Autumn weather can be questionable at times… Especially when trying to grab a late season ride. A mix of gray skies, spitting rain with an occasional breath of pale sun followed our short ride north this afternoon.
The bikes were raring to go too; seen here whilst we stop for a warming pumpkin spice latte.
Smiles abound with fall color’d roads though!
Versatile Green Kawasaki: out and about in the South Side this travel worthy Kwak appealed to my senses. Its their middleweight parallel twin 650 with a good upright stance ready for the open road. This owner has added suitable panniers and top box for toting ‘stuff’.
Tall windscreen; big lights, twin disc front stoppers, engine guard, knuckle protectors: just needs a tankful and a tariff destination.
Its actually a nice modern iteration of the Triumph 650 Trophy of the early seventies. Or indeed the short lived, but undersung Triumph TR5T. 500cc trailie
The name Versys is a portmanteau of Versatile System: good name! Eight grand and she’s yours! Not bad!
“Gemacht in Großbritannien” as they spracht in Dusseldorf…
Photography by Tanya Chalkin
Scrambler by Triumph
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.
A seemingly endless collection of classic Triumphs has just been revealed by US collector Robert Sullivan representing a near-perfect history of the British marque’s Meriden production.
The 98-strong fleet contains 26 variants of the TR6 Trophy, 43 different models of the T120 Bonneville; and covers models from every production year between 1936 and 1972.
Built up over the past 21 years it contains a bevy of both original and rare models, including the Tiger, Speed Twin, Trophy and Bonneville.
The collection is recorded in the book: “Ultimate Triumph Collection: One Mans Obsession” Wolfgang Publications.
I wouldn’t know where to start looking… ’57 Thunderbird, ’68 Bonnie….. Or which one to ride!
…motorcycles!
A graphic going around shows this classic diamond warning to car drivers… However the original has a naff bike without rider. I updated it to give it life.
A cafe’d Matchless CSR twin under speed with determined rider was necessary.
The Triumph moto of the day was a 500cc single with three speed belt drive 3 1/2 HP and simple bicycle based frame geometry.
TT for Tourist Trophy as well as Trusty Triumph…
He’s funny, bawdy, insightful, raw; he’s a salty New York comedian Louis C.K. In the first episode of his third series he takes up a motorcycle as transport in the Big Apple: in particular a Triumph Scrambler.
He scratches around the streets of NY but a biker gang approaches him and leads to a wipe-out… he’s back on the saddle later on though..
“So it’s actually smart to ride a motorcycle” he declares when realizes how efficient, affordable and parking friendly motorcycles are…
After the war Bert shoehorned a lawnmower engine into a wheelchair and invented motorized transport for the disabled. The Invacar was born. That’s where that story ends for us… But a two-wheeled one begins: Bert was a keen trials rider so branched into motorcycling. The most notable model being the Challenger. My first experience of it was a Britain’s toy scrambler.
Here it is in the real world…
A green and white dirtroad killer. A 350cc useful tool which when first competed in ’64 won the Terry Cups Trial under the deft handling by Garth Sheldon. They also met success at the ISDT supplying bikes for the ’63 British team in Czechoslovakia.
Greeve’s are noted for their leading links forks; a simple design which when set up with the correct rubber dampers and trail angle seemed to do the trick. Seen here in trials form and balance over a rocky section.
The main reason I’ve been looking at the Greeve’s is its color scheme: the green and white would be a nice one for the Cub project. Even Mini’s of the sixties had this mint and cream look. Nifty!
eBay is a good location for a spot of restoration research: the seller usually posts numerous detail photos of the motorcycle which can be utilized as excellent reference for assembly or ideas for component setup.
Here’s a cute yellow Cub that is in fairly complete trim. This has been listed with a nice selection of the needed views…
Nice dull gray cases; a patina of oily rag polish.
Bolt patterns, spacers; mounting brackets and cable routing. When parts come loose in a box this is essential information.
Also its good to see the little beating heart in slumbering pose.
The top end showing the arterial oil lines feeding the ready to go moving parts. You can nearly hear the ticking of the valves for this diminutive but doughty motor.
Amal: any British vintage bike owner worth their salt gets to know the needles, screws and orifices of the fuel and air blender. More mounting details are exposed. Gas hose routed from the fuel tank to the carb itself.
Oil feed comes from the small tank, a little peep of the oil hoses and exhaust.
Controls now; throttle, clutch lever and bracing to the nice wide bars. Lemondrop tank tarts up the deal.
Triple tree, headlight ears and handlebar mount clamps.
Front and rear for the laced hoops of the wheels. Knobbly rubber to offer grip over tarmac and gravel. One of my next tasks is relacing, so seeing the spoke pattern is handy.
As we’ve said before: the whole is greater than the parts.
Two-Wheeled tiptoes… A perfectly balanced Triumph Tiger Cub in trials form; simple, purposeful, awaiting orders from a deft hand and a stance in sweet equilibrium. Inspirational for the project.
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!
There are some people come and go with out so much as a blip on the public conscious; but their impact is felt way beyond their reach. One such character is Gram Parsons (born Cecil Ingram Connor III). Musician who influenced the “cross pollination” of two very different music genres: country and rock. He rolled in as the lead singer and guitarist of The Byrd’s in the late sixties just as the youth were learning to tune in and drop out. And, of course, motorcycles allowed the freedom of escape; Triumph being at the fore! Mick Jagger and Keith Richards saw his genius and used his melding of country rock to progress their music from their emergent sixties sound to a more mature tune of the seventies.
“Look at him here, he’s wearing a cape! And a Triumph motorcycle T-shirt, smoking pot through a mug, and wearing my mother’s promise ring.” Polly Parsons (daughter)
Photography by Andee Nathanson
Gram went a little too far in ’73 however overdosing on morphine and alcohol in a room at the Joshua Tree Motel CA at the young age of 26.
’52 T100 given a light bobber treatment complete with an appropriate feline grimace for the original Tiger…
It’s for sale too. At $12,500 a hefty price but it is very well detailed to maintain a period appearance worthy of any street drag hound.
The pre unit engine from the mind of Edward Turner looks balanced and purposeful. Sweet in any frame be it a Triumph rigid or Norton featherbed. Here it’s a mechanics jewel.
Driving across the beautiful desert backdropped roads of the Southwest gives me the yearning to come back here and experience the countless miles, uncounted corners and lack of cars along the long stretches between towns.
Though NOT in the summer months!
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