Sixties duo of the moment Sonny & Cher were the darlings of love; a clean cut reaction and sober reaction to the acid dazed counterculture. TV acting a politics ensued but that’s another story not to be covered here…. However Mr Bono likes to look cool, especially when not wearing his sheepskin vest… .. Go on kick ‘er over lad!
Watch out for any trees Sonny!
End o’ another week and the weekend is upoan us. So hae a braw time whurever ye are!
A pair o’ lassies on a wee Triumph Cubbie motorbike. Dinnae get yer kilt snagged an thae sprockets!
A combination chairs occupant needs a captain to travel and explore the highway ahead: and I have The Best! It’s our fifteenth anniversary today and we’re enjoying our ‘motorcycle and sidecar’ trip of life.. miles and miles behind and so many more ahead.
We’ve covered The White Helmets display team before: those finely balanced or overladen Triumph riders of the Royal Corps of Signals. Here a few more vintage images of early thrillery . . .
Remember these are motos from the thirties so are lacking in oomph by modern standards (or even 70’s Triumph power) as well as being heavier machines… So some of these exploits need a certain level of daredevil slant.
Flying over the cars to show off gravity defying deeds too.
The wheel swap is a classic though- here caught mid heave. Keep ‘er steady capt’n!
All good stuff but the lads and lasses of The ‘ Signals still keep up their duty at the sharp end of military worldwide action setting up and maintaining critical telecommunications. Usually first in.
Here a pair hare across a Mideast desert…
How to haul a pair of dirt bikes seventies style…Mk III Ford Cortina.
The Kawasaki’s are ready for rural green lane shenanigans. Might need some heavier rear shocks there Harry!
Growing up my pa had a yellow Mk 3. Banana yellow at that! I remember the center console eight-track playing a Simon & Garfunkel cartridge.
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!
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