1914 British Army Despatch Rider

This little clip was pointed out to me recently and I thought it was worth sharing.
Following up on the good old interweb, I managed to track down Hamish, who filled me in on a little more background on the clip and motorcycle.

The clip was made by the Historical Aviation Film Unit (HAFU) and features a 1914 Baby Triumph owned by none other than Peter Jackson (Maker of movie classics such as Bad Taste, Braindead, Meet the Feebles and a couple of other noteworthy movies).

Dont forget to turn up your sound to hear the Baby roar 🙂

Quote from Hamish

The clip was shot at an airshow at Hood Aerodrome during a vintage aviator weekend show. The bike is owned by Peter Jackson, along with the tanks and trucks seen in the background. I work at times for Peter on his machinery, building and restoring vintage items, bear in mind that these are movie props and by no means totally authentic restorations, unlike his aircraft, the budget doesnt stretch to the props yet!! The give away is the loose headset as I stop! I dress up and operate the gear for shows when I have spare time as I’m Ashburton based, I’m riding the bike in the clip.

The bike is a 1914 triumph, no clutch , 2 speed, belt drive, manual oiler with a hint of rear brakes and is running on avgass with castor oil so nobody block the way to the portaloo!!..

Keen viewers may also note the not so original Number plate, Who cares? its a great clip and great to see the bike in action. Here’s hoping the prop Budget will stretch to see a few more early motorcycles in the future.

Thanks Hamish for your help