Random Pikchas I Have taken

R.I.P. Sky Saxon

I bought the Seeds first album and Web of Sound sometime around `89 , I don`t think I listened to anything else for the next month , when square people tell you a bands songs all sound the same , it usually means they`re great .
R.I.P. Sky Saxon.

Thanks

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who looks in here , especially those who leave comments , buy or swap stuff or have e.mailed me .
Just wanted to let you know how much it`s appreciated.

Triumphant

Beemer

Why doesn`t this look terrible ?. By rights , it should look like crap , but it doesn`t.

Yeah ,yeah , I know.....

.....you`ve all seen this picture before .
But that bike is so nice ,it has me staring , trying to pick out all the details.

Classic Cycles Inc Triumph

Stole this picture from the excellent Mindpill blog

http://takeyourpillsplease.blogspot.com/

This bike is simple ,classic and classy .

Not so Bonnie

When the new Hinckley Triumph Bonneville first became available , I felt the same way about it as I do about all these Retro re~makes of classic vehicles (Leyland Mini, VW Beetle, Fiat 500 etc. ) , that is , I hated it . When you try to do an updated version of a design people really love , it`s always going to disappoint, because you can`t better the original .
Over time , however , I found myself coming around , the bike is aimed squarely at competing with Harley`s Sportster and from a design point of view it does that very well . It seems to occupy that space in the market for people who want an old bike but don`t want maintenance hassles or to have any more input than bolting on a flyscreen and adding a few stickers . But isn`t this kind of missing the point ? Some old bikes are cool because they`re beautiful , but they`re also cool because it takes dedication to ride one , you have to understand its little flaws , you have to connect with it.
I think the new Triumphs annoy me also , because so many people don`t seem to realise they aren`t connected to Meridan Triumph in any way . I blame the Classic bike mags for this , they all seem to love running features on the new ones , because it attracts the kind of advertisers who will pay top money . This reinforces the idea of a connection between the new company and the old that simply isn`t there.
What I`d really like them to build is a skinny lightweight 500 Twin , the kind of bikethat the old Triumph company built it`s name on , not those overweight bulky Tourer/Commuters they`re building now , they seem to me to be the antithesis of what a Triumph should be.
Anyway , the reason for this rant is , I got overtaken by one of them today , I wound down my van window `cos I could see he had aftermarket pipes on , the exhaust note was somewhere between a diesel truck and a damp fart , now that just ain`t Triumph.

Malarky

Sometimes I wonder what all this hardtail malarky is all about.

Yabba Dabba Doo

`Last night I broke the seal ,
On a Jim Beam decanter ,
That looked like Elvis,
I soaked the label off ,
A Flinstones Jellybean jar ,
I cleared us off a space ,
On that worn little table ,
That you left us ,
And pulled me up a big ol` piece of floor.


I pulled the head off Elvis,
Filled Fred up to his pelvis ,

Yabba Dabba Doo the King is gone and so are you.

Dubble the Fun

Goo Goo Muck

End of this month . Royal Stars on the bill.

Ferpection

God Bless America

Bill Johnson and Edward Turner



There`s no doubt that Edward Turner was a brilliant engineer , his vertical twin designs were the blueprint that all the other British manufacturers tried to emulate. He also had an eye for styling , the pre unit motors , especially , are works of art .
However , it seems like whichever book you you read about Turner or Triumph , you get the feeling that he had very little interest in his bikes being used in competition, because he saw them more in terms of practical transport . I think this was also the reason he wanted , towards the end of the Fifties ,to start wrapping his bikes up in cumbersome bodywork . For me , putting a `Bathtub` on a Thunderbird is like making a stripper wear a Burkha.
Turner also seemed to think 500cc was the optimum displacement for a twin and it seems he would have liked to restrict performance for the sake of practicality.
It was only through pressure from the US (a massive export customer for Triumph)that the 650cc Thunderbird came to be, the rest is history , God Bless America!

Harbsa

I love a good Hybrid.
More inspiration from the AWoL vaults.