Happy Friday

Closing out a week on a high note. Have a great weekend.

Jeff Leighton and his 50 Triumph from a shoot earlier this year.

Paul Whitehurst - 52 Triumph Thunderbird

Photos from the Greasy Kulture Issue 28 photoshoot of Paul Whitehurst's 52 Triumph.

Photoshoot Wednesday

A quick shoot of The Speed Merchant bike before it leaves for up north to Cole Foster's show.  If your up in Salinas this week go to Cole's show and stop by the Speed Merchant booth and check out the new Triumph.

Mike Davis 62 T120C

Shots I did with Mike Davis a few months back for Greasy Kulture magazine.  It's in the current issue #23 so pick it up at your local newstand or order online from GKM here.

Paul Whitehurst Triumph Photoshoot

Photoshoot for Greasy Kulture magazine today.

Damon York- EBAY - 1950 6T Triumph Thunderbird

When I went down to shoot Damon York's Triumph 500 for the Greasy Kulture Issue 20 he pulled out one of his other gems so I could shoot it. I sent him a email asking him a few questions about it and this is what he had to say:

Julia and myself bought two Triumph 500s as project M/Cs about six years ago. I already had my 1962 Ford Falcon & my 1927 T Ford Roadster (attached is a pix from rolls & pleats) in the garage, and now had these two rolling piles of cobwebs to add to the pile. You've seen my garage, so I was running out of room. First sold the Falcon & picked up a stockish 1964 Bonnieville , I just wasn't using the roadster any more. All the guys in the car club were moving away from Los Angeles area including myself. So I decided to sell the Roadster or trade it for something I was gonna use. I came across an auction on ebay for this 1950 6T Triumph Thunderbird. It had been on there before & didn't sell, but it looked different before. Now it looked lower in the front with some different bar and added jems from it's first auction. All of it was that Green color! Everything! I emailed the cat about a trade? He called me and it turns out we had a mutual friend in the name of John Edwards. His name was Mike Davis.

So Mike & John came over to look at the car and a about a week later the deed was done! About a month later Mike sold the car on ebay for $9500.00 BUY IT NOW & I told him he coulda made more, but he was happy & so was I. Here is some specs. Motor is a 1950 6T Triumph Thunderbird (built by Meatball at "Hell On Wheels"), Frame is a 1953 Triumph, BTH magneto, Seat, Pillion pad, mirror, foot pegs are all Bates, front wheel is a 21" Jones with a Goodyear ribbed tire, rear wheel is a 19" Dunlop with a rare Avon 4.00 race tire, both laced with stainless steel Buchanan's spokes, Webco racing handle bars, Tricor heel toe shifter, Wassell fuel tank with Edwarts push/pull petrol valves, Amal right side 626 carb, rear rider pegs are Owl bullet rubbers, vintage very old airplane wing tail light, stock header pipes are tach welded with Superior tips, headlight is off a old tractor(i think a John Deere) a that's what it had when the trade went down. Since I've had the bike the oil tank mounted cracked (fixed), license plate mount with light has broken off going down P.C.H. (fixed), the M/C sat so low because there were NO SPRINGS, NO SUSPENSION in the front forks so I took a oversized pre-unit internal spring and cut it down and made my own spring pre-load kit with about $4.00 in parts from ACE Hardware and with a set of NEW fork tubes from the U.K. Then I had to get rid of all that Green, so I removed the rear brake pedal, both foot peg mounts, oil tank & rear fender strut (bad welds) were already off for repair, & the lower fork sliders all went off to the powder coater to get done in Gloss Black.

Then the mainshaft bearing in the transmission circlip came out and got chewed up allowing the bearing to walk out along with the kicker spring breaking! So I got all of that sorted out and then the exhaust went over to Jimmy Whites Hot Rod, Circle City, in Orange and he did a amazing job welding the Superior tips on the stock header pipes then off to the chromers they went. Then sort out and fix the wiring just to clean it up. Then I got (5) MCM Starburst valve cover caps from good old Wes White over at Four Ace Cycles. Then off with the front wheel to make custom ribbed front wheel spacers that were much needed to make the front pop even more. And thats how it sits today. I have a couple other things to do just to bring it up to my specs.

