Tritons

Anyone who says the clock has stopped and that history still isn't in the making should check their heartbeat.... ?

And whats with that 1962 date. ?
Nortons moved from Brum in 1963, so there is a bit of a gap there. ?

As the saying goes, if folks didn't think they could build a better mousetrap, we'd all still be riding penny farthings.
 
Is this argument really still going on? It's useless. Arguing about history is foolish. History is history, and that's it. It's in the past. It's forever stamped in time for when it was relevant, and when it happened.
Rest assured that my hear is still beating, and I know the definition of the word "history". Just for fun though, I looked it up in Websters dictionary. And guess what? The definition hasn't changed since I first learned it as a boy. To pretend like history still evolves is ridiculous. The idea that a Norton still exists today, doesn't mean it continues to change its history from when it was manufactured. Does it create more history in 2013? Yes, but that has nothing to do with what history happened with it in the 1960's.
Does the history of WW2 continue to evolve? This thread is ridiculous.

1962 is the last year of Bracebridge St. That was my only point of reference to the year 1962, which Rohan brought up in the first place.
 
I am still confused about the "I like the pre-unit one the best" comments.
 
Yeah, the more I process this thread, the more I revert to my original post. The slimline does have a few more 'modern' bits (from the 70's) but without a doubt, it represents the backbone, heartbeat and soul of a proper Triton; you have a 60's slimline frame, a '60/'61 pre-unit engine, Akront/Excel rims, Mikunis, Smiths Chronos, Lyta alloy Sprint tank, Manx seat, Ceriani front end with Suzuki 4-shoe hub, conical rear hub, Works shocks, clip-ons, rearsets, etc . . . all time period appropriate hand selected bits installed to make a lighter, faster, better handling machine that wasn't produced in a factory.

A bike like my '59 R60 below is without a doubt historically accurate. Why? Because this is how it came from the factory, along with 20 thousand or so counterparts, and it sits relatively unchanged with 8k miles 54 years later. Tritons were assembled over three decades (and still today) by enthusiasts who gathered the parts, often second hand or hand made, and assembled them to their liking making necessary modifications along the way. Both of my bikes represent proper Triton heritage . . .

I could post a few pics of my little Ducatis and start a whole new debate :wink:

Tritons
 
We are not arguing about history - you are !!
For the rest of us, tritons are still being built, and ridden, and changed, and shown, and discussed....

I didn't mention 1962 as the final year of anything - someone else threw that into the mix.
You seem to have had something to say on this matter.
You still didn't say what that video was about.....

Lets get our 'facts' straight here.
There were 1963 model manxes built, not many of them, but that would suggest that 1962 was not quite the final year.


wilkey113 said:
Is this argument really still going on? It's useless. Arguing about history is foolish. History is history, and that's it. It's in the past. It's forever stamped in time for when it was relevant, and when it happened.
Rest assured that my hear is still beating, and I know the definition of the word "history". Just for fun though, I looked it up in Websters dictionary. And guess what? The definition hasn't changed since I first learned it as a boy. To pretend like history still evolves is ridiculous. The idea that a Norton still exists today, doesn't mean it continues to change its history from when it was manufactured. Does it create more history in 2013? Yes, but that has nothing to do with what history happened with it in the 1960's.
Does the history of WW2 continue to evolve? This thread is ridiculous.

1962 is the last year of Bracebridge St. That was my only point of reference to the year 1962, which Rohan brought up in the first place.


wilkey113 said:
Another fact is that a lot of Norton history did indeed stop in 1962, since AMC came into play, and the Bracebridge St. factory was closed. That's a pretty simple fact. But certainly not the end of the road for Norton. Although it wasn't much more than a decade later that the whole thing was done. So I'd certainly say that Norton history is indeed forever trapped in time. It's history stopped there.

This one is for Rohan since he likes to refer to it so much:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FRuqoTKzl4
 
No matter what you say anywhere here, someone will mis-interpret or misquote you.....

Fletch said:
I am still confused about the "I like the pre-unit one the best" comments.
 
The video was of a guy trying to ride one of your beloved Penny Farthings, which you refer to so often.
It was meant simply as comic relief. I needed a laugh after the route this thread has gone.
 
Haha, this is kind of silly . . . one could argue it is a matter of semantics, but let's not go there.

They are cool bikes, I like them. I posted the pics for fun, to share, and mostly because I like old bikes and have worked hard to gather a decent collection. So be it.

