On the way to
meet Brigid & Partner for lunch, I saw this on a SoBro side street...
It's not often I veer abruptly to the side of the road and hop out of the car with camera in hand, but day-
umn!
I would do bad, bad things for that bike. Bad things.
.
I'm having trouble identifying what the heck it is. Those fins don't strike me as functional, so oil cooled? Except it's obvious that the lines from the heads have been piped right back into the sump.
ReplyDeleteIt's a big lump, 750?
The frame looks awfully flexible.
It is pretty.
Triumph? That is one good looking bike.
ReplyDeleteI like the old/new mix. The leather tank strap sets it off nicely. It's probably harvested from a carbon fiber cow.
ReplyDeleteUm... Yeah. Not a bike for the timid, or those idiots that ride in board shorts and chuck taylors. That tape on the exhaust pipes looks entirely functional.
ReplyDeleteThat... That is a beautiful thing...
...and that's what separates Tam from "girls..."
ReplyDeleteWow,bad ass.
ReplyDeleteIs the tank polished that much..or painted?
The Brits are pretty handy with aluminum (sorry, "aluminium") tanks. Had a similar 7.5 gallon one on a CB750 back in the '70s.
ReplyDeleteTam, a deal - we'll split the bad things tasking, and you get it M-W-F, I'll ride it T-Th-Sat, and we'll flip for Sundays.
Oh my. that's quite a nice Café Racer isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt's a Norton Commando.
ReplyDeleteEd,
ReplyDelete"It's a Norton Commando."
It's a current production Triumph Bonneville twin motor in wahat appears to be a modern replica Norton frame and Speed Triple forks.
SO...
ReplyDeleteWhat are these 'bad things' of which you speak?
Please be specific, and remember if there are no pictures on the Internet it didn't happen!
:-)
gfa
OK
ReplyDeleteI'll be in my bunk.
ReplyDeleteFeatherbed frames have hosted a ridiculous number of engines I think my favorite is a Norvin, I've seen one in the wilds of Minneapolis and wondered around in a daze for hours. This one is definitely very sweet. Nice photos too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was Montreal in the late 70's café racers were the choice of bad boys over 'Merican Harleys.
ReplyDeleteThey would have trade you your weight in escargot for that bike.
Gerry
motorcycle plus young person = organ donor.
ReplyDeleteMaybe sailing or flying would be a safer hobby.
That's a 'nice' update on the cafe racer meme... :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you look closely, only on the left side of the tank, is the faint "Triton" logo. Frame looks like an old Featherbed style, for sure.
ReplyDeleteVery tasty looking, but I'm not sure how well the frame would handle the stresses those tires and brakes can provide.
At first glance, I thought it might be a Munch, due to it's heavy, dense appearance. Nicely done styling exercise. Would make a great Sunday morning ride to Alice's Restaurant on Skyline Blvd.
Ed:
ReplyDeleteThe Norton "Commando" engine sat at a forward tilt. I can't remember the angle, now. That model had the "Isolastic" engine/trans sub-frame mounts that allowed it to shake separately from the rest of the bike. Worked well, when properly adjusted. '69-'76 vintage. (Very few '76 bikes were built-ugly styling, looked like a Yamaha, and none make it to the US, I believe.)
The prior Norton models had the engine vertical, like the Triumph engines, and were solidly mounted.
That is why we will easily defeat the Jihadis. Our 'girls' are tougher by far than their 'men'.
ReplyDeleteOh, that and the nuclear bombs....
Spondon frame, perhaps? They're the only name I'm aware of but surely there must be others. It's a nice build, for sure. Ohlins shocks and who knows what inside the fork legs. Love the wrapped pipes. And that tank is dead-nuts sexy.
ReplyDeleteTom
It must be a new Triumph engine, there's not one drop of oil under it. I would bet that the oil lines on the front frame are pressure lines that provide cooling oil to the exhaust side of the head.
ReplyDeleteIt is very tasty. Me want!
Al_in_Ottawa
That's a nice Triton.
ReplyDeleteBeen thinking about cobbling one together, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make such a nice package if I fumbled through with it.
Yes, but a Vespa gets better gas mileage.
ReplyDeleteHell, and Impala probably gets better mileage.
That thing...No. Thirty, forty years ago I woulda said yes but have grown jealous since of my clavicles and patellae.
How bad? (and what *KIND* of bad?)
ReplyDeleteI mean, it looks like a modern motor and a retro (maybe original?) frame....
Likely could build it in a few Saturdays, effen ya got the wallet for it.
That is downright seksee, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a Norton I drooled over in 1972, then again, I am probably alive today because I could not afford to buy it then. I see Tam confirmed it is a modern replica.
ReplyDeleteWill,
ReplyDeleteYou mean the Triton Logo,I was very careful to photograph? Thank you for pointing out to me the thing I was trying to point out to you. ;)
Should be filed under "Norton hears a Hoosier"
ReplyDeleteNice ride. With that seat you'd have to have a cast iron butt to ride any distance. I bet it makes a noise like a horny angel.
ReplyDeleteThe mental image of Tam in bed holding her Ipad up with one hand has had me giggling all day.
Yowzer. Never had seen one in the wild. Just some cycle mags back in the day. It would be hard to ride slow.
ReplyDeleteTam,
ReplyDeleteI didn't think YOU missed it, but no one else mentioned it, and it is a bit faint...
BTW, should we assume you're loading Saiga 12ga mags in your bunk? :)
Apropos of nothing: I still have a vid of Kenny Dreer's Commando 760 (?) prototype somewhere. If buying was based on sound alone, he'd have cornered the market.
ReplyDeleteAhh, here it is: the VR 880 Sprint Special.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-NFkWZ3PCk
IIRC this was a promo video from the days when they began to accept deposits.
"I'll be in my bunk"...was that a Firefly reference? If so, sweet. If not, just act like you never saw this.
ReplyDeleteSo what rifle/pistol/knife to go with Triumph/Norton on two wheel walkabout?
ReplyDeleteTony: Easy. Jungle Carbine, Webley & Scott auto, and Fairbarn-Sykes
ReplyDeleteanon @5:57am
ReplyDelete"Under a Darkling Sky", John Ringo.
Well, that's what came to MY mind. Tall, blond, gun aficionado. Close enough.
Make sure it's powered by the latest in good-smellin' boutique fuel, and we're good-to-go!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ma-rooned.com/2014/08/a-bacon-fueled-hog.html