Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge That your Triumph? I used to own a 19xx triumph..

Heard it again today in the post office.
"Hi, that your Triumph I hit in the parking lot?"
HA, HA, HA.
"Well, I used to own a 1968 Triumph along with a BSA Lightning, which was faster".

I am sure the conversation above is nothing new to the BA owners on this board. Great converstation starter...too bad it's usually a mid-age guy (versus Tiger Wood's wife or her twin sister).

ok.

I am stopped every day I ride. Old, Young, in between. They have stories of old, or are simply curious of a bike/brand they hardly, if ever, see. Saturday, I had five conversations, yesterday, three. One, yesterday was a guy who saw my jacket and had to chase me down on his GoldWing ( I spotted him trying to catch me, so I sped up a bit to make him cathcing me more fun. He was a fun to talk to, old Triumphs, BSAs, then Hondas. It all fun.

I always seem to hear, Triumph was the first bike I owned, and the best bike I ever had. Normally its a Hardley nerd telling me this and my normal response is to tell them my first street bike was a HD and the worst bike I ever had.

The one I like the best is, "They don't make bikes that anymore". My reply is usually, "Yep, the 05's have a slightly bigger motor".

Soren

I've had my TBA 4 weeks... it never ceases to amaze me the people that want to talk about the bike, brand, etc... I went on a ride Sunday that should have taken 3 hours, but took 5. I spent 2 hours at three different stops talking about the bike (breakfast, water stop and gas).

I pull up to the gas pump to fill up and some old guy will walk up to me and start the conversation off by saying "I remember when my dad/uncle/grandpa use to own one of these;then we would get into an hour long conversation as he walked around the bike asking a zillion questions......Angelis

I'm beginning to wonder if all those people actually owned Triumph's. I've heard it so many times it makes me think that in the 60's there were more Triumph's on the road than cars and all other motorcycles combined.

It's still cool, though. How many people come up to you and say, "Yeah, back in the day I used to drive a minivan..."

Actually in the fifties and sixties they were the hot bikes to get.Now if Triumph keeps rolling like it has been the past three years the same could be said of the turn of the 21st .

Here's 2 memorable ones from the last couple days:

Pull into a store parking lot as 2 little old ladies are walking down the sidewalk, arm in arm, with canes in their other hands. First lady - "That's a real nice bike" (thank you) Second lady - "That's much nicer than a Harley"....(I laughed out loud)

Sitting in a parking lot having a smoke.
A guy in a Blazer goes by, does a u-turn and comes back.
"I haven't seen one of those since meat was cheap!" (followed by all the usual questions) He ends up with "Ya know, most guys today still go out and spend way too much money for a Harley, and they're still a piece of crap like they always were."
I don't know if he meant the Harleys or the guys that buy them. I just smile....

i think my favorite one was when i was stopped at a red light and a truck pulls up in the next lane. I had ear plugs in so i couldn't hear what they were saying at first, but i heard some hooting and hollering that sounded like a couple guys at a party after 12 beers. I look over and the guys in the truck were looking at me and giving the high sign, fists in the air and all that. they're still yelling at me and i finally hear the end of a sentance...... "and a bloody triumph as well". They were 2 english guys who were excited about seeing a little piece of the motherland ! Gotta love that.

I had my TBS for about 7 miles when I heard the first, 'I remember way back in 19 and 67...' and he was lost in reminiscing. It's good to be able to help 'em remember. Who
knows, you just might create another reentry rider.

"I haven't seen one of those since meat was cheap!"

That's a good one, I have to remember that.

I hate it when people say " I didn't know they still made those." I want to say, Yeah.. duh....where have you been, living in a cave. Pick up a MC magazine once in a while. But I usually just nod a give them my standard line. Yes for several years now. This is a 2002.

I had some old german guy come up to me in hamburg on the saturday of the euro rally. trouble is the only words i could understand were Triumph...Norton ...BSA.. He must have been praising the bike though... I just shook his hand and ran away....

I'm considering starting a negative publicity campaign for Triumph Motorcycles. Not saying anything bad about them, of course. I just don't want TOO many people buying Triumphs.

I get almost giddy when I see another Triumph on the road because they're such a rare sight. How horrible would it be if they became as common as Hondas or H-Ds?

I think we should form a committee to determine which people are cool enough to even know Triumph still exists, much less own one. People who don't pass the test get told Triumph went out of business 20 years ago, or we ride OCC reproductions that cost $50,000. Oh, and there should be a limit on the number of model/color combinations in a certain geographic area - no two alike.

Who's with me?

I'll go for that! I live in a small town in Virginia... there is a little out of the way road that we take from our house to the barn (wife is into the horses on four legs kind of riding). Anway, Sunday I had just gone down the road (and belive me alot of people don't drive on this road). Anyway, my wife gets back from the barn and say's "I say a Triumph just like yours on this road"... I said hummm I was just on that road" anyway, she assured it me that she knew what I looked like and that it was another guy on a bike identical to mine. I said SURELY you jest... she said nope... I stopped right behind the guy, it was a black America! Now I don't know about ya'll but I just can't have that!