Just what you need to get into the top end so that the tappets can be adjusted: Little Fingers! This little feller is quite interested in this propped-up pre-unit Triumph engine; better than a pile of blocks or soft toys. I believe there are photos of me with such a cap and similar ‘harness’. As a lad I would have been into this thing quicker than you can pick up a screwdriver and monkey wrench.
The speculators made their money on the blood you shed
Your momma’s pulled the sheets up off your bed
Profiteers on James Street sold your shoes and clothes
Ain’t nobody talkin’ because everybody knows
We pulled your cycle up back the garage and polished up the chrome
Our gypsy biker coming home
Sister Mary sits with your colors, but Johnny’s drunk and gone
This old town’s been rousted, which side you on?
They would march up over the hill, this old fools parade
Shouting victory for the righteous for you must hear the grace
Ain’t nobody talkin’, but just waiting on the phone
Gypsy biker coming home
Whoa!
We rode into the foothills, Bobby brought the gasoline
We stood around the circle as she lit up the ravine
The spring hot desert wind rushed down on us all the way back home
To the dead, well it don’t matter much ’bout who’s wrong or right
You asked me that question, I didn’t get it right
You slipped into your darkness, now all that remains
Is my love for you brother, life’s still unchanged
To him that threw you away, you ain’t nothing but gone
My gypsy biker’s coming home
And now I’m out countin’ white lines
Countin’ white lines and getting stoned
My gypsy biker’s coming home
Whoa!
The Boss
Wool, needles and some clicketty clacking… People looking for a hobby to do whilst watching TV or gabbing with a formed knitting group could do a lot worse than picking up this cardigan pattern and casting on to create these moto based creations. The front model is definitely boasting a Triumph on his derriere.
With a chilly winter ahead one thing that could be useful is the old ski cap.. Here Norwegian pattern with cycle motif…
But hey if you want to be stylin’ with the transport cafe crowd you need to be adorned in this ebony yarned Aran biker jacket….
Cable stitching to wipe oily mitts on …
Peter O’Toole (1932-2013) – the last of the original pot war actor rebels who knew how to drink and regale like the best of ’em (and that includes Button, Harris, Reed and other imbibous gents of the theater) . he made his name as The Only True TE Lawrence in one of the most magnificent cinematic outings: Lawrence of Arabia.
As we all know Larry met his end one of the bucolic country lanes near his countryside escape at Clouds Hill near Wareham Dorset. The film opens with this scene the retreats to his middle eastern endeavors during the Great War.
The motorcycle was the Brought Superior SS100, ride of voice by TEL.
Here’s our Bristol Old Vic pal Peter cutting a dashing figure as always on one for some movie promotion.
Here’s Larry on (one of) his bikes…
Smashing film about a situation that we’re still seeing the heavy ripples from that time. O’Toole is outstanding in this most perfect of roles. A giant until the end.
…motorcycle units manufactured per year by Hinckley Triumph. That’s as they enter their third decade or reemergence from the seventies implosion. Here’s a well written article from the Leicester Mercury from 12th December:
“Triumph Motorcycles has sold more than 50,000 bikes in a year for the first time since the brand’s rebirth three decades ago. The Hinckley company, bought out of liquidation in 1983 by builder John Bloor, shifted 52,089 bikes in its last financial year, up from 48,957 in the previous 12 months. The 111-year-old marque also made a record turnover of £368 million for the year to June 30, up 7.6 per cent on the previous 12 months.
However, Triumph made a £95,000 operating loss in the same period, down from a £15 million operating profit. Bosses blamed the deficit on foreign currency changes and the cost of setting up major operations in India and Brazil.
They said sales from the firm’s three Thailand factories totaled £225.5 million, accounting for 61 per cent of Triumph’s overall turnover. It was previously 54 per cent. The proportion of bikes sold outside the UK rose from 84.9 per cent to 85.8 per cent.
The company retained its title as the UK’s leading big bike manufacturer. The marque sells 24 models, including the Bonneville and Street Triple.
A Triumph spokesman said the operating loss was in line with expectations.
“Triumph Motorcycles has achieved a record turnover, reflecting a rise in unit sales,” he said. “During the 12 months to November, the company’s global share of the 500cc and above market has increased to 6 per cent from 5.7 per cent.
“In the UK, Triumph has continued to maintain its market position as the UK’s top seller of motorcycles in the 500cc and above market in 2013, retaining a 20 per cent market share.
“The marque has also captured a 3.4 per cent share in Brazil in its first year trading in the 500cc and above market.”
