| Author | Message | ||
     Glitch |
I was looking at the photos on your webpage, and came across the Thruxton pics. Did you get to ride it a lot, like you did the TT? If you did, what did you think of it? Thanks in advance m8. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Sure, Scuse the off topic I guess - but this is the unedited Kiwi Rider Article. Published last month. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.  I remember when…Eye patch time again. ‘Yeah Baby!’ If I could do a halfway decent Austin Powers impersonation I would have let dozens more rip than the humble quota I did manage. It was still enough to drive the Co-pilot spare, but I just couldn’t look at this Red and White striped honey without a ‘Yeah Baby!’ Much of what I found attractive about the bike harkens back to my images of motorcycling as a youth – embodied, right there in its classic line. I’m too young to have experienced the halcyon days of British motorcycling. Just. Back then, in my formative years, the British icons of cool were priced beyond my reach. How I used to drool at the bikini babes draped over Norton Commando Interstates, or wished I had the shtick of the Café racers that personified the image of the motorcycle ‘rebel’ I felt inside. Unfortunately a second hand CB450 was all a copy boy from the south side of Sydney could muster, but the images were burned longingly and deep. And now, ‘here’s the keys Dave, ride it round and write about it’! The main change from the ’04 I tested (in the June KR) - to the ’07 model is a bump to a claimed 70 Horsepower and changes in the livery. Red with white stipes and no checkered tape will make some pundits happy. I think it has to be one of the best looking bikes on the road. Drop-dead-off-the-showroom-floor gorgeous. So, it was grab the Davida Jet Classic open face helmet - or the Arai Union Jack Viper, depending on how hard out I was planning on punting, don the ultra-plain black Rev-it leathers, adjust the aviator goggles and thumb the beastie into life. (Stopped short of the socks over boot top look). The stock Euro-compliant exhaust has a quiet sort of note, not quite in keeping with the ‘Rebel without a Clue’ on board. It sounds fine on the move, a little ‘Jetsons’ off the gas. Easily fixed with a de-baffle or a selection from wide range of aftermarket reverse cones available, but ends my gripes - other than the stock note there is much to like. It’s not one of those ‘lazy’ 130hp bikes where all I seem to do is idle about everywhere; you have to ‘ride’ the Thruxton. Its 70hp and 204kg requires rider input to extract the best. But when you get it on song it’s a mighty sweet tune. Lovely torque and it really pulls out of the corners. The way the big twin pulses dares you to drop it down a gear and nail it on exit. And unlike the big litre bikes – you can nail on the street it in third gear without fear of instant disqualification. Beautiful! Fun as well as looks. The ergos worked OK for me this time around. I’ve lost some weight. It induced some knee ache after an extended stint in the saddle, but apart from that it was pretty comfortable as a round town and short hop machine. The big grin factor made up for the knees. I’m too big to tour on it, normal height riders could put in a longer day, because unlike the early Hinckley Bonnes, the saddle is great. Even the back seat is pretty good. With the seat cowl removed the Co-pilot rated it as ‘Surprisingly comfortable’. It was having the best time, punting it around the Auckland Bays on a blue Saturday morning, glorying in all this Café racer imagery and costume, dining out on the associated nostalgia, that it struck me that I needed to find out more about the era and the machine this bike tips its lid to. I basically only knew what the original Thruxton looked like and not much more. First I consulted Ian Chadwick’s Triumph Time line online (Google it): ‘1964 saw the first Thruxtons produced. ‘This year only eight Triumph Thruxton machines are made, basically standard production Bonnevilles pulled from the line and sent to the special projects department for upgrading. They produced 54bhp and many of their modifications become standard on later production bikes.’ ‘1965. This year, 52 Thruxton Bonnies are made in May, the most ever produced. Triumph is making 600-800 bikes a week, 80 per cent of them bound for the USA.’ ’65 was also the year Kiwi Hugh Anderson won the 125cc World Championship on a Suzuki, the final season of Hailwood’s four in a row and the year before Agostini won seven of the ‘500cc big dances’ in succession. (Seven!) Cool, the Thruxton name has an impressive pedigree. Endurance racing was also popular at the time and a Thruxton notched wins at Brands Hatch in 1966 and won the IOM TT in 1967. By the time I got back on board I was ready for ‘Mike the Bike’ and ‘Ago’ - anytime baby! As the flag dropped on the Ellerslie on-ramp grand prix it was on - all the way to Mission Bay. But was that the spirit? I had the bike, the gear and the vibe…but an Al fresco Latte overlooking a sapphire blue harbour and volcanic ramparts next to a drop dead gorgeous bike was about as tough as it sounds, but it wasn’t exactly the Ace Café. Was it? You can’t study the history of motorcycling without seeing some reference to the ‘golden age’, the Ace Café, aces of clubs graphics and imagery. Iconic. Peter Jenks runs ‘Jenks Bolts’, a Specialist Bonneville parts and accessories business, in Salisbury. He now rides a new Thruxton. We’re pals. So I asked him about the Ace Café ‘Now and then’, and for his recollections of those ‘Halcyon days.’ ‘Back then it was one of tens of thousands of transport Cafes where truck drivers stopped to eat. In those days bikers and the ‘young’ weren't welcome in pubs, or anywhere. They found a welcome in the transport cafes. Although there was no drink, just cigarettes, very bad coffee made from ‘Camp Brand Coffee Extract’ and strong tea.’ He reported. All of a sudden I had a handle on the ‘Café’ in ‘Café racer’. Rather obvious, David. ‘The Ace happened to be on a road that allowed some interesting road racing. In the NW London outskirts it was easily accessible by bus to many, many young kids who aspired to a bike, but couldn't ever get one. All Transport Café’s had juke boxes so music was a key part of the atmosphere: food, tea, music, bikes, noise – it was a place to be.’ Continued his insights. Meantime, I’m getting misty eyed and ‘yeah baby’ all at once. I imagined tearing around on machines that performed quite similarly to the 2007 Thruxton. Just that the new one is not hampered by Lucas electrical and copious oil leaks. Nonetheless, I could see the Bedford vans and Tobacco cards and Joananna Lumley pinups in my minds eye. We don’t need no steenkin’ muscle cars. But then he concluded: ‘Now: It’s a pastiche of a lot of memory cues and other than being in the building it started out in, not much is like it was.’ ‘Not so the bike.’ I thought. Give me nowadays and the reliability of the new one. Derek Peters, a career ‘Bobby’ doing his National Service during the first Thruxton era used to call in to the Ace. His recollections began: ‘There, strategically situated, sat the Ace Café. A rather dowdy trucker’s cafe that stayed open 24 hours a day. The cafe was a natural meeting spot for motorcyclists to slowly drink their beverage or soft drink and meet up with their female company. The blare of the Juke Box, knocking out the music of the day, added to the atmosphere. It was not a particularly attractive place and could never be described as comfortable, but the tea and hot food was consumed in the main by truckers and was therefore wholesome, to say the least.’ Was the picture Derek painted. Now I was right in touch with the joint. He continued: ‘I witnessed motorcyclist travelling at ‘highish’ speeds around the North Circular in an irresponsible manner, just like the modern sports bike riders. I saw bikes leave the Ace Cafe driven by obvious idiots, but I can't honestly say that I ever saw riders trying to cover a given distance before a record ended. I think this is very much a myth thought up at a later date.’ Of course we weren’t racing Officer! ‘The Cafe was a useful acquisition in its day and certainly provided a meeting place for motorcyclists, but a lot of the glamour has been added since by people looking through those rose tinted spectacles.’ At this point an unmaned source online chimed in with a positive ’07 perspective: ‘Two redeeming features of the Ace: The Slovakian or possibly Polish bird behind the counter and the cheese omelettes.’ Contemplating this, the fern leaf pattern in the froth of my soymilk latte - served in the shadow of Rangitoto - and a shimmering blue south pacific brought me back to reality with a thud. Unlike the romantic notions I harboured about the history of the Thruxton, the latest version is much more substantial than ‘a pastiche’ of its past. It’s a solid, mid-power hunk of cool. A bona fide ride on its own merits with dollops of feel good about motorcycle history, but most importantly it’s just really good fun to ride. Peel away the reminiscences and there’s a tight, modern bike with globally sourced components, performance, brakes, cornering, handling and reliability. It’s a nice, easy motorcycle that puts a huge grin on my face. And it taught me something. Nostalgia ISN’T what it used to be. 2007. Yeah baby! | ||
| Glitch |
Thanks Dave!  Nice read, I liked it. These are the good ol' days! | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yeah - sorry it doesn't deal a whole lot with the bike - but it's the third Thruxton feature in the mag so I angled it up a bit. Nub is the last few lines. and thanks, first draft copy is a bit rough. I re-read and doh! dd | ||
| Glitch |
I re-read and doh! We are our own worst critic aren't we. |
