Limey tank and bike art. Murals & designs

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Over the years I ran across some cool ideas, and some stupid ones but while stock bikes and obsessing about the correct shade of red on a BSA Hornet or Spitfire might be interesting to some. (Overly Anal Retentive Bolt Polishers as one friend calls them) I like a variety of bikes from stock to custom.
I will add to this as time goes on as eventually I will organize my files and post more, But while working on downsizing the sheer volume of rusty old junk I thought I would start this off with some pix of some Triumph tanks that came in a large shop inventory years ago.

** I did NOT do this artwork, I dont know who did. If you know I would love to hear about it. On these Triumph tanks I am fairly certain these are NOT stickers or transfers or decals, but wont rule it out. I do a lot of paint and body work and generally you can tell. I think in some ways these tanks must be cursed, as while the artwork is epic, They were damaged. As to my plans for them, dont know. Had them well over 20 years at this point. I am debating on using them on a ratbike-street tracker project. I would consider selling them If I got a really big offer, but at the moment I just enjoy looking at them and will probably take them to a few bike shows to show off or perhaps the next ONE Moto show in Portland as Artwork is a big part of that show.

I am not interested in "Thats cool!"or "Me too" but if you have some interesting stories, or some cool artwork of your own feel free to add to this. Otherwise please dont clog up this thread.

So, Adding to this thread, Here is what I think is a great story about a local guy. He goes by many names but I just call him Crazy Jeff or CJ for short. In our local Norton club we have a guy who I admit has some great skills and talent, but universally regarded as wound WAY too tight. I am sure his sock drawer is meticulously organized. He is super skinny because he is so wound up he burns calories just sitting still. Or as my wife says it must me exhausting with that stick up his ass and clenched so tight holding it there. So CJ was very active in the Norton community both back east and locally. Also seems to be some sort of communist-socialist and wanted to give away all my parts and bikes to the "Kids" as it would be "Glorious!"
So Mister wound too tight (WTT) kept ranting about the crappy and sloppy appearance of CJs Norton. Was especially upset if CJ parked his Norton next to WTT. It just REALLY bothered him, It was funny really. So one day CJ and his really fun and eccentric Girlfriend DiDi went to the Fabric store and bought a big ream of Tartan Plaid fabric and several cans of spray adhesive. They took apart CJs Norton and covered the side panels,
F & R fenders and the tank in Tartan plaid. CJ proudly displayed the Norton at the next meeting. WTT was NOT amused! Rather annoyed and in a perverse way was rather entertaining.
CJ was also rather free with the liquid refreshments and also smoked a lot but rolled his own. He often mixed in some leafy green stuff with his cigarettes. Many people rode with us on rides and on several forums people talked about this mad man who rode hard, rode fast and had a fragrant smell from those funny cigarettes clamped in his mouth while twisting the throttle hard. When I find them I will post the pictures of the Tartan Plaid Norton.

I have a nice "Rider" Triumph and have been meaning to do it for some time, But a while back I went and bought some similar Scottish plaid material and while mine is a red-black pattern, I think I am going to do up one of my Triumphs just for fun. Park it next to WTT whenever I can.

[Tricky13]

The dead head tank is great, not seen any stuff like that for years, shame they are damaged, but yeah get it on a rat bake and let people appreciate some old murals.
Being appreciative of the Dead, i always meant to put the cartoon off the back of Shakedown street on a tank, but never got around to it, i also spent a lot of my twenties and thirties hooning around city streets with a funny cigarette clamped in my jaw.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

I always thought the Grateful Dead artwork was really cool, But their music not so much, Jam pencils thru my ears into my brain to make it stop. I used to play in Bands and while a wide range of interests from Blues to country I like Metal music best. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Def Leppard (early stuff) things like that. I saw a picture once of Iron Maiden members standing around a Chevy with a mural painted on the hood so I obsessed over that but eventually I had one on the hood of my 1972 Nova. It wasnt that good though. Years later I found a lady who did really good artwork and I paid her to do the back of a jacket for me with a composite of several of the Iron Maiden albums, She didnt like it (Said it was creepy) but she did a great job. Theres an all women tribute band thats pretty cool and I met them and gave them my jacket a couple years back. The "Iron Maidens" See: http://www.theironmaidens.com/

