THE BRAINS BEHIND THE BIKES...
Life lesson #1 – Always listen and pay attention to what’s going on around you and the people you’re with. You never know what you might pick up on.
As I catch myself repeating those same words to my kids that my dad once said to me, I chuckle at the unavoidable truth that, eventually, we all turn into our parents – whether we like it or not. As it turns out, among the hundreds of other pearls of wisdom that Dad passed on, keeping my mouth shut and ears open was one of his better.
During the road ride on the new Triumph Speed Triple 1200RS, I happened to be passing pleasantries with the bloke from Triumph who earlier in the day had delivered the technical presentation to the assembled members of the press and then joined us for the ride.
We were standing on the side of the road waiting for the photography to finish and out of nowhere, during a conversation about how long the Speed Triple has been around, he made this throwaway remark: “I’ve been involved with every bike we’ve ever done”. It was at this point that I thought maybe I should double-check what his job title is by apologising for not noting it earlier. “It’s okay, I never said. I’m the Chief Engineer for Advanced Engineering”. Later that day, I made a point of sitting down and pinning my ears back with quite possibly one of the most influential people in the UK motorcycle industry who you’ve probably never heard of:
