I was watching a couple of episodes of the classic comedy Blackadder; two of the characters being played by the duo Stephen Fry and Hugh Lawrie, both known at sometime or other as bikers. Hugh is a known Triumph owner and active rider (see previous article) and Stephen a onetime city rider. I found this superb early shot of the pair aboard The Sunbeam S7. A beautiful longitudinal twin with double swoop exhaust pipes on one side.
Go on: “Rise and Shine!”
…when those four are on the corners of a smasher of a sports car from the seventies. In this case the unparalleled Triumph TR6 the young sibling of earlier raceworthy greats like the TR2 or alternative cousin to the sweetlined, albeit underpowered, Spitfire. The inline 2.5l six gave oomph enough for a spirited drive around the countryside. The proportion of the square jawed body with large wheels designed by the German Karmann house gave this sportster a fresh and desirable look for any respectable driving glove-clad, tweed cap wearing ‘autophile’. Indeed the sparse dashboard provides the road-pilots cockpit; backed with wood and instrumented by Smiths.
Nope it’s not Gordon Gekkos new money driven mantra, but a tasty as apple-pie Kawasaki Ninja 650. Team Green’s current midweight racer fits the bill for fun: the parallel twin being a true modern incarnation of our Trumpet Bonny. This thing looks perfect for the city, the twisters and perhaps a long distance haul or two. The colour is spot on too! I saw this brand spanking new one on the way to work today; it’s exhaust still pinging from an early morning run.
The actor Joseph Fiennes takes on a moody bikers attitude with this Triumph Scrambler. A cool cucumber but needs an adventure or two on the open, and probably bumpy, road before he can attain a sublime worldliness like his cousin the great Ran Fiennes.
“Yield not thy neck to fortune’s yoke, but let thy dauntless mind still ride in Triumph over all mischance.” William Shakespeare
The Central Line takes electron passengers from Battery to Earth; meanwhile on The Northern Line some passengers are mad they’ve been redirected to the District so then the lights go off on the Piccadilly line…
This coloured schematic of the wiring typically seen in a British Moto reminds me of the classic graphic map used on The London Underground.
I may as well just take the bus; where is a Routemaster when you need one!
Hell’s Thunderbird! Our chef with attitude Gordon Ramsey heads into the wind trying to boil off his pent up anger stirring his soups and sauces. The 1600cc Thunderbird his ride.
Another look again at that Norton ES2 seen at the weekend. This candy sweet little number has received a careful restoration to the nut and bolt. A half liter cracker.
The cherry-pie a la mode colour scheme gives a period appearance further enhanced by the polished chrome and powdercoated mudguards and primary cover.
Even the tank badge with stylish knee grip pads, spear motif and a hint of art deco receive the designers attention. Suitably smashing!
A particular view of the Beeza seen at the bike show yesterday exposes its classics feminine shape. A narrow waist accentuates a rounded derrière, complete with ace of spades embossed ‘tramp stamp’ and the busty tank.
36-24-36 to some…
Tribsaton: the wholly trinity of Brit Iron. Here’s a nice line-up seen earlier today at Ace Motorcycle & Scooter’s Rocker Reunion. A well ridden BSA A65, a 90’s Triumph Sport, and a truly scrumptious Norton Slimline ES2.
4G or nor for gee: the latest advertising ploy of T-Mobile (my phone carrier) is the leather-clad Ducati ridin’ lass speeding at a blistering pace past a blue trimmed Triumph Bonneville. A slow-mo replay shows her winking and peace-signing the ‘lowly’ Trumpet rider before speeding off. Yup, I’d take the Duc, though not pink, but like the look of the 4 decade old moto. You gotta remember that bike came from an age of rotary ‘phones, telegrams and letterwriting. Slower yes, but not necessarily worse times.
Electricity. Hellectricity! In researching the further renovation of the wiring on the Bonnie. The current Lucas switchgear, of original provenance, may be the source of power loss. Old connections as well as uninsured switches. The later models actually used a single switch for indicators, dip and horn. Here it is and is available as a new item. Slowly but surely we’ll get there…
Looking’ forward to the Saturday event and peering over a number of classic bikes and chatting to their owners. Music and food on offer too.
This summer sees several events for the Chicago Cafe, Mods and Rocker scene. Based through Ace Motorcycle & Scooter down in the City, there are gatherings, evening meets at some pubs and general moto-antics. This coming weekend sees a biker reunion and bike show at Ace; however I don’t think the old Bonnie will be ready for a trip.
Today on Craigslist is this sublime late nineties Triumph Adventurer tweaked with Sport model upgrades to create a superb cafe creation. Those double single-side mufflers would shout the triples rumble with baritone noise. $4200 obo and she’s yours!
Come back NikolaTesla all is forgiven! More electron flowing misadventures on the bike… After picking it up from its temporary stash location in Glencoe (again many thanks to Dean Rennie and his Ford Ranger) and bringing it back to Chicago for vitals diagnosis; Well after three hours of twiddling with connectors and wiring still no even power. I had the indicators and headlight flashing as if trying to land a Wellington bomber! The battery is being sucked to 3 volts by some bottomless short-circuit where the electron flow is spitballing to a whirlpool of blackness ( ha Lucas the Lord of Darkness strikes!)
geordiebiker.com 