A couple years back on BritIron there was a thread about connections to British bikes and Artwork but theres no picture files so thats why I thought I would start this one here. Many people agree, But Derek Riggs (The artist) did some cool stuff and most think the artwork for "The Trooper" album cover would make a great bit of tank art for a British bike.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

oops, Wrong pix, Heres what I am talking about.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Here is some more, A long time ago on Smokey's chopper forum I met a young guy named Tyler Malinkey and he was doing some custom stuff in his garage, as a joke and commentary about some of the TV shows that at that point were getting kind of stupid, He came out with a sticker "not seen on TV" I still have mine and I think was his first product. Not long after he started a company called "LowBrow Customs". At that time, He also came out with some stickers that were pretty critical about George Bush. This pissed off a wanker at the Horse magazine named David Gregory and while he was English himself, He apparently was a big fan of Bush. David now goes by "Englishman" and is now editor at the Horse. But I got into it with him over his giving my friend Tyler shit. David SWORE Tyler would NEVER be in the Horse magazine and they would never allow any of his products to be shown on anyones bikes.
Of course,, times have changed. I patched up my issues with "Englishman", and Lowbrow customs is one of the biggest advertisers out there.
I am proud though that I supported Tyler in his early days, I like to think I gave him good advice, and I suggested a lot of ideas. Tyler actually ran with a few of my ideas and I hope he made good money. I have my opinions on what bikers want and what kind of designs they might like so for a while I put together a number of design Ideas and many of them became merchandise. I still have many of my "Freebies" that Tyler gave me. Some of them are no longer made so collectors items.
(Maybe not all my ideas were that good??? But I still get people that stop me when wearing some of them and get a lot of questions and comments)

Heres one of my ideas,, I combined the idea of Motorhead, Cafe racers and the Isle of man. "No rest 'till the Hammersmith" is a great Motorhead album, And a trip to the Isle of Man is on my bucket list (Wish I had taken the chance to go with GoldStar Ron when I had the chance). I wanted to use a picture of my good friend
"Sir Eddy" as well because he was a genius and one of the fastest Norton guys around. Tyler did an AWESOME job with the artwork, (Support Lowbrow customs!!!!)
We used a picture of Sir Eddy pulling air off the front end on his Norton 650 twin Manxman at a racetrack up in Canada, Westwood BC back in 1963.
So, later, When Sir Eddy died, Tyler was super nice and allowed us to have the image back and we reused it to make Sir Eddy tribute merchandise and edited it a bit, but much of it is the work of Tyler Malinky. (Support LowBrow Customs!)

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Here is another design that Tyler did back in the day,, (Support LOWBROW Customs!) I dont know if he is still using it, But I wanted some classic style Triumph shirts with period bikes. I suggested using my 1948 Triumph Speedtwin as IMHO that is the sexiest Triumphs ever made,, Tyler instead went with a line drawing of a 1940 Speed Twin instead, I cant complain as its the right style that I wanted. Choppers and Bobbers are cool but there is a certain style of Triumphs that just stand on their own. Tyler did a few different Triumph designs but we did not agree on one aspect.. I wanted the best design on the fronts of the shirts, especially when you are wearing your jacket I think it should be visible. For a while he put all the best artwork on the backs of the shirts and I harped about that a lot. Still I think Tyler is great and I appreciate all he does. Here is another design he was putting on shits for a while. I dont know if you can still get this one or not but check out his website. (Lowbrow customs). This pretty much sums up vintage Triumphs.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Another vintage lowbrow design, Tyler did some line drawings and this was a long sleeve shirt with "Made in England" on the sleeves, thats a preunit Triumph motor on the front. Check his website but I dont think these are available anymore. I understand its a big company now and they gotta stock stuff that moves off the shelf.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Heres another from my tank collection, To be fair its just old stickers on a Rickman tank, but its from a one owner bike and period 1970s stuff so its kind of artwork in its own way. Technically I am now the second owner. I bought the Rickman many years ago from a welder who worked with me at an Aerospace manufacturer, He and his brother had a pair of Rickmans. I stupidly sold the other bike to an Alleged friend for a good buddy price and he promptly flipped it for a handsome profit. (A**hole)
This rickman will be on the road again this year and running a Triumph 500 twin 1972 Daytona motor with some mods to it.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Heres another Triumph tank, Another in my collection. This one is off a early Triumph 500 twin "Gooseneck frame". Triumph did not figure out right away these frames cracked. The unit 500s came out in 1958 and first version used the tank as a frame brace (They all cracked), then they added steel plates INSIDE the tank and protruding front & rear to mount to the frame and brace it. (These cracked too) Final version had a steel bar with brackets bolted to the frames and the tanks over that. (They still eventually cracked) so they finally went to a better design like the unit 650s.

This tank, I have no idea the history on it. It came with some others from an old shop. I am building some hot rodded 500s later this year if the creeks dont rise. I dont quite understand the idea on the paint either or the direction the DPO was going,,, I have some body and paint books and they show some custom tricks from back in the day. One of the ideas was to take lace fabric or Doilies like what you find at Grandmas house, lay it over a tank and spray over it leaving a pattern. maybe this is what they did here?? Or maybe they inhaled a lot of paint fumes and thought this looked like a great idea. I dont know...................