The Triumph 650 twin

   Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Tom Cruise had more than acting in common.  When these gentlemen rode motorcycles in a movie, it was the same manufaturer. No, not the great American pride, Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, but a triumph was chose all three times.

 I do not know why triumph was chosen to be the movie star over it's american cousin, but it was many times by Hollywood producers. It's image lives on in classic film such as "The Wild One's" and "Rebel Without a Cause" with those whose faces are captured astride it's back.

 I built 6 triumph choppers and bobbers, and am guilty of more than one abuse of what could have been a clean classic, by turning it into something the factory never intended it to be. It is with fond memories I think of,  when I remember my mis-spent youth on those old choppers, knowing at the time, the 1980's, I should have been chasing the almighty buck, instead of fun times.  I regret it not, for if my midlife crisis was to calm down, knowing I hadn't missed out on much, then so be it. I'm good with that.

 Many other older chopper riders rode them in their youth. A couple of famous bike builders, Billy Lane, and Indian Larry (R.I.P.) built many of them, practicing the skills that made them famous, on these old British Twins. Per capita, more triumphs have been customized, by more people, than any other Motorcycle brand. I'm not talking bolt on goodies, here, I am saying that out of them all, Triumph reigns as KING SUPREME, as the bike built by more people, in it's own manufacturing  lifetime.