Al Brown's KEPALOA

1967 Cycle Guide

Motor Cycle World CHOPPERS Special 1971

Thee actual Amal GP carb set up from Kepaloa that I used to own. During a rough patch a couple years ago I sold it all to a guy in Europe. I really regret that one now. Sometime around 2002 I bought a chromed pre-unit Triumph timing cover with tach drive and crank seal modification through a auction on ebay. When it came to my house there was a note written on the box stating that the guy had more Triumph parts for sale with a phone number and the name on the return address was Al Brown. I had the two magazines with the big Kepaloa features sitting on the desk already as this little swingarm drag bike had been possessing my daydreams for the past couple years. I did a double check on the name and made the phone call immediately. Sure enough it was Al Brown the builder of Kepaloa. I tried my best to convey my admiration for his work and got to talking bikes with him. He told me that Kepaloa had been parted out years ago and he didn't know where the parts were. All he had left was the cylinder head and carburetor set. He said that his house had just recently burned down and his spirits were low so we didn't talk for too long. He said he wanted $500 for the head and carbs and I told him I'd take 'em. He was supposed to give me a call back on other stuff he was letting go of. I didn't hear from him for a couple weeks so I gave him another call and got his second wife on the phone. He had hung himself within a few days after I talked to him. Bummer. I tried working with the family over the phone as they wanted to cash in all his Triumph stuff, but I didn't have the bucks to travel out there and do it right. Al had built an insane double engine drag bike in his later years that he recently restored that was part of the bargain. I threw a low ball offer their way for it that they didn't go for. A few years later I met a guy at the San Jose Clubman's swap meet that had gone back east and bought the lot of parts and the double for $15,000.

The only pic I have of his double. Never heard of it before they sent me this picture taken in 2001. In lost emails I received from them at the time there were big pictures on his wall of Kepaloa before he turned it into a full on dragster. It had the same show finish except a peanut tank and some street gear. From what I could see it was beautiful. Al Brown R.I.P.

Sonny Routt's "2 Bad" Double Engine Triumph Dragbike

Sonny shaved the rocker fins, making the engine look like it's running early cylinder heads, but as the article states it's using later 9-bolt heads and Webcor big bore cylinders. There are later pictures of the top of the engine where you can see the 9th bolt.

The article says that the clutch is stock besides aftermarket plates, but that is not true. It also has a six spring alloy pressure plate made by Routt's Cycle. These were made in a few different configurations including an eight hole version.

1967 Cycle World

His first double that was wrecked in 1961 as mentioned in the article.

" 2 Bad "

Murray & Cook's "Flustration" Triumph Double Engine Dragbike

I NEED A GOOD SET OF THESE EARLY TRIUMPH TERRIER / CUB FORKS FOR MY HAGON DRAGBIKE PROJECT. PLEASE HELP!

Cycle World 1967

This is a somewhat early version of the bike when it was still running stock triumph 650 cylinders. This drag bike was one of the fastest in the world all the way up to the early 1970's.

Here's a neat email I got last month concerning Boris and Flustration after I posted some Boris Murray quotes:

"Hello gentlemen,
A pal of mine in Melbourne Australia, sent me the article of yours regarding twin Triumph motors bikes. I met Boris Murray and Don Cook in the late '60s. I am a retired sign painter, muralist and billboard painter who traveled with a Romany kumpania for 37 years. A kumpania is a traveling Gypsy tribe by way of explanation. My pal and I are both Gypsies and former riders of bikes.
When I met Boris, I was in the town of Pomona, CA where I was born. I was returning to visit old friends and kin. It was in the local Harley Davidson shop that I met Boris. He had a friend there, the friend said I was a sign man and Boris then asked me to stop by the Murray and Cook shop to letter a drag bike. I had a small lettering kit in my Harley's saddle bag, so followed Boris to his shop. The bike in question was a twin engined stretched out machine with two Triumph engines. The gas tank was within the black painted frame. I put orange gold letters on the top tubular frame piece that said, Flustration. I couldn't charge much as it was a small job and not much area to paint on.
Later on, I believe it was Don Cook who rode it in the Pomona Drags. I can't remember now, but I think the time was something like 8:14 seconds and 164+ mph. I may be wrong here, but that seems right to me. Boris rode the bike at Bonneville Salt Flats, it could have been Muroc Dry Lake (?) and reached a top speed of, I believe, 212 mph with the open frame. I think they added a small fuel tank of sorts. The wind tore off the leather edging of Boris' helmet, ripped edging from his goggles and loosened one lens,ripped the top off his gloves and tore his jacket stitches. He only had the palms of his gloves and as the wind was up, no return run. I saw Boris afterward and asked him how he held on. He grinned and said, "Pretty damned tight!"

