A young chisel jawed ‘greasy’ biker elopes with his gal at the consternation of her father. It’s obvious she wants the life of the open road, freedom of the skies and the scent of gasoline on her shoes. Ah! Young Love! Even better, it’s in full color glory by the DC comic book creators of the likes of Batman and Superman; they keep good company. Go on! “Have a Fling!”
The singer Pink loves her Triumph Bonneville; seen frequently haring around the LA boulevards duckin & diving from paparazzi. Alecia Beth Moore, as she is also known as, takes the biker look somewhat seriously; engineer boots, open-face with nannini goggles; though a nice leather jacket and at least a pair of gloves is recommended!
Rollie Free stripped down to his bathing trunks to reach 150 mph at The Salt on The Vincent; creating one of the most iconic motorcycle images. Is this a way to achieve speed on a Bonnie 750? This slim gal is assuming so.
…heres the Vincent photo…
…in the quartermaster store (behind the door). Yet ANOTHER “It’s Easy on a Triumph” poster. How many are there? This time some oblivious tar (and his parrot if you look closely!) is heading home on shore leave and tangles in the mooring line thus affecting the berth of his ship.
Blonde on Blonde: slap on a vinyl LP of one of Dylans masterpiece poem/songs and lay back and soak in the words, rasping voice and the images evoked in what some regard as his masterpiece.
“…and these visions of Johanna are now all that remain.”
On 8th August 1970 this factory special Triumph Trident 750cc machine was entered in the 24 hour Bol d’Or endurance race, the last to be held on the historic Montlhéry circuit. The riders were Paul Smart and Tom Dickie who won at an average over 70.50mph, a race distance of 1838 miles, 469 laps, beating their nearest rivals by 9 laps. The riders averaged 20mpg, went through 4 rear chains and broke 1 throttle cable.
I think the headlights of the modern Triumph Triple may hark back to this look. Which gave rise to the streetfighters of the 80’s and early 90’s built from the Suzuki GSXR’s.
Bassist and lead vocalist from the punk group The Stranglers JJ Burnel is a long time motorcyclist; in particular Triumph. Mobbed by fans what better moto to be seen on than a Bonneville!
Here’s an evocative shot taken of the assembly line in the Meriden workshop. The pieces come together to create a machine where the sum greater than the parts. A Golden Age of the British motorcycle industry soon to wane only to re-emerge like a phoenix from the ashes to where it stands as a proud builder of Brit-Motos!
When negotiating the Matrix, Neo’s comrade in arms and love interest Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss), took every opportunity to hare around the virtual world improbably on two wheels. The later movies had her on a Ducati superbike but an earlier scene in the original had her astride a Speed Triple when chasing after Keanu Reeve’s ‘chosen one’ character.
Sheryl Crow knows how to write a good song or two. Here’s a still from her video for the title track from her C’mon, C’mon album.
“Like Steve McQueen
All we need’s a fast machine”
…found one at last! A shot of Elvis Aaron Presley mid-creek with gal on a Triumph. “Stay Away, Joe” is the motion picture; a ’68 comedy starring the Memphis rocker as a Navajo returning to the Reservation; Burgess Meredith plays his father (oh the casting of classic movies!).
“Thankyouverymuchandgoodnight!”
Lookin’ like a Triumph TR6 650cc set up for desert work a la McQueen – was Elvis trying to look like THE King?.
Imagine you’re haring down the A1 in your Aston Martin for a nite-out in the West-End when all of a sudden you see blue flashing lights in your rear mirrors; it’s the Fuzz! Chasing you down on their Triumph ‘Saint’; an upgraded TR7 750cc motorcycle. fairing, tank mounted radio, panniers… “you’re nicked mate!”
These days if you’re spotted at speed in your Beemer on the M3 outside of Brighton, you’re more than likely going to be hailed down with a police atop a late-model Triumph Daytona 675.
A moody Miss Blanchett lookin’ the part ready to rip over the Downs to Brighton. The Triumph grill-badge buckle tops off a “don’t mess with me” attitude. Remember she’s played Dylan so the Triumph provenance is strong. Wotch Out you Mod Guys an’ Gals; Cafe Cate will sort you aht!
The Motorcycle Song
words and music by Arlo Guthrie
CHORUS:
I don’t want a pickle
Just want to ride on my motorsickle
And I don’t want a tickle
‘Cause I’d rather ride on my motorsickle
And I don’t want to die
Just want to ride on my motorcy…cle
It was late last night the other day
I thought I’d go up and see Ray
So l went up and I saw Ray
There was only one thing Ray could say, was:
CHORUS
This song is about the time that I was ridin’ my motorcycle.
Going down a mountain road, at 150 miles an hour, playin’
my guitar. On one side of the mountain road there was a
mountain, and on the other side there was nothin’ – there was
a cliff in the air.
Now, when you’re going down a mountain road at I50 miles
an hour you gotta be very careful, especially if you’re playin’
a guitar. Especially if that guitar is an acoustic guitar.
Because if it’s an acoustic guitar, the wind pressure is greater
on the box side than on the neck side, because there’s
more guitar on the box side. I wasn’t payin’ attention ..
Luckily I didn’t go into the mountain – I went over the cliff.
I was goin’ at 150 miles an hour sideways and 500 feet down
at the same time.
I knew it was the end. I looked down, I said ”Wow! Some
trip”. I thought it…well I knew it was…I knew it was my last
trip, and in my last remaining seconds in world,I decided
to write one last farewell song to the world.
Put a new ink cartridge in my pen. Took out a piece of paper.
I sat back and I thought awhile. Then I started writin’:
I don’t want a pickle
Just want to ride on my motorsickle
And I don’t want a tickle
‘Cause I’d rather ride on my motorsickle
And I don’t want to die
Just want to ride on my motorcy …cle.”
I knew that, it wasn’t the best song l ever wrote, but I didn’t
have time to change it. I was comin’ down mighty fast.
But as you all know, and as fate would have it, I didn’t die. I
landed on the top of a police car. And he died. I drove away
on the road that he was on. I came into town at a screamin’
175 miles an hour, playin’ the motorcycle song.
I came into town, I jumped off my bike, the bike went around
the corner by itself, went up on the stand by itself, turned
itself off.
I walked over to my friend. He was standin’ there eatin’
pickles. I said “Hi, what’s happenin’?” He looked at me in the
eye and said “Nothin'”.
You gotta sing it with that kind of enthusiasm. Like you just
squashed a cop…
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