Triumphrat

BCTriumph · 03-17-2008

Maybe you met Mr. Bloor....traveling incognito?????

Thrux-ton-up · 03-17-2008

BC Triumph - no not Bloor, callahan for sure, I'd met him before and have followed his Thruxton cup racing.

Whoa - no we did not get a long visit - we all remained with helmets on and it was late in the day and we where all a long ways from home. So it was brief and informal. Would have liked to talk to him over lunch.

Mancha - I was on the Thrux, but again not much time, so no comments on the bike. Jim and 2 other judges did give the thrux 1st place in the bike show at the 04 rat raid at deals gap though, so he has seen it before. He also saw the bike a few years ago at the Tiumph Open House they held at their North American HQ in Newnan GA (south ATL).

Jeff - I know all to well - it cost me as much to fill my bike now as it did my auto 10 years ago. I'm seeing 3.60 for the premium grade.

Yonder - yep strange - I thought Mr Barber (Barber Motosports /museum) but Jim said no - just some guy that loves triumphs and wanted to race again.

Phil - It's a tough job, but somebodies gotta do it.

M700R Thanks - thats a left over from my high school days in the mid 70's.

Bonafide · 03-17-2008

Quote:

We kinda give him the go away weirdo look.

HA! That's exactly what I doing. Maybe it was his approach? But when he said, "I'm buying ..." I was all over that. That was one hella sweet 675 he was riding. He had pulled in just before we left out from Dales. I was thinking he musta followed us out of there.

Of course he didnt catch us on the 20+ miles of hwy 60 cause we were busy shredding some tires ...

CYNCRZR · 03-17-2008

John - You Hooligan... You gotta stop the Burnouts!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonafide

ohiorider · 03-17-2008

Great thread, and a neat experience! I started thinking about the possiblilty of meeting John Bloor riding a bike, and found that he would be (according to this Wiki article) 77, perhaps 78 years old this year. He's been at this Triumph revitalization thing longer than most of us remember.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Wiki: In 1983 Triumph went into receivership.[3] John Bloor, a 53-year-old plasterer turned wealthy English property developer and builder, who had little interest in motorcycles, had for some time wanted to start up a manufacturing business. Bloor became interested in Triumph, and particularly its still highly regarded brand name. Bloor bought the name and manufacturing rights from the Official Receiver. Enfield India lost, bidding £55,000 pounds to the Official Receiver. A new company Triumph Motorcycles Ltd (initially Bonneville Coventry Ltd), was formed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting comment about Bloor outbidding Enfield India for rights to the name and manufacturing rights.

Bob

Thrux-ton-up · 03-17-2008

Hey Chris - ya know the tires started out looking decent enough for another 150 miles. Not to be, I just pulled em off the bike and ordered some sport demons 150 out back and 120 up front. This michelins are so soft, they wear rate is incredibly fast - so these are the last my bike will see. I think I tore the hide off em using heavy down shifting, engine braking in the mountains yesterday.

PfM · 03-17-2008

So we have a plasterer who has little interest in motorcycles but who was intrerested in Triumph because of its good name. (Gee, since all the Meriden Triumphs were slow, unreliable oil pumps, I wonder where that came from).

It is not difficult to see why we have re-use of the old model names, plastic fittings, fake carbs and a catalogue of bling that a pimp would drool over.

Now I have a foot in both camps and will say that the Hinckleys are well made, but when you compare Bloor to Edward Turner, you are pretty much comparing Hinckley to Coventry/Meriden.

Turner was an engineer who loved motorcycles.
Bloor is a businessman/estate agent/plasterer who likes making money.

That is why they will never be the same.
Not that it is a bad thing either.

ohiorider · 03-17-2008

I think there's much more to John Bloor's motivation to bring Triumph back to life than simply making a buck (or pound or Euro). In my estimation, it was an extremely high-risk proposition that was funded primarily from his personal finances. From what I've read, I'm led to believe that Bloor was in part motivated because of a sense of embarassment that England, a country who had ruled the motorcycle world for half a century or more, let the bike business simply slip away.

I give this guy a lot of credit for having the courage to invest in a company that was little more than a name when he purchased it, and to bring with it the management and manufacturing skills to see Triumph through to where they are today.

(Didn't mean to take this thread off course)

Bob

tubby885 · 03-17-2008

IMO John Bloor is the greatest living Englishman.How on earth he hasn't been knighted by HM the Queen is a mystery to me,especially when you look at some of the muppets who have been knighted in recent years.

lindsayt · 03-17-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubby885

IMO John Bloor is the greatest living Englishman.How on earth he hasn't been knighted by HM the Queen is a mystery to me,especially when you look at some of the muppets who have been knighted in recent years.

You mean like "Sir" Conrad Black? I hear he's having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new digs. Seriously, the knightings for leaders of industry seem a bit out of whack.