Just as the world was recognising the perks of weekend motorcycle getaways and big V-Twin engines, there was also economic collapse, trade tariff wars and then the curse of the climate. Everyone complained about the weather and then somebody actually did something about it. Like all solutions, the proposal was a ban.
In this Article we dive into the world of small things making big waves in motorcycle industry
Triumph decided to counter Royal Enfield’s might in the sub-750cc segment by attacking its homebase.
They decided to tie-up with Bajaj who have successfully launched KTM and Husqvarna bikes in India.
However, the last time Bajaj challenged Enfield’s cruiser segment by ridiculing Enfields as ancient clumsy elephants, they failed miserably and the viewers were disappointed with the dismal method of launching the new Bajaj long-distance bike called ‘Dominar’. Since then, the Dominar brand of Bajaj is the black sheep in the family which no one talks about and no one really wants to buy.
It would be a big surprise if these two new proposed Frankenstein babies of Triumph and Bajaj can dent anything in Enfield ‘s lineup. It is forever expected to be launched ‘soon’. It missed its deadline to be showcased at EICMA where Royal Enfield shined again as a sole saviour of two-wheeled automotive segment from India.
Most likely, the Bajaj-Triumph franchise / partnership will just grab the market-share away from Honda 350 and Jawa 290. Honda 350 is available at only a handful of Big Wing Dealerships. Jawa 290 has poor customer experiences for their authorised service centers.
Worse still, it will dilute the great brand image that Triumph motorcycles already enjoys in India with decent sales of their models YoY. Hell, they are bigger than Polaris and surely more popular than Honda or Kawasaki with Triumph’s range of models, including classic retro styling, adventure-tourer, racing finesse, off-road ready models and more.
Have a look at the spied models of Triumph-Bajaj in the below video
PLAN A VISIT to NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM
WINTER HOURS: Thru March
OPEN: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm
CLOSED: Sunday and Monday
Closing permanently Sept. 5, 2023
A young man in Los Angeles named Ken Howard began tinkering with his Indian Scout around 1946. Removing the shapely Indian fuel and oil tanks, he installed a smaller gas tank, a simple oil tank. He added upswept exhausts and taller handlebars atop risers. Employing one of his best skills, he painted and pin-striped the fuel tank. The story goes that he street raced it, crashed it, reworked it over and over, making it his own.
Liking what they saw, Von Dutch did similar types of custom modifications to his friends’ bikes as well. There may have been others detailing what came to be known as bob-jobs that way in 1946. Some car builders were likely an influence, but evidence points to Howard, aka Von Dutch, as a spark for a revolution in motorcycle style. And we are still living with the impact and inspiration of his work. Luckily, many machines he painted decades ago retain his paint work and fabrications.
This 1958 Triumph Thunderbird is typical of Von Dutch’s work for customers in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was created when he worked with the famed Bud Ekins to build modified motorcycles in the Los Angeles area. The leather Bates saddle with pillion pad is typical as are the small tank and narrow rear fender with sculpted custom tail light. The fork is stripped of most lugs, chrome plated and a perch style headlight bracket is used letting the headlight float. Where some would go to a spool hub, Von Dutch ran with racers who knew the value of a front brake so the stock unit, polished, remains. Upswept pipes make the bike light, sleek in appearance as do the low bars. The polished engine cases with a few custom bits is on full display beneath the small tank. A few parts are drilled for lightness.
Some refer to this paint job as “scalloped,” others call it a “seaweed” design. The paint is likely nitro cellulose lacquer and has therefore dulled a bit over the decades. Either way it’s quite understated and nothing like many typical red, orange and yellow flame jobs on black that soon followed. The reversing green/blue metallic scheme is timeless.
While Von Dutch focused more on customs and bobbers than choppers, his style influenced generations of customizers of all types, still does today. And you could say he’s one who opened the door to the style that evolved into the less functional, more outrageous chopper in the 1960s.
This Von Dutch Triumph is largely original, never restored and is part of the Jill & John Parham Collection. You can enjoy the Von Dutch Triumph, other Von Dutch creations and many other custom bikes from all eras when you visit the National Motorcycle Museum before it closes its doors in early September.
Specifications:
“The entire take on my build was to recreate the famous picture of Marlin Brando from the 1953 film, “The Wild One.” Using one of my grandchildren as a stand in for Brando. I have two grandkids that are both about three so the timing was good.
Luckily, I had a build team which is the only reason the bike is finished.
The photo shoot with my two grandsons’, Wilder and Finn, was a hoot but eventually we got there. Special thanks to Prince Jeff Najar for the opportunity to work with the Flying Piston Benefit.
See you in Sturgis!”
