I Made It To The Triumph Event After All
Monday, January 22nd, 2024
I was struck by how small and flimsy-looking these turn signals were, and then many people quickly noticed how one of the newly unveiled bikes already had its left front signal broken off.
It turned out that the conflict I thought I had on Friday night that would prevent me from going to this Triumph “British Invasion Tour” thing was not a conflict. So I went to the Triumph event.
It was interesting on a lot of levels. First off was just getting there. This place, Mile High Station, is directly underneath the Colfax Viaduct, on Old Colfax Avenue, and getting there is not exactly a straightforward deal. But I googled it and it turned out that if I came up I-25 and got off at 8th Avenue I could then go under the highway and take an immediate right onto Zuni and it took me straight there. Now I know.
The next thing that I had not expected was that I had to pay for parking. It cost me $11. Not thrilled about that. They could have mentioned the parking situation.
The bikes were checked out by a lot of people. I even threw my leg over one of them.
This really must have been a gathering of the Triumph faithful because there was a lot of Triumph apparel in the crowd, although there were also a few Indian shirts or jackets and one guy was wearing Aprilia. And it was a very affluent-looking crowd.
I had wondered about eating dinner before coming because the invitation touted “light refreshments and beverages.” Fortunately I did eat. The hors d’oeuvres, as it were, were being served by three young women who would come out with a platter holding about six items, which were quickly grabbed and then they would go back and in a while come out with more. This for a crowd I would put at around 200. Somehow I did manage to get one hors d’oeuvre.
And yes they had a bar but while I presumed it would be beer free but pay for anything else, nope, it was all a cash bar.
The young fellow emceeing the event came out and they showed a video of some of the new bikes and then enlisted people from the crowd to uncover the bikes that were as yet not visible. And yeah, they were nice-looking bikes for what I thought were very reasonable prices. But nothing that I’d be looking for at this time.
And then of course I had to laugh at the emcee because he really showed his youth when he spoke about the basis for this “British Invasion” theme. He talked about the early 1960s when the bands came across the Atlantic and redefined music in the U.S. Groups like “the Rolling Stones, the Doors . . . ” OK, you weren’t around back then and your history is poor. Someone really ought to tell you that the Doors were an L.A. band and they showed up in the late 1960s, not during the years of the British Invasion.
I hoped I might run into somebody I knew there but I didn’t. It really was a different crowd, I guess. But it was an interesting experience.
Biker Quote for Today
Motorcycles are the babies of men.