A little about Damon: Hobbies are Surfing, Music, and of course motorcycles. I worked in the surfing industry from 1987-1995 for Victory Wetsuit/Margo surfwear custom making wetsuit for people like Mark Richards!! That was fun!! Then off to Billabong U.S.A. back when Bob Hurley was our boss. During the Billabong days I became friends with a guy name Mark Reeder, who ran the surf team for Billabong when I got there in 1989. He had a bad ass 1975 FLH Harley-Davidson custom bike. He ended up selling it to me and that was my first street bike. Some friends and I really got into bikes and we all made a pack that we were gonna go to M.M.I. in Phoenix AZ. Well everyone but me got into some stuff I'd rather not say, and off to Phoenix I went in the spring of 1995. Left Phoenix in late 1996 and have worked for several Harley-Davidson dealers over the last 15 years and also for the last 5 years have worked for,Sunday Nights, Huntington Surf & Sport where Mark Reeder and I have reconnected. As far as being into Triumphs, I just fell in love with the way they handle and the low end power band they have! Also how small they are! Just so lean! They were way ahead of their time!! I just love them!! As far as projects go, one of the Triumph 500's we got is the one I just finished for myself and we are currently workin on Julia's 500!! But I have two for myself I am workin on!! A 1947 Triumph Speed Twin & 1971 Flat Tracker (maybe for track only or street tracker?!?! Not sure yet)

Thanks Damon for everything. You can check out Damon's blog here at Nomads Cycle.

Damon York-Triumph

Spent Super Bowl Sunday morning down in Huntington Beach shooting Damon York's killer Triumph. We made our way down to Boomers parking lot in Fountain Valley to start the shoot. So I set up my lights and get the bike into position. I started shooting a few shots and then a park official came walking over and told us we had to stop because of Corporate regulations. He was cool about it so as I packed up the gear another park worker came over and explained why. Guess a few years back a group came down to do a shoot with a bunch of girls. Started out in the ferris wheel and then they made their way back to the batting cages. I guess tops came off and then the girls were using the bats for other uses than hitting balls. Corporate got wind of it and put a halt to any photoshoots on company grounds. So we ended up shooting down the street in a park and later in front of Damon's house. Editing photos of the shoot and then they are off to Guy over at Greasy Kulture Magazine for a future issue. Thanks Damon.

Brittown The Movie

I had lunch with Scott Di Lalla yesterday and he gave me a copy of their second movie they put together called Brittown.  If you haven't seen it yet check it out.  You can buy it at www.choppertown.com.  They are working on a third movie due out soon.

James Dean First and Last Bike

At the age of 15 James Dean was given a 1947 CZ 125cc motorcycle by his uncle and guardian, Marcus Wislow. He would race that bike on an improvised track behind Marvin Carter's motorcycle shop. James' uncle bought the CZ from Marvin. Dean later on traded in his CZ for a Royal Enfield 500cc vertical twin that he ended up burning a valve on the way to back to New York. While that bike was being worked on he ended up trading it in and paying a extra $400 for a maroon and gold striped 1952 Indian Warrior TT. He would store that bike in New York at the Greenwich Village garage where Steve McQueen worked as a part-time motorcycle mechanic. The two would bond over their love for motorcycles.

James Dean would use part of his advance from the movie "East of Eden" to buy a used red MG TD and a shell blue 1955 Triumph T110. He ended up trading his T110 for a 1955 Triumph TR5 Trophy, VIN TR559196. This was also shell blue and Dean went on to make a few modifications to it. He installed upright handlebars by Flanders, removed the muffler and installed a older, 6T-style rider seat. He flipped the passenger seat backwards just like Marlon Brando did on his 1950 Triumph 6T in "The Wild One."

During the late 1980's, Marcus Winslow Jr, went on a quest to locate Dean's last bike, his 1955 Triumph T5 Trophy. He found the bike in Minnesota and bought it back. The bike was restored back to how James had it. The 1947 CZ is in an unrestored state and at the Fairmount Historical Museum.

James Dean on his 1947 CZ

James Dean's Triumph in front of the house he grew up in.

From the book "Legendary Motorcycles"