Classic Bike Guide – September 2018

BLIMEY, I NEED to clean the house. And do some washing. And those weeds are really getting out of hand. It only needs time, but with summer come the shows, the meets, the festivals and the race meetings. And with the glorious weather that most of us have been blessed with, it makes it even easier to justify another day out on the bikes. At this time of year there seems to be something to do every weekend and most evenings.

In no particular order, I’ve been to Wales for the Beezumph rally, London for the Malle Mile, Kent for the Café Racer Cup, Bexhill Bikefest, Llangollen for the Llan Bikefest, Mallory and Snetterton; not to mention the excellent weekly Old Buckenham Two Wheel Tuesday and Whitwell Station meets in my area. Everywhere I go I never cease to be amazed by the bikes I see, the enthusiasm for a marque, the broad spread of different characters and the people, all of whom love bikes.

Four people I was fascinated to meet were at the Beezumph rally at Anglesey circuit, celebrating 50 years of the Rocket 3 and Trident triples. Darryl Pendlebury, Skip Peacock and Kate and Bill Fannon all worked in or around the Triumph factory and the tales they told could have kept me entertained for hours; the highs, with fellow Triumph stalwarts Percy and Di Tait, and the lows, with the workers and union issues. “It was a lovely place to work, like a great big family,” explains Skip, whose main job was to fit the brake shoes and paint the badges, while her late husband was chief production tester and Bill’s boss for years. Darryl ran the production tests, while Bill worked in the experimental department. “Bill used to help me out with my racing,” smiles Darryl. It was a wonderful insight into a time I’ve only been able to read about.

The story of the triples is as interesting as the questions it raises: if the bikes had been released for sale years earlier when Doug Hele had actually designed the engine, would they have helped the British bike scene?