Media Release With A Catch

This entry is part 14 of 22 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #10

A media release of a new bike calls for a small group of professionals gathering under the watchful eye of the bike’s importers to ensure controlled conditions suited to the bike’s design brief. But then there’s the release of the Triumph Tiger 800XCx. Names have not been changed to protect the guilty.

There’s always an air of festivity about a bike media release.

Generally everyone – the media representatives and the importers – know each other fairly well, and everyone gets along. There’s an implied code of behaviour for the journos, so they’ll present and behave well. The same goes for the bike’s importers. They want the bike to look its best, and they know if they put the media in plush accommodation, feed them big and wash the bikes for them at the end, the bike will probably get a good review.

They shepherd the contingent around from place to place, allowing them to work the bike a little here and there, but, in general, keeping things firmly under control.

A Triumph model release is the odd one. If there’s fun to be had, even if it pushes the borders of political correctness, it’s highly likely the Triumph staffers will be leading the way.

Here’s a few examples of what we mean…they’re also examples showing why we love our work.

Damper

Mark Berger and Danny ‘Wilko’ Wilkinson are very conscientious and decided it was important to ride the course before the event.

The idea was to scout good photo locations and make sure the riding suited the 800.

It rained like seven bastards in the week before the preride, and was still bucketing down as Marty HC led everyone out on the course DualSport Australia had prepared.

Everything went swimmingly – literally – for about the first 40 minutes of the first day. Then, with the brand-new Tiger lying on its side halfway up a muddy Coffs Harbour hill and the four-wheel-drive buried up to the rear axles not far behind, the decision was taken to delete that first section.

Thanks to the rain the conditions were way beyond anything the 800 was designed to do.

If the pic looks a little gloomy and blurry, it’s because that’s how the scene looked in the pouring rain with a bogged four-wheel-drive and a yet-to-be-released bike lying on its side in the gloop

Porn broker

One of the stops was a rustic old general store. There was this room out the back…

Drive time

Always searching for the best-possible result, Triumph sent Matt Hayman, video guru, to capture some mind-blowing vision. Matt fired up his remote-control car with the camera on board and zoomed out to capture the bikes crossing the slow-moving, glassy river.

A very tiny ‘plop’ was all that was heard as Matt’s pride and joy dropped in the drink and headed for the bottom.

A quick trip on the roof rack of the four-wheel drive to dry out in the wind and the car was back in action.

No problem!

Check the video on Triumph’s Facebook page. It’s glorious.

Wet ones

There was this causeway where the water’s always flowing, no matter what. It’s ideal for photos!

Except when the Tigers arrived, it was dry as a nun’s nasty.

Triumph’s Mark Berger suggested to TF that if he hurled the 800 straight off the side of the causeway into the river, he’d be able to ride across to the far bank where Wilko waited, smirking, with a camera.

Everyone tried to suppress the giggling and snuffling, hoping AdvRiderMag’s editor would fall for it.

Proclaiming, “Hey. It’s your bike…” TF dropped the clutch and shot off into the drink. The pic you can see on page 42 looks all very swish, but it wasn’t all plain sailing, as Wilko’s camera shows.

Once AMCN’s Rennie Scaysbrook saw the outcome of Tom’s attempt, he thought it’d make sense to ride along right beside the causeway. That didn’t go so well either.

Touching

Wilko had this idea where he’d sit on the inside of the corner and the guys would all ride past, one at a time, “…as close as you can”

As the group lined up to make their passes, someone offered $50 to anyone who could get close enough to actually tag Wilko with a handlebar

Wilko, to his credit, didn’t flinch, even when Rennie Scaysbrook made the tag.

The big-mouth who made the offer paid up.

The aftermath

After all that horsing around, the Triumph guys showed they were fair dinkum by making the media contingent wash their own bikes.

It’s true!

Mark Fattore of bikesales.com.au did an especially good job… so everyone kind of disappeared and left him to it.

Pushers

On the way back from the beach the group found a Japanese tourist who read the sign ‘Beach Entry’ and thought he’d take his hire car out for a look. It took the combined effort of the entire crew to push the car back to solid ground.

The driver was left to dig out and recover his own sumpguard from the sand.

Thanks!

An enormous thanks to Cliff and Mark – shown here dragging TF from the creek – and the folks at Triumph for turning on a superb few days. Most of all, thanks for remembering why we ride and for letting us enjoy the bikes and have some outrageous fun – even if it wasn’t always entirely sensible or politically correct.

At the end of it all, that’s the kind of riding we want to do in the real world on bikes like these.

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