AM-rider and documentary photographer Ed Gold rode a ZZR1100 across the US one time (read his trip report here). Now he’s heading for Mongolia. It’s something that should come easily because as you can see, he lives in a yurt.

Clearly he likes to ride something different so we were talking about what would make a good ride to the other end of Asia. At one point a Yamaha Midnight Star was on the list – mainly because the 950 version was going cheap locally (it’s what guides most of my purchasing too). But then we decided that even with its fat seat and babe magnet potential in the heat-struck Russian interior, the XVS was going a bit far, could cause long-term spinal damage, would be crap on Mongolian dirt tracks and be a pain to re-tyre unless all the hoods in Irkutsk ride cruisers.

Also reduced near Ed’s North Wales base were Triumph Scramblers, a Bonnie adapted to the street scrambler look. When the dealer took an interest in Ed’s projects, he got an even better deal. I actually prefer the look of the regular, low-piped Bonneville because back in 1978 it was my first new bike, if not first proper bike as a few too many MZs preceded it and they don’t count. But the Scram is still a cool machine, and with better clearance will be a lot more functional on the dirt than an XVS landplough.

Ed then took my suggestion seriously about trying to recreate the famous Steve McQueen jump in the Great Escape film of 1962. I’d cited that jump (right) a few months ago on this post on advrider when I performed my own Small Escape (left) on a mate’s XT500 while trying to find a way out of a Cornish army camp back in the late 70s.

Apparently the movie stunt was shot somewhere in Austria and according to this site, was rated as one of the Top Ten iconic film images, along with a lot of other scenes you’ll know and love. Yes, we all know that Steve Mac didn’t to the actual jump, the Jerries didn’t ride Triumphs back then, and Triumphs didn’t even have telescopic forks back in 1940-whatever. But have a heart, it’s still a great film and coincidentally it turns out that to celebrate its half-centenary, Triumph Motorcycles are bringing out a limited number of Steve McQueen Special Edition this April in khaki green and ‘blacked-out components’ (aka: black components). Click on the link for more; I think the one pictured right has been given a little added WWII bling. I like a twin, me. Soon I’ll be riding another special edition, a BMW F650, to Morocco just as my own budget Overlander twin nears completion.

Anyway, Ed’s enthusiasm for recreating the Great Jump seems to have gained legs – something he made need to strengthen if he manages to pull the stunt off. He’s been interviewed for a local paper and radio and TV so it looks like he may just have to go through with it – on a 500lb Trumpet with basic suspension.
It will make a great shot of course and with the right sort of landing and a low camera might not be crippling to rider and ruinous to the machine.