Steve McQueen Great Escape inspired Triumph by Ace Classics

hi there I'm Kevan most classics is my shop we're based in London and we specialize in classic triumph to Downton have been talking to you about free Steve McQueen replica bias we've built for customers one being a Desiree's for one being a great skate bike and never be enough is DC by Steve McQueen as I'm sure you know it was a famous Hollywood actor but his spare time he loved riding motorcycles you might have seen the film on any Sunday with him blasting across the deserts in 1963 there was a film Great Escape Steve McQueen was asked to perform in the film act in the film and his bike of choice was a triumph and the particular triumph erode was a 1961 tr6 SS we have built a replica of the bike used in the film this is it here to get this finished product we've looked at pictures we've gone through the film pulls the film look back at the film looked at more pictures what we wanted to do this bike we didn't want it look Bryant shiny like all our restorations we normally do so we like to give it a tired look like it been used in the film so what we've done we we had the frame we all have everything painted and then we Ange aged to paint by putting car Beretta cleaner on it believe it or not all the handlebars everything that was normally Chrome or so it would have been painted for instance the handlebars were painted green said a crime ding a glimmer on the film because it were an army but they didn't want to be seen so we're Steve McQueen's hand would have been we've rubbed away crime wherever paint would have worn off a little bits right out all the nuts and bolts we painted so it didn't shine out I mean this this buy it's quite a special buy it's probably one of the most famous bikes ever used in film things like dents and stuff in the pipes and the silences we've done that if this bike was fitted with a rubber dummy lakhs from saddle but that proved uncomfortable in the film so what they'd done was put a foam sort of cover on and then a canvas cover over top so we replicated that the bike in the film also had a rack which wasn't standard to the standard 61 triumph obviously it's painted green as I said they painted the headlight and had a small glimmer of light coming through the front number plate is all hand-painted and line property as it would have been done we used a half-wit front hub which was from a lot earlier but to make the bike look older but Eakins would have built these bikes for sturdy McQueen apparently it was tore for a use in the film but we don't know for sure any dents that we've seen in the picture of the original bike like an exhaust down here we put the dents in the Etzel just to try and give it that period authentic kind of look like the buy it could have been out of the film because the bike was used for a jump in the film they geared the bike so it lets celebrate really really hard and put this great big sprocket over which is called a bolt over so the standard sprocket would have been a 46 tooth and they geared the bike up by 10 teeth by putting this bolt over sprocket on to give the bite a lot more acceleration it needed for a jump that's probably all I need to show you on that pipe this second bike here is another bike that Steve McQueen would have ridden it's a 1963 Bonneville built by his friend again buddy Keynes quite a lot of changes on this bike so this part would have been your standard kind of road work with lights and things like that but but Eakins convert this for a desert racing so they took all the lights off put an alley number board on this 502 is all hand painted on as well as the triumph on the sides hand painted and we rubbed the lettering out to make it look old what's quite a trick sort of idea on these bikes they run the throttle cable over the top of the tank put on Le strap so if you had to take a throttle cable off in the desert it was able to easy you didn't have to take the tank off they fitted a bass sea bass desert seat to these bikes high exhaust pipes for ground clearance obviously being a desert race you want to avoid any boulders or rocks so higher pipes as well as been a desert race so a lot of desert racers had bath shields on them so when going through a rough terrain the boys could cut off anything coming out and then that would protect all the crank cases again like the Great Escape like we talked about earlier this bike has got a half width hub because that was something bud Ekins Danny preferred that front brake made it lighter and it was quite a good break early mud guards back on front ah to cope with desert again this had a double which was standard for a 63 Bonnie but Bunnykins put a great big paper element filter this side of the bike to cope with all the sand and everything in fryer them another thing they done was put these protectors here so if you bend the footrest he did when it gone into a chain case so these protectors would protect the chain case from any damage that was both sides to the bike the last part I've got to show you today is a 1964 TR 6 is DT bike so in 1964 Steve McQueen and Patti Kings and Dave Ekins went to Germany and done the is DT trial that was a six day trial where they went across East Germany and this bike was picked up at the triumph Factory and modified a shop called comma fence in London by Steve McQueen and some of the other team this bike is a replica obviously but things they would have done on this bike so being is details would be able to get the wheel out quick so you had quickly adjustable wheel of justice there was a pump too if you had a flat tire pump guitar so that that lead went through under the seat and there was you pump to be out of pocket or up for extra grip on the footrest they had the studied type footrest which which we had made also again quickly detachable so the studs rather and bolts down at the bottom of the fault caps there with famous number board number 278 was fitted that was Steve McQueen's number in the rsd t the front number