Tag Archives: Bud Ekins

2020 Triumph Bonneville T100 and T120 Bud Ekins Specials

For 2020 Triumph Motorcycles have announced two special edition Bonneville’s in T120 and T100 variants, celebrating the legendary motocross, desert racer and Hollywood stuntman Bud Ekins, who was the man behind the famous motorcycle jump in ‘The Great Escape’.

Triumph T T Bud Ekins Special Cover
2020 Triumph Bud Ekins T100 & T120 Special Editions

In honour of Ekins, each bike will feature a Californian inspired two-colour paint scheme with hand-painted coach lining as well as a host of special features, including the Triumph heritage logo, a flying globe Bud Ekins tank logo, dedicated front mudguard design and Bud Ekins side panel branding.

Both bikes will also include a Monza filler cap, LED indicators (in some markets), diamond knurled handlebar grips, bar end mirrors, and dedicated black engine badges.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special TankLogoEach bike will also come with a certificate of authenticity signed by Triumph CEO Nick Bloor and Bud Ekin’s daughters, Susan and Donna.

The famous movie jump was the brain child of Steve McQueen, who recommended Bud Ekins for the stunt role, with the duo working out the requirements of jumping a Triumph TR6 Trophy over a 12-foot barbed wire fence for a distance of 60-foot, all on grass.

Triumph T T Bud Ekins Special Pair
2020 Triumph Bud Ekins Specials

Bud Ekins ran a Triumph dealership after his earlier racing success on a Triumph and would continue stunting for Hollywood for 30-years, alongside running his dealership.


Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

The T120 features the 1200cc high-torque Bonneville parallel-twin producing 105 Nm at 3100rpm, with a 270-degree firing interval, six-speed gearbox, Ride-by-Wire and full engine management system.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special Engine
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

Peak power is 59 kW at 6550 rpm, with a chromed two-into-two exhaust.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

Standard features include two riding modes, traction control, ABS, a torque assist clutch, DRL headlight, LED rear light, USB charging socket, engine immobiliser and twin clocks for instrumentation with an LCD display and analogue speedo and tacho.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special LEDRunningLight
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

Suspension is provided by KYB with 41mm cartridge forks and twin shocks with adjustable preload, with 120mm of travel at each end. A tubular steel cradle frame and twin-sided tubular steel swingarm are also featured.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special Instruments
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

The T120 features dual 310mm rotors with Nissin two-piston calipers, alongside a 255mm rear rotor and two-piston caliper.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

The T120 weighs in at 224 kg dry and has a 14.5L fuel tank capacity.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special Mudguard
Bud Ekins Bonneville T120 Special Edition

Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special
Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

For those not after the same level of power, the T100 offers the Bonneville 900 cc powerplant, also a parallel-twin, with 80 Nm of torque at 3200rpm and peak power of 40.5 kW at 5900 rpm.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special Engine
Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

The T100 also features a 270-degree firing interval, with Ride-by-Wire and a five-speed gearbox. Switchable traction control is standard, alongside a torque assist clutch and engine immobiliser.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special Engine
Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

A single 310mm front rotor is joined by a Nissin two-piston caliper, with a 255mm rear rotor and two-piston caliper, both backed up by ABS.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special TankGlobeLogo
Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

The T100 also features twin-clocks as seen on the T120, with a USB charging socket under the seat.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special
Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

Weighing in at 213 kg dry the T100 features a 14.5L fuel capacity, and features the same KYB suspension setup at the T120, alongside the tubular steel cradle frame and twin-sided swingarm, with 32-spoke wheels.

Triumph T Bud Ekins Special
Bud Ekins Bonneville T100 Special Edition

Technical Specifications

Source: MCNews.com.au

TV and stunt bikes sell at record auction

The Brough Superior outfit used in the hit British comedy TV shows George and Mildred and Dad’s Army has sold at a record auction along with a bike owned by stunt rider Bud Ekins who did the famous fence jump in The Great Escape.

Proving its star power, the 1933 Brough Superior 1096cc 11-50hp and Cruiser Sidecar sold for £71,300 ($130,675) in the Bonhams annual Spring Stafford Sale at the International Classic MotorCycle Show in Stafford over the weekend.

Record auction

Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6 record auction
Bud’s Triumph Trophy

Yet it was not the biggest seller at the record auction where three motorcycles set new world record auction prices.

The 1962 Triumph 649cc TR6SS ridden by Ekins sold to an American bidder for a world record auction price of £97,750 (almost $A180,000)  – over three times its top estimate.

A rare 1925 Coventry Eagle 981cc Flying-8 set a new auction record for the marque with £218,500 (about $A400,000).

A third world record was set for a 1935 Vincent-HRD 498cc Series-A Comet which sold for £97,750 (almost $A180,000).

Dad’s Army

The Brough outfit was used in 1972 in season five, episode 12 of Dad’s Army titled “Round and Round went the Great Big Wheel”.

