The great Gary Nixon taking a smoke break between races in June ’68. Big tanked Triumph with a big fat number one on the sharp end. It’s a 500cc being tuned by Clifford Guild. Track is Loudon NH
“Got a light pal?”
Striped Cat
Feline Beast: Triumphs big cat sure looks the part in striped gold. Whiskered growl in its triple powerplant and decent claws to bite a roadway. Big set of panniers, heated grips, tall saddle: ready for a jaunt through the sub-continent or a saunter amongst suburban traffic. ($2,800 currently on Craigslist)
“The Tiger goes from strength to strength!”
Dr Jekyll…
1988 saw Norman Hyde bring forth his reframed twin and triple Triumphs to speed stably along the motorways of Thatchers Britain. Good tyres, good brakes, better engine balance and a whiff of fine engineering and the Harrier was born.
Good on the track too; its prowess derived from a knowledge of running the triple racers in the early sixties.
The newer Hinckley version is a fettled brute. Keep your Thruxton I’ll take one of these sir!
sláinte
Beck’s is all Highland cool now with his own designer label whisky which glugs from an oversized azure aftershave bottle being slugged by a bevy of oh-so pretty rich Mac-yuppies.
The Guy Richie directed mini-film shows off the lochs, glens and castles to beautiful effect and our lad David has a nimble little Triumph to cavort over the heather.
“William Wallace whur are ye!”
Three: That’s the Magic Number
Three Triples lined up: white, green & black. Like some dollar bill waiting to be spent.
Schoolhouse Rocks
Written by Blind Melon
Three is a magic number
Ya it is, it’s a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You’ll get three
As a magic number
The past, the present, the future,
Faith, and hope, and charity,
The heart, the brain, the body,
Will give you three,
It’s a magic number
It takes three legs to make a tripod or to make a table stand,
And it takes three wheels to make a vehicle called a tricycle
And every triangle has three corners,
Every triangle has three sides,
No more, no less,
You don’t have to guess
That it’s three
Can’t you see?
It’s a magic number
A man and a woman had a little baby
Yeah they did
And there were three in the family
And that’s a magic number
All that is Gold does not Glitter
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Caped Skeleton Freak
Longevity
Hmm… Not to sure about this with the shenanigans going on at Meriden in the seventies. I believe they weren’t spending enough time on them; with components manufactured with aged tools, worn factory conditions and a workforce unsupported by the company or government.
If only they had heeded their own words!
S.G.
Freewheelin’
Goli U Sedlu
TR_UMP_
i was in a store today and the cashier did a double take with my Triumph tShirt.hey it was casual Friday! Anyway, he thought it said Trump.
Negatory! He doesn’t have a corner in the two wheeled crowd. Well looking him up you see that he did have a audio poser shot of him leather clad astride a Harley Davidson.
As well as with the Teutel family who built a gilded chopper with his name machined into the cases.
Well; I’ll tell you something! He AIN’T no presidential material!
Dolly
A late sixties Triumph is used as the grips transport. Here during the climax chase scene in the 1968 Clint Eastwood film Coogans Bluff.
Don astound as the antagonist is on the dolly bike, whilst Clint takes the shiny Bonnie. Director Don Siegle went on to make the Dirty Harry movies as well as Escape from Alcatraz.
Here’s the actual scene. Filmed at Fort Tryon Park at the north end of Manhattan. Cool stuff!
Hump Day
As ungulates go the Camelus dromedarius is one of the most widespread humped animals used to swiftly haul goods and belongings across the desert regions of the globe. Dromadary Camel literally means “fast beast of burden”.
Triumph has a similar even toed steed in the Triumph Tiger Explorer. The fully kitted 1200 is a sturdy brute waiting for a nomad to take places.
Tigris triumphantii
After Linnaeus, 2015












