Always wanted a Norton...
- Thread starter Sawsall
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Not that it matters but....He was riding a Triumph ; )
Glad you got your Commando.
Glad you got your Commando.
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Someone justified it by stating that the German army used a lot of captured equipment, including motorcycles. Thus it was ok to use a Triumph in the movie. Sounds plausible to me :wink:
Congratulations, and welcome to the forum Sawsall. Best of luck with your Norton!
Debby
72 semi-Combat
74 850 project bike (up and running!)
Congratulations, and welcome to the forum Sawsall. Best of luck with your Norton!
Debby
72 semi-Combat
74 850 project bike (up and running!)
Welcome to the only forum that really covers the many needs of the faithful. I always thought that Steve Mcqueen wanted something that he was familiar with for some of the shots. Who was it that made the famous jumps? I have forgotten his name but he was a legend in the stunt biz.
Mike
Mike
Thanks for the warm welcome & settingme straight on my ignorance!
I somewhere in my memories I got Steve McQueen riding a Norton??? Maybe my Dad or one of my brothers told me it was a Norton??? Anyway, I have one now.... What bike was Bronson riding in "Then Came Bronson"?
I somewhere in my memories I got Steve McQueen riding a Norton??? Maybe my Dad or one of my brothers told me it was a Norton??? Anyway, I have one now.... What bike was Bronson riding in "Then Came Bronson"?
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Sawsall said:
You have witnessed first hand the breadth and depth of knowledge on this forum. People here are incredibly helpful and generous and have helped me out immensely with my quirky Commando. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Norton!!
Tobin
74 Commando 850
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Sawsall said:
You may have seen a photo of Steve McQueen on a Commado S model. He took one of those, along with a Triumph and Husqvarna to France for the filming of LeMans. Although most people associate Steve with Triumphs, he also owned and was seen and photographed with his many Indians.
McQueen also owned a Vincent, not the high performance twin, just one of the lowly 500CC Comet singles, also known as "half a Vincent"
Famous Vincent racer and record breaker Marty Dickerson (South Cal Vincent Owners Section)mentions how someone with a familiar voice offered some help to him one day while he was working on his Vincent Sprint bike in the pits. He turned to see that it was Steve McQueen talking to him. McQueen suggested that Dickerson's problem (clutch slippage) was in the clutch cable lower end which was pinching the cable inner and was causing clutch slippage. This turned out to be correct.
Both the Comet and the twin have more or less the same cable arrangement and McQueen mentioned he had experienced the same problem with his little Comet.
On a side note\, Dickerson also met and befriended Burt Munro (World's Fastest Indian) and made many reel to reel tapes of Munro discussing all of the modifications he had made to his 200 MPH 1922 Indian.
Anthony Hopkins used these tapes extensively in researching the role and getting into the part. Dickerson was listed as a consultant for the movie.
Famous Vincent racer and record breaker Marty Dickerson (South Cal Vincent Owners Section)mentions how someone with a familiar voice offered some help to him one day while he was working on his Vincent Sprint bike in the pits. He turned to see that it was Steve McQueen talking to him. McQueen suggested that Dickerson's problem (clutch slippage) was in the clutch cable lower end which was pinching the cable inner and was causing clutch slippage. This turned out to be correct.
Both the Comet and the twin have more or less the same cable arrangement and McQueen mentioned he had experienced the same problem with his little Comet.
On a side note\, Dickerson also met and befriended Burt Munro (World's Fastest Indian) and made many reel to reel tapes of Munro discussing all of the modifications he had made to his 200 MPH 1922 Indian.
Anthony Hopkins used these tapes extensively in researching the role and getting into the part. Dickerson was listed as a consultant for the movie.
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Sawsall said:
You can purchase very high quality DVDs of the complete move and TV series of Bronson from horseapple.com
Very cool.... 8)
The Germans did get their hands on some Triumphs. Probably not many Speed Twins though although the BEF did have a few impressed examples.
This picture on Airliners.net shows a Triumph 3SW but I suspect that even Steve McQueen would have had trouble jumping fences on a 350 side valve.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Germany- ... k=keyword_
This picture on Airliners.net shows a Triumph 3SW but I suspect that even Steve McQueen would have had trouble jumping fences on a 350 side valve.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Germany- ... k=keyword_
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great photo!
The Germans had their own Triumph Motorcycles until 1957. Many models were similar to the British Triumphs. After the susidiary was sold, the bikes were built under license from English Triumph.
Triumph TWN History
A native of Germany, Siegfried Bettmann founded the Triumph factory in Coventry in 1886 where he built bicycles. A decade later he built another Triumph factory in his home town of Nürnberg. The English factory built its first motorcycles in 1902 with the German plant following suite in 1903.
The German factory built machines very similar to the English bikes up until 1929 when the economic and political climate forced a change to home-grown components. After the war the factory was merged with Adler (in 1956) and German-built Triumph motorcycles ceased production.
Triumph TWN History
A native of Germany, Siegfried Bettmann founded the Triumph factory in Coventry in 1886 where he built bicycles. A decade later he built another Triumph factory in his home town of Nürnberg. The English factory built its first motorcycles in 1902 with the German plant following suite in 1903.
The German factory built machines very similar to the English bikes up until 1929 when the economic and political climate forced a change to home-grown components. After the war the factory was merged with Adler (in 1956) and German-built Triumph motorcycles ceased production.
...for mikegray660
At the risk of spamming this thread to extinction and taking it way off topic, it seems that Mike likes pictures of aeroplanes.
This is an 'appropriated' French Terrot in use with a Canadian squadron of 2 TAF in Normandy. It's quite likely that the Germans had used it for a while first.
The Wehrmacht was not too proud to use Nortons either...Once again the Luftwaffe.
At the risk of spamming this thread to extinction and taking it way off topic, it seems that Mike likes pictures of aeroplanes.
This is an 'appropriated' French Terrot in use with a Canadian squadron of 2 TAF in Normandy. It's quite likely that the Germans had used it for a while first.
The Wehrmacht was not too proud to use Nortons either...Once again the Luftwaffe.
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