— Edge
About: Strider Bike & Flying Piston Benefit Breakfast
Visit: https://flyingpistonbenefit.com/
DON’T MISS THE BUILDER BREAKFAST
Join us Sunday, August 7th: 8:30 – 11AM at Buffalo Chip
Get to Meet Billy Lane & Darren Mckeag
* * * *
Many more great custom builds – and not just for cheering kids. Let’s put a smile on your face this weekend !!!
Have a look at the Free Extensive “Bike Features Section” on Bikernet.com by visiting (click here / see URL):
https://www.bikernet.com/pages/bike_features.aspx
This area won’t feature the same bikes that magazines do. This will cover bikes with style and class, a few nicks, some for sale, others because of what they do, not how they look.
by James Hewitt from Hagerty.com
There’s a Hagerty Motorcycle Price Guide that uses thousands of transactions to track values on 9751 motorcycles. Here are five trends that stood out to us in the most recent update, released in June.
The smart take in the motorcycle community of late, much like for cars, is that a full-on, concours-level restoration rarely pays — at least financially speaking.
This is motorcycling at its best, an enjoyable ride through the scenic Wisconsin countryside with a great group of fellow riders to the High Voltage Half-Mile flat track motorcycle races
at Wisconsin’s premier half-mile race track
at Walworth County Fairgrounds
in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
Meet at Triumph Waukesha (1505 State Road 164 South, Waukesha)
at 9 am fueled up and ready to go
Kick-stands up at 10 am sharp!
For more information contact:
Triumph Waukesha
262.395.7474.
1505 State Road 164 South, Waukesha, Wisconsin 53186
RIDE SAFE
SAVE 10% ON FRONT AND REAR SUSPENSION TO IMPROVE THE RIDE AND PERFORMANCE OF YOUR HARLEY-DAVIDSONUse Discount Code DAYTONA 22 at progressivesuspension.com
or call 714-523-8700
Bring your bike by the Progressive Suspension Rig at Daytona to Save 10% and have your new Progressive Suspension installed by one of our Certified Technicians.
SHOCK TEST RIDES AVAILABLE – FEEL THE DIFFERENCE!
Select your make from Harley-Davidson, Indian, Metrics, Triumph, Honda to view Products & Availability
Visit Website to Purchase Online at: http://progressivesuspension.com/
by James Hewitt from Hagerty.com
Values have skyrocketed of late in the motorcycle world but there were still deals to be had.
The spending frenzy at Scottsdale’s January auto auctions may have garnered the headlines, but just a short road trip away in Las Vegas, Mecum’s motorcycle auction put on a similarly spectacular show for the two-wheeled crowd.
We reported last year that millennials prefer classic & vintage Harleys over Indians.
Knuckleheads are benefitting from broader, multi-generational appeal, and demand is increasing because younger buyers continue to move into the market while older ones aren’t leaving.
from https://www.autoevolution.com/ by Daniel Patrascu
At the turn of the last century, a time when horse-drawn carriages turned into automobiles and bicycles into motorcycles, most of the companies active back then wanted a piece of the new action, and turned their businesses around to include the production of the new mechanical wonders.
So did a British enterprise that went by the name Triumph Engineering, which used to make bicycles. Which, if you come to think of it, are just like motorcycles, only without engines, hence easy to re-make.
And that’s exactly what Triumph did with one of its bikes, fitting it with a Minerva engine and opening the doors to a history that has spanned so far for 120 years. That production motorized two-wheeler came to be in 1902, but as you can imagine, a prototype had to be made before that. A prototype that, like many others of its kind, was considered lost for a long time, despite rumors surrounding its existence floating around.
Extremely conveniently-timed, the first 1901 Triumph motorcycle prototype just resurfaced, having been uncovered by a collector named Dick Shepherd, and put back into the spotlight by the company itself.
According to the available details, attesting to the motorcycle’s authenticity are the engine number, “consistent with references in Minerva’s engine records of a 1901 first Triumph engagement,” and a “letter from Triumph, dated in 1937, that outlined the bike’s unique origins and provided key details.”
As far as we understand, the bike was uncovered some time ago, as the collector had time to restore it.
“As a lifelong passionate fan of the history and achievements of this incredible British brand, to have discovered this amazing survivor and restored it to the glorious condition it would have been in when it first went on display in 1901, has given me an immense amount of satisfaction,” Shepherd said in a statement.
The prototype will be, of course, included in the celebration events the British company has planned for next year, and it will be shown, together with the millionth Triumph manufactured in Hinckley, in a special display being set up at the factory.
PRESS RELEASE4 DECEMBER 2021 – An amazing historic find, discovered and restored by leading vintage Triumph collector Dick Shepherd, the 1901 Prototype rewrites the history books, adding a whole new chapter prior to Triumph’s official sales starting in 1902.
