WORDS: Peter Elliot
PHOTO: Geoff Osborne
BACK IN BLACK
Triumph’s Bobber Black brings a host of
updates to the cool street cruiser.
ou know that moment when you
are riding in winter, the roads are
wet and the sun has just come out,
low and blinding, and the
wet surface glares like a tin foil mirror?
And you realise that you can’t see out
your visor?
I tried to think of a word for it, and the
best I could come up with was ‘silverised’.
There I was zapping down the motorway
to town, the 3:30pm traffic had come to a
crawl, swollen to corpulence with trucks
and SUVs on school sports drops, and I
was blinded. Silverised. Not ideal; so it
was coffee and wait time.
I got off the motorway and sat at a small
roadside diner, ordered a long black and
watched the ominous clouds of the same
colour descend on me. Long swishing
veils hung beneath. Blinded, soaked, and
cold. It wasn’t looking good. Then I leaned
back as my coffee arrived and reminded
myself what I was riding. The new Black
Bobber from Triumph - the fastest selling
Triumph in its 113 year history.
It is an uncompromising look - it’s black
on black on black and it is a style that
requires a certain fortitude of character;
you have to ride the Bobber like you
actually mean it. And if you don’t look the
part, or don’t have the attitude and ability
to match, it’s going to be like wearing your
brother’s ‘too big’ jeans. I toughened up.
I had wet weather gear; I had a very cool
bike with amazing ability and a damn fun
look.
So I downed the coffee and went riding.
Through the traffic with the throaty Vance
and Hines letting everyone know there
was a decent-sized motorbike nearby. I
threaded the lanes keeping the bar ends
in sight as I slipped between a thousand
or more cars. Hell, they were all stuck;
late and worried, while I cruised past with
a big smile inside the carbon full-face.
I was even playing ‘Back in Black’ on the
Sena headset. Yeah, I went there; couldn’t
believe my luck actually.
>
KIWI RIDER 49