Peace.
 
Sorry chaps, I'm one of the "I like the pre unit one best" crowd.
What I mean't to say was "I like the slimline one best", if only for the more comfortable riding position. They are both gorgeous.
The main thing is that the owner likes them!!
cheers
wakeup
 
And most us, at least, adnmired the pics of them.
Thanks for posting.

After a while, you figure out who the troublemakers/nitpickers/old grannies here are. !
So have we figured out yet that tritons are a moving goalpost, which not everyone seems to have noticed or kept up with...
 
BTW, I only love that quote about the penny farthings.

I know (distantly) some who own them, and you wouldn't get me even near one. !
The world has definitely moved on since then.
 
By "troublemakers/nitpickers/old grannies", I assume you mean people that actually care about the facts, the details and have real admiration for the bikes and the era that they come from?
It's funny when some are considered troublemakers for pointing out the these facts instead of blindly stroking everyone on the forum.
It'd be a pretty boring forum and totally worthless if we all just posted high fives and thumbs ups to anything that someone posted here.
Apparently people's feelings getting hurt is more important that accuracy. And apparently, factual history is thrown blindly to the wind, and we're all able to rewrite it as we see fit in 2013, and then act like that's just how it is.

And since the "world has moved on since then" in regards to the Penny Farthing, is that not a point in history? Has that evolved as well? Are guys still building those and acting like they're historically correct? Or does this moving historical goalpost only apply to Nortons, Tritons and other British bikes?
 
It is all good- everyone has a right to their opinion.

Haha, I went and looked at the slimline at least three times to make sure it was a pre-unit!!!
 
I assume you mean people that actually care about the facts, the details and have real admiration for the bikes and the era that they come from?

If we didn't care about the facts and history, this thread would not have gone past a handful of replies . . . it would have been nothing more than a bloke's picture of a couple of shiny bikes.
 
Are guys still building those and acting like they're historically correct?

Once again you leave me confused. You refer to a mass, factory produced (for the time) item. The Triton was neither. You are comparing apples to oranges.

So, in 2013 I buy a township recorded 1901 farmhouse. In 1980 it gets an addition that includes two new bedrooms and a bathroom and is completely refurbished with new electrical and plumbing. In 2001 it gets new, higher efficiency windows, central heat/air and a new, period correct, slate roof and a mudroom addition. In 2013, I repaint it, have the brick tuckpointed and restore the chimney. Is it still a 1901 farmhouse? YES.
 
Fletch said:
Is it still a 1901 farmhouse? YES.

Most definitely. And as it should be.
There was actually a big court case in the UK a while back, about vehicles, that defined this in court.

A Japanese collector paid 10 million quid for Old Bentley Number One.
A vehicle of not inconsiderable historical value. And in quids too.

Then he saw film of it going over the banking at Brooklands, into the trees.
Neither it nor the driver fared very well - they were both trashed, in fact.
So the owner asked - what have I paid 10 mill for then ?

In a court case costing reportedly more than a million quid, the court ruled that the vehicle, as he bought it, was the rebuilt remains
of Bentley Number One, it was the sole vehicle involved, and that what had happened to it was part of its history.
And that he had no case to get a refund on his purchase.
Honour was satisfied, and buyer and seller shook hands.

That is now THE legal case that defines what is original in the auto world.
It couldn't be any other way.
Thats how history works....
 
So with your train of thought, if I for instance owned Geoff Duke's TT winning Manx Norton, and I ripped it's motor out and replaced it with something else, put Miukni carbs, Ceriani forks and a dual disk front end on it, it would still be historically accurate, since what I just did to it is now part of it's "history"?
Of course that's an extreme exaggeration in order to make a point.

I'm losing brain cells by the minute even contributing to this thread, and wasting time I'll never get back reading thru it all.
I'm officially done with this one. So anyone that wants, can go on changing history with the stroke of your keyboard, without any fear that someone might nitpick / trouble make / or old grannie any of your newly written history.
 
History is happening while we type here.

You can either be part of it, or fight against it....
 
You have lost me with your Geoff Duke example though.
Who are these thoughts Nazis that are demanding 'historical accuracy'.
Where did that sneak into the conversation.

Are you saying that with a mikuni, its no longer Geoff Dukes' bike.
It certainly is part of Geoffs bikes' history though, is it not. ?

If you fitted an electric starter and chopperized it, its still Geoffs bike....
You may not like it, but thats not to say its not so.
 
Back
Top