Mailbox

[atomsplitter]

I posted this on the TriumphBobber.com forum and thought I'd drop it here as well:

"Several weeks ago I hopped on my Bobber to drop some mail into the box outside our Post Office. The Post Office is only 3 blocks straight down my street so I often use the Bobber for this purpose, only this time when I got there the outdoor box was gone. I've seen it full to the mouth a number of times, but never just not there. This required I park in their lot and drop my mail off inside. When I came out there was an older gentleman eyeing my bike and when I approached and put the key in he started a conversation with me about it. Every week I have to drop off mail and every week I use my Bobber I'm stopped by someone to compliment me on it. I'm beginning to not care if they ever replace the box outside or not.

(I did inquire as to why it was gone and was told the old box was vandalized and a new one has been received but they haven't found anyone to install it yet.)"

 

[Rocky]

That anecdote gave me a knowing smile.

 

[Vector]

The new Bobber TFC sure looks good.
I bet it handles better with the smaller front tire.

 

[atomsplitter]

The new Bobber TFC sure looks good.
I bet it handles better with the smaller front tire.

It's not the tire that limits the Bobber's handling, it's ground clearance. Even if you maxed the rake and trail values to sharpen the steering to a scalpel sharp, it would still just grind the peg feelers off (fortunately they are threaded nubbins). A lot of Bobber owner's reverse the shock's dogbone linkage to add some more ground clearnace, it keeps the exhaust pipes off the pavement in corners.

 

[Qship]

It is hard to go places and not have conversations start up because you ride a Triumph. Usually from older gentlemen as that was THE hot ride when they were young.
The newer generation; "Who makes Triumph?"

 

[brooke]

Agreed .. especially in the states . Back when we travelled down there you couldn’t stop at restaurant without meeting some old timer looking your bike over then announcing “ I had one of those “ . Too bad , in Canada it’s mostly something like , didn’t know they still made those or never heard of those before . I think Canadians were all riding Harleys but from what I’ve been reading Triumph sales state side were very strong in the fifty’s and sixty’s . No doubt until the Japanese showed up , the Brits were probably building the best stuff available and obviously traded freely .

 

[atomsplitter]

In the 50's and 60's the Brit bikes were the high performance sport bikes of the day. The Japanese were producing small displacement 'starter' bikes that both UK and USA thought were not any competition to their dominance (in fact they saw it as a good thing to get more people into motorcycling and eventually onto large bikes). Then Honda unleashed the CB750 in 1969 and the Brits and Harley saw sales plummet overnight. The lead engineer for Triumph back then had warned Turner around 1963 that the Japanese bikes were built like watches (he bought a Honda 50 Cub and took it completely apart in Triumph's factory parking lot) and they would impact total sales once they began increasing displacement. He wasn't wrong.

 

[brooke]

Yeah , he was correct alright , Triumph could be described as a long way ahead of Harley as well . Harley was still running iron flat heads in the sixty’s when Triumph had used four valves in the twenties , the OHV hemi heads started in the thirties and all alloy engines were used in some competitions in the late forties . Hard to believe their mind set to ignore the advances that were going on all over the world . A special way of thinking that continued to present .
Those nice Hondas got help as America spent a lot to get Japan on the right track during recovery while poor old Britain was left to rebuild on its own .

 

[atomsplitter]

Yeah , he was correct alright , Triumph could be described as a long way ahead of Harley as well . Harley was still running iron flat heads in the sixty’s when Triumph had used four valves in the twenties , the OHV hemi heads started in the thirties and all alloy engines were used in some competitions in the late forties . Hard to believe their mind set to ignore the advances that were going on all over the world . A special way of thinking that continued to present .
Those nice Hondas got help as America spent a lot to get Japan on the right track during recovery while poor old Britain was left to rebuild on its own .

Winners never ask for help.......(even when they need it)