nepali Sherpas called him Tiger; he’s also been known as The Villain. Nevertheless he was the climbers climber.
Whillans Last Climb
Posted in Film and TV, Kawasaki, Superhero |
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August 28, 2013
Today marks half a century since Dr Martin Luther King Jr. gave his inspiring speech on the pursuit of happiness to a quarter of a million strong crowd gathered in DC from all corners of the ‘States.
Well… At that time there was another Dream hitting the roads of the Nation: Hondas 305cc twin that gave a new level of reliable easy and fun transport. Not quite red, white and blue… But near enough!
As a side note a Dream was the moto Robert M. Pirsig rode, subsequently enabling his classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to be written. I think we’ll cover those philosophical meandering about the pursuit of quality another time.
Posted in History, Honda, Superhero |
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May 28, 2013
Uncle Sam’s newest member! I’m a citizen of the good ole U S of A. I know there’s the well know Captain America chopper used to wonderful effect in Easy Rider; well here’s the Brit equivalent. A gaudy Triumph Bonneville complete with spangled tank.
To fill out the story appropriately he’s the Capt’n himself…
Posted in Superhero, Triumph Bonneville |
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May 10, 2013
POW! Found one at last! The Original TV series Batman, Adam West here seen riding a Triumph Bonneville. Bat Bike…
Quite the look! However I think a dark blue/black would have been a better color to go with the flowing cape.
Nanananananananananananananananananana……BATMAN!
Posted in 60's, Film and TV, Graphics, Superhero, Triumph Bonneville |
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April 3, 2013
Riders for Health is an international social enterprise. They manage and maintain vehicles for health-focused partners in sub-Saharan Africa. An expertise in transport management enables health workers to deliver vital health care to rural communities on a reliable and cost-effective basis. http://www.riders.org
Riders for Health manages over 1,400 motorcycles, ambulances and other four-wheel vehicles used in the delivery of health care in seven countries across Africa.
Their Vision: world in which health care reaches everyone, everywhere.
Their Mission: to make the ‘last mile’ the most important mile in health care delivery: creating, showing and sharing the solutions for achieving truly equitable health care.
Mobilizing Health Workers: There are not enough health workers to provide vital services to communities across rural Africa. However, with Riders for Health’s managed transport systems, outreach health workers can increase their productivity and coverage.
The majority of health professionals mobilized by Riders in Africa are outreach health workers, who are responsible for traveling to rural communities and providing services such as health education, disease surveillance, immunizations, maternal and child health services and HIV counselling.
Often the most effective form of transport for these health workers is the motorcycle which is cheaper to run than a four-wheeled vehicle and can cover more challenging terrain.
Riders has 20 years’ experience managing and maintaining motorcycles used by outreach health workers and understands the challenges they face. We understand how critical their role is and how important it is that they can reach their communities regularly and predictably.
An estimated 2.9 million extra people each year have interactions with health workers due to the health worker having a Riders-managed motorcycle.
Excerpts from RFH website. This is truly a worthwhile cause that has been carefully thought out in effective execution allowing many to be reached by a few. And that could make a difference for some.
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January 16, 2013
Earlier this week I managed to watch the new Dredd movie outing: this one with the appropriately stoney faced Karl Urban (Eomer of LotR) as the man with the badge. It was a grim, ultraviolent tale of a dystopian future Mega City with a population on the edge. They kept the story tight to limit the characters background explanations; concentrating the story on a City-Block drug bust. There was some good Lawmaster riding action on the streets too: his single sided swingarm ride could chase down the worst of ’em. One aspect of the film was the use of Carlos Ezquerra’s original vision of JD, a lean, mean lawman who isn’t to be messed with. No eagle shoulder patch, but that seemed kinda superfluous anyway. Cassie Anderson as a rookie on her street assessment added good depth; especially with her psychic abilities.
Great Stuff!
Posted in 70's, Film and TV, Motorcycle Art, Superhero, Uncategorized |
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September 17, 2012
And you’d better believe it! At last! What seems by first impressions to be a proper film interpretation of Ol’ Stoney Face himself. None other than Judge Dredd. (this has got NOTHING to do with the Stallone debacle from twenty years ago; that must vanish into movie limbo). Karl Urban plays the lawman with a tough gruffness befitting the surly character created nearly 35 years ago by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. The Lawmaster bike looks correct befitting these law enforcers of Mega City One.
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June 7, 2012
You can keep yer Krypton might; do away with Spidey-web; and Bats? Schmatz! Here’s Captain Triumph to the rescue! A little Teutonic in appearance, but a tough boot ready for any villainous ne’er-do-well’s out there to be stomped on.
And a ride? He needs an over styled, over bored, lump of a moto with sweeping Art Deco lines such as the titular manufacturers latest offering Thunderbird Storm.
Posted in Motorcycle Art, Superhero |
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January 17, 2012
Today is the 70th birthday of Mohammed Ali: The Greatest. A search for him riding a motorcycle finds this lone shot with him atop a somewhat diminutive moto. He still keeps his cool though.
In fact it was two wheels that started his journey to icon-hood. At age 12 he wanted to “whup” a bicycle thief; the police told him he should learn to box first. The rest is legend!
Another great moment in boxing history is his early bout with Our ‘Enery, Sir Henry Cooper 1934-2011, in 1963. Although the fight was suspended due to a cut on Henry’s eye, in the fourth round Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, was knocked to the canvas with a clout from ‘Enery’s ‘Ammer.
Posted in 60's, Superhero, Uncategorized |
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January 7, 2012
It’s been a year since a crazed gunman opened fire in a public space in Arizona, killing several and severely injuring Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It’ll be along road to recovery; but she has an adventurous spirit as seen here on her many bikes over time. Racing, scootering and travelling. The open road surely beckons for this Superwoman.
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July 1, 2011
The Thompson Twins and Snowy take fright as our intrepid hero de jour takes flight on his motorcycle.
There’s a good chance he’s astride a Terrot, the makers of the Gallic ‘cycle brand that was based in Dijon. Here’s a 1930 model the 350cc HST
Note: Hergé was the pen name of Georges Prosper Remi, writer and artist (1907-83) his name being his initials backwards RG in french of course!
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