WORDS: BOOTHY
IMAGES: CHAPELST. LEONARDS
There will be plenty of folk that still remember the likes of Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins bombing around the countryside, evading the Nazis on retro-as-you-like Triumph motorbikes. The same folk will probably remember old Bonnevilles and Triumph Trophys with a nostalgic smile. But not me. I’m too young. And I can remember many a conversation with my dad, and my old grandad, about the bikes they used to race when they were young men; they’d be bursting with pride as they’d show me pictures of their now classic race bikes from yesteryear – much to my disapproval. “You mean you raced that?” I would scoff, unimpressed. “Why didn’t you race a proper bike?”