Triumph India

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org 

Return to Delhi.

After visiting the Royal Enfield shrine we visited another temple to be relieved of more cash and on the return journey I spotted a cow driven water wheel. Straight out of the history books. Simply buckets on a chain! For a donation of 50 Rupees I took a few photos and went on my way.

The next morning before yet another delayed flight, some 4 hours again, I spent an hour at the Udaipur Royal car museum. This has all the cars used by the Royal Family with a number of interestingly modified versions, a number of Mercedes including the first diesel engine model the 180D. All the still run. The surprise was a Standard Herald that was made in India. It was budged  Triumph in the UK. In the museum there is the 1934 Rolls Royce features in the 1982 Bond movie Octopussy. You may also remember the fight scene from inside the white hotel in the lake.

Returning to Delhi, and the end of my tour nigh, I contacted Triumph India head quarters at Mahipalpur to see if I could visit them while I was still in India. Within 24 hours they had agreed to see me and I was collected by a driver and whisked off to the Radisson Commercial Complex where the offices are located. I was greeted by Mudit who had arranged everything. In the foyer of the office there was a map of India and on it was marked the off-road routes that are supported by Triumph India. There are a lot of them. Many of the places I had visited coincided with the routes.

 I had a great time talking to Vimal Sumbly the managing director about the Museum. I had come with megabytes of pictures that included Bruce Anstey’s 2003 TT winning Triumph. I had other pictures of Trusty, Ricky and TT, also the little video of the police bike cutaway and the last Bonnie out of the factory. I downloaded them to a laptop for them to use to promote both Triumph and the Museum. I introduced him to the Museum website and of course the blog and at the end I was introduced to the team who keep Triumphs running in India.

We talked for nearly two hours about Triumph motorcycles and what I had experienced on my tour so far. My time was up all too soon as Vimal had another meeting arranged. I appreciated his time and letting me talk for so long. I did receive a few gifts that I think these too will end up at the Museum. If you area around New Delhi there are organised bike runs out on Saturdays and Sundays that go out at around 7:00 am! A bit too early for me in the winter!