(scroll down for more
pictures)
This
BRAND NEW, never-been-run 1966 Triumph Bonneville is PERFECT!
And probably the ONLY brand new
Bonneville in the world. The frame and engine numbers match and
it is brand, spanking new. Everything.
Not
a mark on it.
This Bonnie was built
by an English-iron Canadian bike restoration expert, Rick Brown, as
a labor of love over many years from ONLY brand new
1966 parts that he painstakingly collected and assembled from
all over the world. You can't believe this beauty
when you see it...every detail is authentic and perfect. Not a single
used part on it.
It's like being in a time warp because it's a brand new, 36 year-old machine!
Totally nuts.
I acquired this unique
piece of rolling sculpture through an art trade and I am in love with
it...but
because it is what it is, it really shouldn't be ridden...in
fact it would be a certain kind of sin to ride it
(yet a certain kind of wonderfulness, of course) because then
it would instantly become just another
"mint" Bonnie--one hell of an example, to be sure--but
it would no longer be unique.
When I wouldstand next
to this baby or (this is the dangerous bit) sit on it whilst taking
it off the trailer, every fibre of my being
screams out, "Go on, give it a kick and take off! You know
you want to!"
Did I ever!
It's
like being in the presence of a beautiful naked woman, yet having
to keep your hands off, you know?
Look at her all you want, let her excite you and lure you with
her charms, but if you submit, you're a goner
(but in heaven for that one brief moment).
'Get what I'm saying????
(the
engine and gearbox are actually coated in assembly oil and the
gas tank and carbs have never tasted petrol)
I had a '66 Bonnie
in '68 in San Francisco, and it is my favorite motorcycle...so this
one sang to me with
her very special siren song with my name on it.
I
told my two biker buddies from the 60's, Ben and Funky Jack,
about the bike (Ben used to have a Matchless 650,
and Jack had a beautiful yellow Triumph Tiger 500 that got stolen)
and they both offered to take it and keep it in their front rooms
until I worked out what to do with it, just so they could be
close to it, look at it (as Ben said when he saw the pictures,
"Paul, I can almost smell it!")
and enjoy this wonderful machine from that magical era in all
the appreciative ways we bikers love our metal.
To
get out of this dilemma while I came to terms with what to do
with the bike, I took each up on their
offer; but when push came to shove, they both declined saying
they couldn't be trusted with it.
It would surely find its way between their legs and on the open
road in a weak moment!
(and probably in the FIRST week!)
I
know the feeling!
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