Long rumoured to exist and referenced within advertising and reviews that appeared in 1901, this first Triumph prototype was developed from a standard Triumph bicycle, with an engine provided by Belgian manufacturer Minerva, in order to generate interest and gauge the public’s demand for a Triumph motorcycle.
Dick Shepherd said “Having been approached by a friend of a collector, who had sadly recently passed away, to evaluate an old Triumph I was incredibly excited to discover that the bike they had featured unique details that were not present on the first production Triumphs. Along with the bike, the collector had also received a letter from Triumph, dated in 1937, that outlined the bike’s unique origins and provided key details.”
“With an engine number that is consistent with references in Minerva’s engine records of a 1901 first Triumph engagement the historic significance of this motorcycle became incredibly clear.”
“As a lifelong passionate fan of the history and achievements of this incredible British brand, to have discovered this amazing survivor and restored it to the glorious condition it would have been in when it first went on display in 1901, has given me an immense amount of satisfaction.”
First unveiled at the UK’s Motorcycle Live show the 1901 prototype will feature in dedicated event at Triumph’s Factory Visitor Experience on the 14th December, where the machine will be ridden in public for the very first time in over 100 years.
This incredible, historic motorcycle will then be on display, alongside the millionth Hinckley Triumph, in a new, specially created 120-year anniversary display, hosted within Triumph’s Factory Visitor Experience.
The Triumph Factory Visitor Experience is free to visit and is located at Triumph’s HQ in Hinckley, England and is open daily Wednesday through Sunday, from 10am – 4.30pm.
from https://www.standard.co.uk/ by David Williams
It’s that time of year bikers dread – the days are shorter and the weather is colder and wetter, forcing fair-weather riders to leave their bikes parked at the roadside. Which means it’s time to head to Birmingham by train for Motorcycle Live, to see what they’ll be riding (and wearing) next year, when it all improves again.
The UK’s biggest bike show rolls Birmingham’s NEC from Saturday December 4 to Sunday December 12, revealing dozens of new motorcycles, even presenting show-goers with the chance to try some of them out.
More than 55 leading motorcycle manufacturers are showing off their latest machinery, and attendants are being encouraged to try them for size. New metal being revealed includes the Suzuki GSX-S1000 GT, the Triumph Tiger Sport 660, the Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak and the Husqvarna Norden 901.
Kawasaki will be showing off its new Z650RS, while other new bikes include the CFMoto 700CL-X and the Honda NT1100. Show-goers also get to see the British-built Langen Two Stroke, as well as the Norton V4SV, while BMW will have its futuristic-looking CE04 electric scooter on show.
Celebrating the future of motorcycling with electric technology is also high on the show’s agenda, with the brand-new Electric Test Ride Zone giving consumers an opportunity to try out a range of battery-powered models on a special indoor track.
This feature will give riders a feel for the instant power and responsiveness typical of an electric motorcycle – all without any emissions. Electrically-assisted bicycles – e-bikes – will also be available for show-goes to try out.
Elsewhere at Birmingham’s sprawling NEC there will be custom and classic bike zones, while race fans will be able to meet their track heroes, as stars from WorldSBK, British Superbike and road racing make guest appearances across the nine days.
Visitors can also watch Moto Trails, featuring the jaw-dropping skills of pro trail riders Jack Price, former World Trails 2 Champion and seven-time British Champion, and Michael Brown, European and multiple British Trials Champion, with show times throughout the day.
Honda will be paying homage to the original 1992 Fireblade by displaying a range of heritage models from across the years, while rival firm Suzuki is displaying all seven of its world championship-winning Grand Prix machines, including the GSX-RR of 2020 title-winner Joan Mir and Barry Sheene’s 1976 and 1977 500s.
Harley-Davidson will be showcasing its ‘Sportster Evolution Galley’, tracing the development of its 64-year-old Sportster range, while ‘bikers’ aged 1.5 to five years can try their skills at the Kiddimoto Balance Bike Experience, on an inflatable course.
Riders aged between four and twelve will be able to get kitted out in motocross clothing, gloves and a helmet – and be unleashed on a circuit designed to give a taste of the motocross experience, for novices and more experienced riders alike.
‘Experience Adventure’, supported by Honda, Royal Enfield and Triumph, will allow participants to enjoy a taste of off-road adventure riding, which will include tuition on bike set-up, body positioning and balance across an assortment of terrains.
For those wanting to break into motorcycling, meanwhile, every day during the show the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) will be offering free 20-minute riding lessons with a professional instructor, all protective clothing provided. Participants will be introduced to the brakes, gears and slow speed handling, giving visitors the chance to see if a life on two wheels is for them.
Who knows; maybe next year they’ll be riding to the show at the NEC too.
© 2023 Bikernet Blog - Online Biker Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
