Sunday, May 26, 2013

Royal Signals Motor Cycle Display Team

I have been watching for a reasonably priced copy of Hughie Hanox's now out of print  Tales of Triumph Motorcycles and the Meriden Factory book for several months now. There are potions of the book that can be viewed through resources like Google Books. The publisher's site says there is a reprint planned for August 2013 so my search may be over soon.

I was interested to find Hughie's mention of being a member of Royal Signals Motor Cycle Display Team. There is an entire chapter devoted to it. It's pretty clear Hughie was pretty proud of his participation with the team.



This looks like an early 50's Tiger accept it's a flathead. I suspect it's a TRW engine but I've never seen a TRW in quite this configuration. Interesting.



The book mentions that the Triumph factory supplied all the team's bikes. I attempted to chase down the actual model the guys rode without much luck. Maybe someone who sees this will know what it is.



I did however find this 1950 Triumph 7ST prototype designed to be a sidecar tug. I looks to me like a Thunderbird with the experimental 750cc flathead installed. The much beloved black Thunderbird often referred to as the "Blackbird" was not offered until 1953. That looks like a later larger post '51 nacelle to me too.

I'm stunned I never stumbled across the UK National Motorcycle Museum web site before. They have a pretty amazing collection.

6 comments:

Flathead45 said...

This says a lot about Triumph strength. It's one thing to do this on a heavy HD, and quite another to do it on a Triumph. Some creative stunts too!

Danielle said...

My dad was in the Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team in the early 1950s. He went on to race speedway for years after that!
Somewhere we have photos of him in one of those pyramids.

BitMonkey said...

Pretty neat Danielle. If you ever turn up any of those photos I'd love to see them!

Anonymous said...

The model is a TRW500 sidevalve twin 500.

Spoons said...

If you have any question I'll run them by my dad. I'm pretty sure he's on the far right ( as you look at it ) on the pyramid in the third row

delphie71 said...

Hi! I’m trying to find a photo of one of the display pyramids if anyone might have one! My grandad, Jim Brown was a chief tester at the meridian motorcycle factory and also in the display team. My mom said he was at the top of the pyramid!

Thank you

Christine

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