Have a good day, nice article too."
Lucky,
Baxtalo Juki, (Lucky Dogs in our tongue)

Hand Grenade

1967 Cycle World

Let's Go Dragin'

'67

1967 Cycle Guide

With the big bikes and doubles the little four inch Avon didn't have a chance. Around the early to mid '70s motorcycle drag slicks got a whole lot bigger and better. The four inch M&H came out sometime around '70 or '71 and its rubber compound was favored by most over the old Avon. I really dig the Avon for show & nostalgia though. Good or bad it was the most widely available slick for about a decade, originally being offered around 1963 or so. It was used as a "smoker" tire and the fast guys would smoke them all the way down the strip. I have a couple for my projects and hope to smoke one someday. 4.20" tread width baby...
1967 Drag Racing

DIY - Cycle Shop - Motorcycle Table / Lift

This is what I did over the weekend. The ol' lady asked what I wanted for x-mas and I told her, two 4 X 4 posts and some 2 X 4's. I already had the plywood from a recent shelving project. The lag bolts were given to me by the old dude that lives next store. I've seen tables like this in pictures and stories of UK shed builders and always wanted something like it. In the US you mostly see guys just plunk down the dough for fancy steel bike lifts. I'm cheap when it comes to tools and most other things that are not motorcycle parts and I wanted more versatility and storage area. I don't have a problem wheeling a bike up a ramp for two feet, so didn't need the lift aspect. After my club brother Brian won a full on motorcycle lift at a recent Nomad's party raffle, and I saw the motivational effect of having a project up in the air and right in front of you, I knew it was time to get it together. I did the google thing to see what I could find on the web, but didn't find anything that appealed to me, so I went into my familiar pipe dream trance state and this is what I came up with.

Here's the basic frame. You could use 2 X 4's across the top and along the bottom for an even stronger arrangement and to save buying the sheet of plywood. The materials list is something like: six eight foot long 2 X 4"s, two eight foot long 4 X 8"s, one 4X8' sheet of 5/8" or thicker ply wood, twenty four 4" long lag bolts, a box of 3" deck screws and some shorter screws for the screwing down the plywood sheets. Cost is about $80.oo. The length of the table is 8 foot and it is 2 feet high. The short cross pieces of 2 X 4"s are 21" long. You can figure out the rest.


My Dad's been bugging me forever to take his old engine building stand with Triumph frame mounting fixture, so it was incorporated into the plan. Being able to float the chassis is something your average bike lift isn't going to do. Should be handy for installing forks and wheels.

I have a slightly different plan in mind for the frame mounting fixture that will keep the frame lower, by using the sidecar lug hole under the seat area that is common to most Triumph frames. Just need to scrounge together the steel.

Neat Stuff

we won't get for x-mas.

circa 1967

Doug Mayfield's Chromed Out '48 Triumph

1967 Cycle Guide

Richard Boadway's Show 'n' Go Bike

1967 Cycle Guide

The Huns

Brownie from Austrailia sent in a note of thanks and this lovely story of his annual club race. I'm jealous. I wish my club could get together something like it, but finding a place where the Man wouldn't ruin it is the problem these days. Anyway, what a great club name, patch design, and club history. Thanks Brownie!

"I was a member of a club called the 'Huns' for 22 years, they've been going since '67in Melbourne, we used to have a race called the 'Hardly Ferocious' at our annual run around a huge granite rock called 'Eagle Rock', the track is about a mile or so around. The rules of the race are, you have to ride your best bike not under 650cc, no knobbies, no cheating (OK!) 13 laps, 13 stubbies. We start at the top and start sculling when the canon fires a round, do a lap, all the rest are drank in the pits after that, must switch bike off, get a beer and chug it down, start bike, do another lap, 13 times, if you wanna win , hold it up till your beer is empty and ride like f+ck around a slippery, dusty track and stay upright when you're pissed outta your head, easy!...Oh nearly forgot, there's a lot of spewin' going on too! I've won this race 4 times, 3 of them on the trumpet which I've owned 27 years now, best time was 28 minutes. There were video's over the years which are good, the stills just don't do the race justice but hey man, you get the picture.
Taken in '87 or '88."

Stubbie = 5% alcohol / 375ml VB

His sickle, owned for 27 years and seen in the race pics. Looking great after a recent rebuild and ready to provide some more good times...

David Edwards CHROME BONNIE

"Call it a custom time capsule. It's a Triumph Bonneville bought new in 1970 at Shores Motorcycles in Warren, Michigan ($1470.50 + $25 for stainless-steel fenders). The proud new owner soon took his bike to Kustoms Unlimited in nearby New Haven for a mild customization. Note the extra chrome (even the rear brakelight switch!), the shorty mufflers, the flamed lacquer paint job--though, strangely, a stock seat. Then for some unknown reason it was parked in 1974 showing 8000 miles, and not ridden again 'til 2008 when the second owner purchased it."

"I saw it at the Mid-America Las Vegas auction last January. Only two or three of us bid on it and the competition soon dropped out, so I got it for just $4500. It started on the second kick, and needed just a tune-up and new fork tubes (thanks to Tim at Century Cycles in San Pedro) to be fully road-worthy. A couple of months later, over at Bill Getty's, while replacing that little top-hat-looking bung in the primary to stop an oil leak, we also installed new clutch plates. The seat padding is crumbling so I'll replace that--and maybe add a tuck & roll or button-tufted cover while I'm at it. Otherwise, it'll be kept just like it was when parked 35 years ago."

Best, David

A custom seat cover would be the perfect final touch to this simple custom survivor. So close to stock, but not. I'm digging the reverse cone mufflers. The last year of the single downtube frame bonneville with all the right stuff and ready to ride...

Bad Ass BSA

Customized with aggressive riding in mind. Get the story here.

Maurice Martinoli's Custom Street Bike

1966 Modern Cycle

Action Shots

Perfect 1960's Triumph

This early 1960's Bonneville is set up just right. Cut front fender, small competiton gas tank and a nicely done custom seat. The swingarm doesn't look extended, but the shocks do look shorter than stock. Too bad the picture is kinda dark, but you can see that it has a 16" rear rim which was pretty rare for 1968 when the picture was taken.