Crap article

[Paul in NZ]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post...ord-celebrated

Oh I'm sure BD will be along in a moment to tell me what a grumpy old Hinkley hater I am. I'm not - quite the opposite I LOVE Triumphs and their history but this got my goat...

FFS - to start with the picture is a shocker.... Its great you want to act all James Dean and moody like if you can pull it off (I sure cant) but this looks silly. More like Mr Bean channeling the Fonz... They should have got BD to take the snaps.

Then a picture of Burt Munros Indian on the tank of a Triumph Bonneville? WTF??? Why for goodness sake? I'm pretty sure Burt didnt like Triumphs very much although he did ride one and I think was a salesman at one point...

But my big gripe is that its getting the legends all muddled. Triumph's own Bonneville story is just as interesting as Burts and stands alone as a great story. A picture of the Texas Cigar with Jack Wilson (engine builder), Stormy Maughin (owner and chassis guy) and Johnny Allen (rider) would be far more interesting. Jack Wilson built winning Triumphs for 50 years and was every bit the character Burt was... It seems a damn shame....

End of the day the mans an accomplished rider and has a nice bike so credit where its due and I'm probably being picky. It just gauls me when this kind of wierdness happens....

[unstuck]

YEEHAA.....Fuck the ANTI smoking lobby.

[avgas]

Meh - typical small town article. Nothing special. Not worth slamming, just not worth reading.

"Man rides motorbike to celebrate another man whom broke world record on motorbike" would be better heading is all.

Burts a Legend.
Bonnie's are legend.

The rest is just filler or bog if your prefer.

[Grubber]

Ya being picky!!

[Drew]

The top comment on the page of the article gives me the fucken shits. Other than that, I'm not moved in any direction by the article.

[Danger Dave]

What they fail to mention in the article is that he done the trip as part of a Triumph NZ competition in which they got all of (at least a great number of) their dealers to customize a late model Bonnie and ride it to Wellington to be judged, Moto south (the bike in the article) was the winning bike.

[Paul in NZ]

What they fail to mention in the article is that he done the trip as part of a Triumph NZ competition in which they got all of (at least a great number of) their dealers to customize a late model Bonnie and ride it to Wellington to be judged, Moto south (the bike in the article) was the winning bike.

That makes it better and worse....

Nice that they are doing custom Bonnies and while is a bit same same HD. A new Bonnie is about as burt munro as my aunties morris minor with the air cleaner removed...

[Drew]

morris minor with the air cleaner removed...

Pointless without shaving 40 thou off the dipstick.

[Paul in NZ]

Pointless without shaving 40 thou off the dipstick.

Hey - I'm short enough as it is thanks.....

[granstar]

I'm with Dangerdave, needed context explained better, has nothing to do with Burt Munro and Triumphs in same sentence, other than that nothing wrong. Mr Bayne even modestly defends Munro with the stupid reporters comment first paragraph, obviously the reporter knows FA about reality motorcycling likely the target audience DP readers the same.

Go buy a bike mag to read.

[Big Dave]

I got as far as the smoke and switched off.

[Big Dave]

And I corresponded with Stormy's family regarding a Bonneville article in 2001. And the Texas Dealership.

[Big Dave]

And the dude can steer 'em.

[Paul in NZ]

I corresponded with Stormy's family regarding a Bonneville article in 2001. And the Texas Dealership.

I'd love to read that Dave...

I was lucky enough to work in Dallas once and visited Big D cycles and met Jack Wilson and they were amazingly kind to me. Went out the back and they still had the dyno they used to develop the engines and all sorts of stuff.. It was one of the high points of my life (sad I know) as I always kind of idolised those guys and the whole story. It really should have been made into a movie and I've always thought Triumph (the modern one) is missing out on a huge opportunity as those guys did such amazing things with everything from Tiger Cubs to Tridents...

"After Allen set the iconic 1956 world record with the Thunderbird engine, Wilson built up a 200cc Tiger Cub single using the same streamliner chassis and shell with similar tuning. In this configuration the machine ran 136 mph at the Salt Flats. In 1958 Jack then installed a very trick 500cc Triumph twin and with 18-year-old Jess Thomas (another Texan) at the controls, the machine clocked an average of 212.28 mph-a new world record for unblown, streamlined 500cc motorcycles running on nitro. That record stood for 50 years. "

I mean 136mph from a tiger cub.....

Seriously I would consider buying a Jack Wilson tribute bike... I'd DEFINATELY think Triumph NZ could run a Jack Wilson day

[Paul in NZ]

I got as far as the smoke and switched off.

Generally an unfortunate image fronting an unfortunate story..... They should have left it to you...