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The Triumph... ( the Scooter)

To: <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Subject: The Triumph... ( the Scooter)
From: "Keith Turk" <kturk@ala.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 04:41:06 -0500
So here's the story...   I've had a hankering for a scooter for many years....
not just something I could buy but something that was cool beyond it's basic
function as a Bike... something that had some aesthetic merit...  being weird
as hell... you know this whole process of acquiring the bike is going to be a
mess....

My initial thoughts were to build a Cafe racer like I would have built if I
had the money back in the day... so a mid 70's Brit bike was kind of what I
had on my mind.... ( remember who we're playing with here and how many cards
there are in my deck )...  Anyway I'd been thinking about an Aerial Square
four in a Norton featherbed frame....  so here's how it ended up....  I was
cursing the I-bay auctions and found the Triumph Bonneville 750 that Richard
Geere ( sp ) rode in the Movie " An Officer and a Gentleman".... the bike was
also used in the movie "Blue City"....  When an Officer and a Gentleman came
out I loved the movie... it was a lot like my life and I loved the bike... so
I sorted out how to buy it and made a deposit.... drove straight thru to
California and picked up the Bike on the way to El Mirage.... it wasn't
exactly as advertised so the price was adjusted... and I got the bike...  not
running particularly well.... it had been sitting in storage since 1984....
totally neglected... it is " the Bike"... so that part was good.... but it's
basically in rougher shape... keep in mind it was a prop in a couple of
movies.... so they didn't much care about it and the fella that owned it
didn't know much about it.... so when I got to the lake bed with it.... 4-5
guys came over to see it... and we got it running then everyone took a ride on
it.... Ed Van Scoy being first... Sam Wheeler, Martin... his buddy and then
Sam's pal...  it was a real hoot.... matter of fact it was one of the real
highlights of El Mirage for me that all these guys really wanted to ride it
and we all just had a dang blast.... everyone's opinion was that the bike
really did have the 1601miles on it that it was reported to have when I bought
it...  Perfect.... and the bike runs like a top after these guys got it all
sorted out....  I'm looking forward to taking Tonya for a ride this morning...
it should be a real hoot....

K




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