Scissors

Rayguns – the signature exhaust mufflers of Triumph’s T150 sounded a heraldic trumpet to other bikers as the Trident hared past them.

Very seventies photography with blurring focus and a hint of movement during exposure.

Under the Midwest sunshine

April Shadows – clear blue skies, a chill breeze off the lake, and a pair of good looking Bonneville’s. A quick 50 mile round trip jaunt up to Lake Forest. Hot coffee and a breakfast bagel sarnie warmed frozen fingers. Felt good to get the wheels rolling…

Spring Run

Blowin’ out the Cobwebs- fired up the old gal today. Engine warmed up, remounted bars and controls adjusted for the run, then took a loop around the streets of Evanston. All good ready for a spring ride tomorrow.

Incline

Uphill – This lady kills in roadworthy leathers and boots; hair color with attitude; and a clean Triumph Scrambler. Parked on one of the less steep streets of San Francisco – gotta make sure it’s parked pointing uphill ideally with the rear tire against a curb. Nice composition.

April

Scooter Spring – the weather is slowly but surely improving here in the Midwest. Passed this hipster on his Vespa zooming through Evanston earlier today. The forecast for the weekend is looking good!

Three deaf men

Windy today! No it’s Thursday! So am I, let’s have a drink! A sunny antipodean outlook is set off with some competition winner who takes home a spangly new Triumph Bobber.

Remember it’s Hump-Day so…

Where was basketball invented?

Springfield MA – I spied this current model Indian Scout at the weekend. I really dig its lines, detail and character. If I had a Bobber it would be one of these. Tan leather saddle looks the business with the bronze tank badge.

23-04

St George – patron saint of England. It seems fitting that a saddle cover emblazoned with his crusader inspired red on white cross is available for a Triumph Bonneville. His lance was called Ascalon, which apparently is the name Winston Churchill gave his private aeroplane during WW2. His horse is always depicted as white.

South Western

Motoworks – open house down at Johnny Scheff’s excellent dealership. Triumph, Ducati, Royal Enfield and Vespa all represented. Service also caters for BMW. Sunny weather, burgers and good chat. The vintage license plate with 68 GIT was an old Bonnie.

Play Well

LEGO – a brick set from the mid seventies just when I was taking notice of motorbikes. Not bad when there was limited styles of pieces.

Friday friends

Commanding pose – beautiful black & white photography by the talented Giles Clements of a serious lass, half akimbo, and shouldered jacket stance by a splendid Norton. Great balance of dark/light, shadow/highlight, form/space.

Nostalgia

Boyhood Desire – this is the oldest memory of things two-wheeled: the Black and Gold Norton Commando. As pointed in use as a Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife used by the Scottish Highland trained Special Forces.

Sopwith

Sidecar Camel – this little fella seems quite content to be driven around in this homespun combination. Turquoise Ural looks great under the Steppes sunlight.

This is a still from the 2008 Kazakhstan film Talpan (Tulip).

“a sweet and funny tale of a young Kazakh man, Asa, who has been recently discharged from the Russian Navy and lives in the remote steppes with his sister and her family. While he dreams of becoming a herdsman, he is also actively looking for a wife and has his eyes set on Tulpan, the daughter of a neighbor, who is also the only eligible young woman in the area.”

Modello

Cartoon – burly and surly character and his ’67 Bonneville illustrated in fine style by Quique Maqueda. Other graphic offerings can be seen on his blog: Magnificent Men Flying Machines.

Jeeee-eeeeem!

Spike at One Hundred – comic genius Terrence Alan “Spike” Milligan was born this day in 1918 in Ahmednagar, British India. Formative years in the sub-continent and Rangoon as well as a memorable stint in the British Army during WW2 he went on to basically create the comedic structure of the late C20th. Along with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine, the BBC Radio series The Goon Show was born. Writing the goofy scripts with Eric Sykes it’s groundbreaking zaniness gave much needed inane laughter to a post war blighty.

Left to right: Neddie Seagoon, Professor Osric Pureheart, Eccles, Bluebottle…

Later TV beckoned and a lifetime of writing; including nonsensical poetry or memoirs.

“It’s all in the mind, you know.”