plate would normally be mounted here on an old classic triumph but for a clearance of the headlight number board I suppose the number plate was moved up underneath the headlight small competition headlight which one nice thing they've done on these bikes was a fitted mul grips pipe grips spare leavers things like that throughout the bike so they was tired on there was a pencil used in the actual rot also if your hand was getting tired you'd use your throttle and your thumb to use as a paint like to grab the handlebar grubber Oh in the back of the bike here there was a zip where also Steve McQueen's or whoever's bike it was tools would have been stored this particular bike we have put the foam in the cover so they used to rip the foam app and then put the tools in there so that's another sort of thing that we've done had a special it's all system so normally these bikes without a normal one up each side it's all system but this dual system was a Siamese it come up and kicked up in the air for a bit more ground clearance this we built six of these bites this particular bike the customer asked us not to but originally there would have been a big dent in the exhaust pipe here and that was because when they made this special one-off it's all system for this bike when they realize they kicked it over the the end of a kickstart would smash on there but this particular customer asked us not to do that so on the tank is a map of the actual trial they would have done so that's quite interesting even down to things like the tax discs that we put on the right registration number and things like that so to make the bike rule period to what it would have been in 1964 and McQueen Road it maybe I start this one up first a great estate way iconic sound specially classic bike so here goes on this one [Music] that's the sound of the Great Escape quite quite nice but this desert races of 1963 is a lot lot louder so let me start this one out for you so you can sort of hear well this one would have sounded like blasting across the deserts and mines of the Queen [Music] so you've heard the Great Escape bike run you've heard the desert racing run I'm really sorry but today we can't start this one because I've not got any petrol in this one it's just been in for a service and the tanks been repainted we've not yet put any pitch on it but if you want you more welcome come to our shop we're based in London we race classics you can follow us on instagram at H classics or Facebook we have a website so more welcome come in for a cup of tea maybe entree round some of their bikes might and be able to show you this one starting up if it's still here what a fourth do is show you around summer summer a shop some of the bikes we've got in the shop and the workshop so if you follow me I'll show you around so this is where the general service since then we've got one bench general servicing we've got a young lad of 20 working on the buy it's very good lad very enthusiastic about the bikes and he's just doing a bit of a bit of work on this one at the moment that's a 59 trophy but in the workshop this is where we build all the Steve McQueen bikes a very small workshop but we were able to work with small space so on the work bench here right now is a 1954 tiger hundred that were restoring for a customer that looked really nice when finished so that would be a bright and shiny but unlikely Steve McQueen bikes you've seen all dull ones already for a desert this will be a show winning condition kind of bike but in the front row shop we've got lots more of our own personal collection which I can sort of talk you for this just turn there turn the lights on in here so for instance I mean this one's not ours but that's come in for an engine rebuild it's a customer's bike once it running bit at once a gearbox working so that's that's a bike working on all the bikes up the side here saw roan display so this particular bike here 608 BW diesel registration was the actual bike in the motorcycle in 1961 the motorcycle magazine that's the actual bike so that's that's a nice bike we're quite proud to sorbonne and have that here in our shop some rare bikes up on the other side here so this is a production racer 1960 Bonneville they had things like one gallon oil tank and and the big GP carbs things like that this this bike the tr-5 are very rare by only ever since America this bike here is a 1957 tiger hundred RS if you're watching this in America you know about old triumphs you probably know what that black is there was only ever sent to America they had lightweight Ali guards open megaphone silences will not silences they made lots of noise probably him louder than the Steve McQueen bike we started up earlier that was a pure race bike since America they've something like only 50 of them ever built and that's one of the real ones so that's a real rare boy throughout the shop we have lots of rigid sort I go hundreds that's a tiger hundred see we have a couple of 1950 find the birds they're a 63 Bonnie there this bike might interest you because that bike is this that the desert race we built 63 desert racer that's how that bike would have started out its life and then it was transformed desert racer an original pain a survivor bike from 1966 to tr6 a 67 TT that's actually going up for sale soon as one of our customers we've built yes I mean that's our shop we like I say come down for a cup of tea come and find us we're in London like I said follow us on Instagram Facebook all that sort of stuff [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Bike Shed Motorcycle Club

Views: 135,850

Rating: 4.9382305 out of 5

Keywords: the great escape, steve mcqueen, ace classics, triumph TR6, triumph t120, triumph bonneville, triumph TR6 trophy, triumph tr6 trophy steve mcqueen, triumph tr6 trophy motorcycle, triumph t120 sound, triumph t120 bonneville, triumph t120 exhaust, triumph t120 custom

Id: ugP5xYYOABc

Length: 12min 7sec (727 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 18 2019