Triumph Motorcycles Modifies Bikes for Movies
Tom Cruise Rides Customized Bonneville in Mission Impossible Film
Jun 15, 2009
In the early days of film-making the good guy always got the girl. The bad guy? His comeuppance! Fast forward a few decades. Now, the good guy gets the souped up, customized motorcycle. And the bad guy gets the regular bike, with no chance of winning against the good guy.
Triumph Motorcycles Provide Bikes for Movies
Besides the two Mission Impossible movies, Triumph motorcycles have had parts in The Matrix, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Angelina Jolie’s new movie, Salt.
Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt rode Triumphs in the last two Mission Impossible moves. In MI 2, he rode a Speed Triple, the same model ridden by Trinity in The Matrix.The villain in MI2, Sean Ambrose, portrayed by Dougray Scott, had to be content with riding a Triumph Daytona 955. Of courses, Ambrose lost the motorcycle duel scene to Hunt, who was riding the more powerful Triumph. Ice Cube also rode a Daytona 955 in the movie, Torque.
Movie Producers Requested Custom Triumph for MI3
When it came time for Mission Impossible III, movie producers asked Triumph to design a custom bike for Cruise to ride.
The motorcycle the British manufacturer designed is technically a Bonneville, but has many features that won’t be found on production models that can be bought in showrooms. For openers, this Triumph has special knobby tires and a custom license bracket such as those used in European bikes in the 1940s and 1950s, according to Jim Callahan, marketing director for Triumph Motorcycles USA.
The MI3 bike has fork gators, which look like bellows, on the front forks to protect the sliding part of the suspension. Callahan said these are now stock.
The aluminum silver color also was not a production color, Callahan said. The bike also has a custom seat and luggage rack.
Special Exhaust System Not Street Legal, However
Callahan said the “coolest thing” about this motorcycle is the custom exhaust system. It has a separate duel exhaust high pipe, one on each side. “It looks and sounds amazing,” Callahan said, then noted the exhaust system makes the motorcycle not legal for street-riding. Still, Cruise’s character rides it to the airfield to rejoin his team from MI2 in MI3. Hey, this is Hollywood!
Other than these modifications, the motorcycle is still “very much a Bonneville that has been dressed up, and has a Scrambler look,” Callahan says.
Triumph Movie Motorcycles On Display in Georgia
Cruise only rode the customized Triumph in that one scene in MI3. Though nothing went wrong, Triumph was prepared for any eventuality. Callahan says the British motorcycle manufacturer made enough parts for 16 custom Triumphs, but only actually built three complete motorcycles.
The motorcycles are on display at Triumph’s US headquarters in Peachtree, Georgia. The Coventry Transport Museum in Coventry, England, displays the one Cruise actually rode.
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