Triumph’s latest financial figures were revealed in documents filed with Companies’ House by Bloor Holdings, of Measham, which owns both Triumph and house-builder Bloor Homes. The house-building business made an operating profit of £38 million for the year to June 30, up 19 per cent. Turnover was £378 million, up from £373 million. A 5 per cent rise in house prices helped offset a 5.1 per cent fall in the number of houses built, which totaled 1,908.
Triumph opened an assembly plant in Brazil this year and has just opened a plant in Manesar, in the north Indian state of Haryana. The motorcycle maker, founded in Coventry in the late 19th century, plans to enter more emerging markets, including China and Indonesia.”
Onwards and Upwards:
The 150cc Triumph Terrier T15 was the smaller precursor to the Tiger Cub, a very similar layout and details with the odd crossover part. Here’s an aged cutaway demonstration engine with innards exposed to see how parts mesh into a machine for go. It take a mechanical understanding of the machine at hand to chop it into an assembled whole with holes…
This is fairly handy for my ensuing needs while reassembling the Cub. This grubby, ‘shelved’ display sure could use a good restoration. Itcsold on the UK eBay for £1,000.
I’ve been revisiting the movies of French filmmaker Jaques Tati. His inventive visual comedic pieces all hold revered places in the doyens of cinematography. The last one he made was Traffic; where our intrepid pip’d protagonist Monsieur Hulot take a camping car to a car show in Amsterdam.
The posters are very evocative of the film style of the period.
His perched stance with exposed stripey socks, hat, brolly and the aforementioned pipe is classic.
One scene saw a young dutch lad roar up to his parents house on a super clean Triumph.
Hulot is trying to fix the ivy on the house by climbing up it and ending trapped upside down whilst our young bloke Paul makes a leery pass at Marie another traveler on the road trip.
The dutch fella looks kind of like a creepy Van Gogh close up; and Marie thinks likewise…
Hulot is seen behind hanging quietly. His only disturbance to the stymied scene is the occasional ‘franc ou clé’ from his pockets…
An old airbrushed promo shot of a Tiger Cub looking light and speedy with a streamlined form akin to its big brother 650 twin Bonneville. Black and silver with the grey-blue background look timeless fifties.
Another view of the Kit Cat Cub. The timing side this time and some more details in evidence. Open frame with the oil taken by the main down tube. Nice skinny big hoop on the front and doughty shoe out back with plenty of travel on those rear shocks. No seat? Of course trials are carried out standing up. I’m ticking my way through the factory parts manual and the list of parts still to acquire seems to be growing! Yes it’s a pocket watch of a moto but the inner workings are still complex…
The Top Cat Cub as built by Charles who otherwise specializes in BSA “Otters” a special oil in framed B40 lightened and set up for pre 65 observed trials. www.bsaotter.com
A great resource for other off road shenanigans.
Like this blue frame article though. It uses an Electrex ignition which is probably the way I’ll go with my Cubby.
During research for a suitable ignition system for the Cub restoration I navigate the Boyer Bransden website. They’re known for a broad range of electronic ignitions for vintage points and distributor motorcycles and cars. In their gallery I spied a nice trials Cub owned by Julie from Leicestershire.
There are some good details I can hopefully use on my restoration. It’s a nifty looking machine.
” There are things known
and there are things unknown
and in between are the doors.”
Jim Morrison 1943-1971
The Lizard King would have been 70 today; His poetical lyrics from the late sixties gave voice to a generation of disillusioned youth.
However a downward spiral of booze and drugs ended in a small apartment down by the Seine.
He did own a motorcycle though: a CL77 305cc Honda Scrambler.
It was appropriately painted amphibian green with Californian pin striping like some Con Dutch special.
The Scrambler model really is a nice looking moto still today. The high pipes give it an urban adventurer appearance.
Wall of Death! Pillion here sits across the handle bars with no hands as the captain of the near vertical centrifugal escapade takes his steed up to the perimeter advertising banner. Round and round she goes! This is a Two-Wheeled skill that requires years of practice including setting up and breaking down the wooden walls. Confidence inspiring pairing here!
We had Prince Wills recently seated ably aboard a Daytona at the Motorcycle Live show a few days ago… Here’s more in the British fold with him trying a Metisse special.
Looks like he needs one for the Royal Estate.
Here’s a classic shot of our man McQueen showing how to handle one of these machines. Air below you and dirt below that.
One item presented to The Duke of Cambridge was a sit-on motorbike for wee Prince Geordie for when he gains a few more pounds and finds his feet. This is all good for the promotion of two wheeled mobility in Blighty!
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the Triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Nelson Mandela (1918 -2013)
geordiebiker.com 