Kinky Boots | As Patrick Macnee (John Steed) & Honor Blackman (Cathy Gale) sang back in 1964:
“Full length, half length,
Fully fashion calf length,
Brown boots, black boots,
Patent leather jackboots,
Low boots, high boots,
Lovely lanky thigh boot,
We all dig those boots..”
Nice Trident & Commando too!
Miniature Portrait- Before the advent of photography people would have a small painting of their loved one prepared and mounted in a suitable pendant. Here is someone’s rendition of a Triumph Trident T160.
Three lumps please pet. Here’s a splendid cafe hybrid set up in the grandest of traditional style. A three cylinder Trident shoehorned into a Norton featherbed frame. Ray gun silencers, rear-sets, clip-one, alloy rimmed 19″ wheels and a muckle tank. The stern looking owner looks the part too! Leather vest badged like some knights chainmail armour. The white silk scarf completes the cafe racer ensemble to grand effect. I bet this machine can move!
Passage of Time – I’ve decided to clean up this blog a bit. By subscribing to the WordPress platform I eliminate the daft ads that appear at the bottom of the page and get a dedicated address. Put it in yer favorites for an occasional dabble down the rabbit hole of the 2,800 or so posts… that eight years worth…
Look out for further improvements in the New Year!
Chopper Wednesday – stretched and wrung out: these Brit iron have been chopped into next week. Including a rosy red hardtail Trident with double decker headlight and stepped king and queen seat, as well as a ape hangered Bonnie with taller than an elephants eye sissy bar seat with quilt buttoned saddlework. The Norton in the lower right frame could be restored to original fairly easily but you’d be brave to keep the flamed tank.
Easy Rider? Sure ask Captain America for directions!
When Two is Three – more paired motorcycling capers with a couple zooming along aboard an early BSA Rocket Three. The anorak jacket emblazoned with the marque logo gives the image period quality.
Road Racer – sharp corners and hard stone walls. It’s the TT circuit on Man’s Island in the Irish Sea. This is none other than the Kirmo Kid Guy Martin taking a Triumph Trident through its paces under leaden skies.
Rocket Three B&W – seem better days and in need of TLC; this 1970 BSA Triple is languishing at Ed Zender’s. A decent project for some unsuspecting soul willing to trade sanity for the chance to own a fairly rare motorcycle.
Hurricane – in an attempt to win over a flagging US customer Triumph and BSA employed industrial designer Craig Vetter to create bodywork for the new and fast triple that would appeal to the American market. Though a BSA Rocket Three at heart, by the time the X75 was released it was emblazoned with a Triumph badge. The deep orange with yellow swoosh are inspired with an hourglass shape that provides a sexy line to this muscle of a motorbike. Triple stacked silencers on the timing size are keenly futuristic. This example was built by Ed Zender for a customer. He says it runs well with a powerful and tight power unit. In the sun it’s a sublime example of a special British motorcycle.
A Full Head of Steam – Fill the boiler, stoke the fires, crank the flywheel, spin the governor. The Age of Steam Power fed the Industrial Revolution the explosion of society that would eventually become modern times. Some inventive folk like to adorn Victorian garb and assume an air of a contemporary age still driven under James Watt’s engines. Steampunk! Here’s a custom Triumph Triple set up as as if it were a 19th Century era Motorcycle.
The Mother Road – beautiful crisp graphic art by Antonio Ortega showing a MotoGirl sitting recumbent on her speeding triple. A lucky cat sits contentedly at pillion. All is Good in the World.
Rayguns – the signature exhaust mufflers of Triumph’s T150 sounded a heraldic trumpet to other bikers as the Trident hared past them.
Very seventies photography with blurring focus and a hint of movement during exposure.
Specifications
Make Model
Triumph Trident T150 750
Year
1968 – 70
Engine
Tansverse three cylinder, pushrod OHV, 2 valves per cylinder
Capacity
741 cc / 45.2 cu in
Bore x Stroke
67 x 70.5 mm
Compression Ratio
9.0:1
Cooling
Air cooled
Lubrication
Dry sump
Induction
3 x 26 mm Amal MK1 carburetors
Ignition
Individual points & coils
Starting
Kick
Max Power
58 hp @ 7250 rpm
Transmission
4 Speed, constant mesh
Final Drive
Chain
Gear Ratios
1st 13.00 / 2nd 9.00 / 3rd 6.64 / 4th 5.26:1
Frame
Single downtube, duplex cradle
Front
Telescopic fork, hydraulic
Rear
Swingarm, dual shocks
F Brakes
8 in TLS drum
R Brakes
7 in TLS drum
Front Tyre
3.25-19, Dunlop K70
Rear Tyre
4.10-19, Dunlop K70
Dimensions
Length: 86.0 in
Width: 33.0 in
Height: 43.5 in
Wheelbase
56.3 in
Ground Clearance
6.5 in
Seat Height
32 in
Dry Weight
460 lbs
Fuel
5.0 US gal / 4.2 Imp gal
Top Speed
105 mph
Dr Jekyll – the beast within. Specialist motorcycle performance component guru Norman Hyde has a solid history in making Triumph run quicker and faster. Under the tutelage of Doug Hele at the Triumph Racing Development Department he cut his teeth on making Bonneville’s and Tridents go like the clappers. Records were made on the drag strips with his meticulously engineered machines. Norman looks rather dapper in his weskit & jaiket astride a newer Bonneville for which he’s developed many performance parts.
My Bonneville has Norman Hyde rearsets and clubman handlebars… well, I think it goes quicker…
