Ultimate Triumph Collection

I’m thinking by this time nearly everyone who pre-ordered Kustom Painting Secrets, and Custom Bike Building Basics, has their books. Anyone who is still waiting should have them very soon – sometimes Media Mail can take a few extra days. Thanks to everyone who ordered these books, and the crew at Cycle Source magazine who helped to promote Custom Bike Building Basics.

One other title is coming off press as we speak: Ultimate Triumph Collection. As I’ve said, this one will not be available through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and the alternative marketing plan is still a little up in the air – by next week I should have a web address for all the Triumph nuts out there.

Ultimate Triumph Collection is one book that will not be available from the conventional and discounted book outlets. Stay tuned for a web address and ordering information.

Our other pending Triumph book, Big Book of Triumph by Lindsay Brooke, is running a bit late. What was supposed to be a summer book will more likely turn into a fall title.

The definitive Triumph bible; Big Book of Triumph, may not be ready to ship until this fall.

The Really Important Newz
Enough about books. Saturday was the Flood Run, our first really big bike run of the year, and of course the weather went in the crapper – cold with rain in the afternoon. So some bikers chose to work on the hot rod instead. I ran the old Mopar alternator up to Interstate Electrics in Centuria, Wisconsin to have the front pulley pulled off, so Bruce and Kelly at Wizard Custom Studios and St. Croix Airbrushing , could paint the pulley and part of the case. The rest of the alternator case will be polished, as soon as I find time to run it up to Deters’ in Forest Lake.

In the meantime I have to decide exactly how to fab a brake pedal, and once that is done, it will be easy to do the final bleeding of the brakes. Oh yes, and I ordered a wiring harness today from Painless Wiring.

The To Do list is long. Fabrication of the actual brake pedal is near the top.

It’s been a week of bid-ness around here. Jon Kosmoski is out of town, so there’s no progress to report on the ’34 Ford front. Jon being out of town means I can catch up on caption writing for the new book. And try to get my head around the idea of planning out the new titles for the fall of 2012.

Our distributor has a program called Q Solutions. It’s kind of like the Excel program from Hell. We have to provide what seems like hundreds of items for each new title. Everything from the title to the author’s name and home town. I have to write a short and long description of each book, and list all the reasons someone like you might want to buy each new book. If nothing else it’s one more thing to bitch about on Monday morning.

One of our titles for the fall of 2012, a close look at Bobby Sullivan’s world-class Triumph collection.

I suppose the silver lining is the fact that it forces us to finalize the list of books, and collect all the various pieces needed to get started on each one, like the cover image and the ISBN number (International Standard Book Number).

The list itself is pretty diverse this time. Everything from a typically Wolfgang title like How to Build a Café Racer, to another Composite Materials book (Handbook number 3), to a book about the infamous Bean’re, a tattoo book that focuses on the models and their tattoos, and a new Triumph book (Ultimate Triumph Collection).

The Colorful World of Tattoo Models. Caption: Our new book list for fall includes this very colorful look at some very hot tattoo models.

Regular readers, and I’m sure you number in the thousands, will recall my trip to Boston in July to photograph Bobby Sullivan’s Triumph motorcycle collection in it’s entirety. The original goal was simply to document the collection and give Bobby a complete photo record for insurance purposes. Well, I started thinking that all those photos of all those exceptional Triumphs, might make a nice book. Thus was born the idea of The Ultimate Triumph Collection – One Man’s Obsession.

The photos I took of the Bobby Sullivan collection are going to make a fine, new hardcover Triumph book.

Like our earlier Triumph Motorcycles title, this one will be a hardcover book and measure 10 by 10 inches. The chapters will include not just Bobby and all the bikes, but the team who, over the years, have assembled and maintained what I think is one of the world’s most amazing Triumph collections.

With luck, the book will be available by the end of the year, available from Wolfgang as well as Bobby Sullivan of course. Late in 2012 the book will be available through standard book-trade outlets.

The core of the book is made up of the studio shots I took in Boston – a total of nearly 80 motorcycles that date from 1937 to the early 1970s.

The last chapter in the book is titled, “Exceptional Examples.” And if there’s one truly exceptional example in Sully’s vast collection it’s this absolutely stunning 3H from 1939, assembled by the man largely responsible for the quality of all these bikes, Garry Chitwood.

It’s Saturday Night
When Saturday afternoon rolled around, I was faced with a dilemma. Ride south to the small town of Northfield for the Jesse James Days’ celebration and re-enactments of the famous bank robbery of 1800-whenever, or ride east into Wisconsin and attend a field party at a small farm.

David, retired dairy farmer and our host, along with one of his favorite mules.

The decision turned out to be a no-brainer – considering, first, that I’ve always been kind of a wanna-be country kid; and second, the fact that Stillwater, Minnesota and The Mulepen Farm in Wisconsin, are connected by a bunch of rolling two lane highways. With the cooler strapped to the luggage rack and a saddlebag full of food for the pot luck, the Bagger and I headed east. Getting there was so pleasant I almost wished it was more than a 50 mile trip.

More mules, which turn out to be nothing like I thought they would be. That is, they’re not ornery, and they run like the wind.

David’s farm is kind of a throw-back to earlier days, with mules instead of horses and simple wooden buildings assembled by David and friends. Like any good field party, this one offered great music provided by the Lisa Wenger band, followed by Vintage Raggs. All the other elements needed to make a good outdoor party were in evidence as well, from the beer tent to the hellacious bonfire and the good vibes that seemed to float through the evening air along with that sweet and pungent smell that can only be burning rope.

The party grounds, before the party really got started, complete with the big barn, and elaborate stage, which included lights and great speakers.

The really good parties always seem to get over too early, or maybe the nights are just too short to contain all the things that happen. Too quickly it was time to point the two-wheeled steed toward home. I only hope I get invited back next year, and that I’m smart enough to bring the tent and spend the night.

Yes, the party did include the requisite big-ass bonfire.