Adorning a tight blue lycra jumpsuit and star spangled helmet and dark goggles we see Diane Prince’s Amazonian good defending heroine chasing some enemy of truth and justice. Red boots finish the look. She’s riding a diminutive Kawasaki 100cc trial bike. Well it beats the invisible aircraft…
As has previously been shown, superheros must also be available to the kids, here a Wonder Woman on Motorcycle toy. She has fairly burly arms ~ so I wouldn’t mess with her…
A clear skied Sunday afternoon beckoned me ou on the Triumph. I kicked her over and roared up Sheridan Road along the Northshore suburbs of Chicago. Still a few things to iron out with the new controls; but overall the bike ran well and the engine purred.
…and Hilts, the Cooler King. Taking on the Germans in his famous motorcycle escape in my favourite film. An ensemble cast topped by the great Steve McQueen.
Family outings aboard two wheeled transport; let’s take Granny along too! Idyllic Edwardian times for early Coventry built machines.
Mother and daughter can come along too. Sidesaddle and cross bar comfort! Flat cap and goggles complete period look; Harris tweed the early bikers gard. Classic stuff!
Every few years another of the items from the collection of Steve McQueen becomes available. Recently his wax cotton Belstaff jacket from the ISDT was sold for several tens of thousands. This year a motocross is up for sale. A 400cc Husqvarna that rode in the Elsinore, as seen on the great documentary On Any Sunday, as well as adorning the cover of Sports Illustrated. The bids will commence and a hammer fall on no doubt a hefty winning bid on May 14th in Carmel CA, Bonhams will carry out the auction.
From http://www.triumphbonneville.com/ – a site dedicated to the T140 and TR7:
“The best lap could be around the 103mph mark” predicted Paul Dunstall, for whom Ray Pickrell had put in a storming circuit of the 37.73 mile course at 99.39mph on a Norton twin, but Dunstall’s favourite was Triumph’s Malcolm Uphill,on a 60bhp 650cc Triumph Bonneville…
The production TT introduced in 1967 was no reprise of the worthy but often dull Clubman’s races. Rider’s were top names and engines were tuned to last for the three laps it would take to boost sales and prestige for the coming season. British Manufacturers might have lost the battle for the smaller capacity classes, but big twins like the Commando and the Bonneville were still competitive on the track and in the showroom.
Uphill ignored the pressure and still likes to recall how he eased off once he was sure of a win.
“The 100mph lap didn’t mean much to me at the time”, he says. Far more important was the £50 prize, £70 in trade bonuses and the £300 Triumph Bonneville MAC232E-his fee from Meriden.
Hunched well forward on the howling twin,pudding basin hemet bobbing above the steering head, Uphill flew through the speed trap at the highlander pub at just under 135mph. His standing start at 100.09mph looked effortless until spectators realised the scraping sound was Malcolm cornering on the Dunlop K81’s until his fairing touched the road. A faster second lap and a ton plus race average looked certain until this cool professional throttled back to finish with 99.99mph. It was the Bonnevilles finest hour,and a feat immortalised by Dunlop on the sidewall of every K81 the ‘TT100’.
As well as the Thruxton 500 in 1969 he also dominated the NW200 road race in Northern Ireland.
Fantastic shot of him at speed, classic lines of the Triumph blurs the scenery.
Just love this picture, the wind blowing through the lions mane is priceless; not sure what the bike is, sometimes the light but powerful Triumphs were put into action on these motordromes.
Here’s another selection of the various methods through time to propote the prowess of a Triumph motorcycle…
…first off, sea, sand, seagulls and…
One great biker, or rather sidecar driver, is Wallace, who, along with his trusty sidekick pup Gromit get up to all sorts of adventures on their red Triumph hack. One imaginative modelmaker has taken the idea to represent our top motorcyclist hero Steve McQueen in his most noted bike scene, the Great Escape fence jump, and applied an Aardman appearance to him. More cheese Gromit?
The updates to the bike have been taking shape over the winter. The bars have been swapped out for a pair of M-bars, a shape developed to work specifically with the 70’s steering triple tree where clubmans won’t fit. These are from Norman Hyde in England; he specializes in upgrades for both Meriden and Hinckley Triumphs. Also from NH are a pair or rearsets, these change footing position with well manufactured cast aluminium plates and gear and brake levers. There was some fanagling with the fitting points as these were developed for the pre oil in frame unit models. There is still some tweaking with the fine adjustements and mounting to ensure the kick start lever swings cleanly, the gear change pivots correctly and rear brake rod arm levers well.
The tank was repainted to include a Gulf decal, adding to the Le Mans theme. Also a narrow nosed seat from a T140V has been included, swapping out the boxier seat that came with the original project bike. New downpipes and long Dunstall mufflers complete the clean, low fast look I’m trying to achieve with this bike.
…looking forward to warm spring days!
More and more bikes are cropping up with the sky blue, orange and navy pinstripe colors of the Gulf Oil scheme. It’s the one previously mentioned in this blog being Steve McQueens Porsche appearance in Le Mans.
Michael Delaney: “A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it… it’s life. Anything that happens before or after… is just waiting.”
Even those who have to save the world see the need to zip about on two wheels when the need arises… yes they have their batcars and such, but any chance to rort after the bad guys with their cape fluttering behind!
Well, growing up there was of course the bike toys to support the DC and Marvel comics and TV shows. The Hulk one seems like a stretch and the Pink Panther drag bike? I remember the cool pink hot rod car, perhaps a custom Pink Panther motorcycle would be a good build.
geordiebiker.com 