Saturday 4 December 2010

Friday Bike



This is one of Alistair Laurie's Triumph Triple specials. He built his bikes as light as possible, not just the chassis but many of the engine parts. If I remember right he built a Triple to try for 200mph, it was fitted with a full "Dustbin" fairing, don't know if he ever got to or near his target speed.
In the early 80s we visited his shop in Dumfries (SW Scotland) quite a few times, it was worth the ride just to look at his bikes

7 comments:

  1. That is one nice looking Triple. Does he build for racing or for the street as well?

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  2. From what I remember his bikes were sometimes used on the road, well they had a reg number on them, but were mainly used for speed events.
    I think there was a photo in a bike magazine of the day which showed how light his bike was with him standing holding it off the ground, I'll need to see if I can find a copy of that pic.
    He used to build specials to order, also any engineering and one off parts. Last I heard he moved a bit further south to Carlisle and opened another shop, but that was a while ago

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  3. Just to add to the above he still has a place in Carlisle, Cumbria Plating Services, and I just gave him a call. He still has one of the Triples but its in boxes, and by the sound of it has a collection of interesting bikes. So I'll be paying him a visit come the better weather and get a story for you + some pics

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  4. Love the sound of the old triples. Tuned up one with an open exhaust years ago...had to test ride that one several times. HL

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  5. He used to fit a baffle? flap, to help keep it a bit quiter in the town. It was cable operated from the handle bars.

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  6. Ingenious, better than my brothers system of using his running shoe (while he was wearing it),over the end of his open mega...whenever he saw a Highway patrolman.....HL

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