Other bikes used in the series from 1970-77 include a Matchless G3L in the same episode as above and a BSA M21 in season seven.

George & Mildred

When the 1933 Brough Superior outfit was finished fighting off Mr Hitler’s invading forces, the bike was then featured heavily in George & Mildred (1976-79).

Its biggest starring role was in the opening credits.

Before the Brough wound up on the “idiot box”, it started life as a works entry for the formidable ISDT (International Six Days Trial) in 1934, winning a coveted gold medal.

It is one of only 308 built and has been owned by a family for more than 50 years.

Bud Ekins Trophy

Ekins rode the Triumph 649cc TR6SS Trophy to a gold medal in the 1962 International Six Day Trials (ISDT) in Europe.

The Trophy was sold along with the actual trophy he won for his individual class win.

Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6 record auction
Bud’s trophy

The off-road racer, bike restorer and stunt rider was a close friend and riding partner of actor Steve McQueen as well as a good friend of actors Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman.

Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6 record auction
Bud and Steve

He famously doubled for Steve in the jump stunt in The Great Escape on a Triumph TR6 instead of a German BMW.

Click here to see a home movie of behind-the-scenes filming.

The movie was being shot in Germany in 1962 and Bud thought it would be a good idea to combine his film work with participation in that year’s ISDT, held at Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Triumph agreed to supply a suitable factory-prepared machine, which was flown to Germany and registered there. Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6 record auction

After the event, in which Bud not only gained a Gold Medal but also won the Unlimited Capacity Class, the Triumph was flown back to his home in California where it was registered as ‘CAL 142080’.

Trophy history

Triumph adopted the Trophy model name on their off-road 500cc TR5 and 650cc TR6 twins following success in the ISDT in the late 1940s.

For 1962, the final year of the traditional ‘pre-unit’ Triumph twins, the Trophy was designated ‘TR6SS’ which is one of the rarest of all post-WW2 Triumphs, being produced for the ’62 season only.

It was powered by a 34-46hp an air-cooled OHV parallel twin with a single Amal carburettor, a 4-speed transmission, twin rear shock absorbers and telescopic forks, weighing 166kg dry.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Bud Ekins Trophy motorbike for auction

Bud Ekins, who performed The Great Escape barbed wire jump for actor Steve McQueen, rode this Triumph 649cc TR6SS Trophy to a gold medal in the 1962 International Six Day Trials (ISDT) in Europe.

It is now up for sale in the annual Bonhams Spring Stafford Sale on 27/28 April 2019 at the 39th Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle Show, along with 400 other motorcycles.

The Trophy will be offered along with the actual trophy he won for his individual class win.

Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6
Bud’s trophy

Trophy history

Triumph adopted the Trophy model name on their off-road 500cc TR5 and 650cc TR6 twins following success in the ISDT in the late 1940s. 

For 1962, the final year of the traditional ‘pre-unit’ Triumph twins, the Trophy was designated ‘TR6SS’ which is one of the rarest of all post-WW2 Triumphs, being produced for the ’62 season only. 

It was powered by  a34-46hp an air-cooled OHV parallel twin with a single Amal carburettor, a 4-speed transmission, twin rear shock absorbers and telescopic forks, weighing 166kg dry.

The TR6SS offered for auction was ridden by Bud to his first gold medal in the ISDT in West Germany.

The off-road racer, bike restorer and stunt rider was a close friend and riding partner of actor Steve McQueen as well as a good friend of actors Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman.

Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6
Bud and Steve

He famously doubled for Steve in the jump stunt in The Great Escape on a Triumph TR6 instead of a German BMW.

Click here to see a home movie of behind-the-scenes filming. 

The movie was being shot in Germany in 1962 and Bud thought it would be a good idea to combine his film work with participation in that year’s ISDT, held at Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Triumph agreed to supply a suitable factory-prepared machine, which was flown to Germany and registered there. Bud Ekins Great Escape Steve McQuun desert sled triumph motorcycles TR6

After the event, in which Bud not only gained a Gold Medal but also won the Unlimited Capacity Class, the Triumph was flown back to his home in California where it was registered as ‘CAL 142080’. 

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Home movie shows The Great Escape stunts

A home movie showing an Aussie rider’s involvement in the making of 1963 film The Great Escape has surfaced after more than 75 years.

Australian rider Tim Gibbes (pictured above with the original bike and current owner Dick Shepherd) was selected to perform stunts in the famous movie while he was competing at various motorcycle events in Europe.

However, he did not perform the famous jump scene which was done by movie star Steve McQueen’s friend Bud Ekins who died in 2007.

Tim, aged 85, is the only surviving motorcycle stunt performer from the movie.

Home movie

The home movie was shot by his wife, Joan, and was shown on Sunday (24 March 2019) at a 75th anniversary screening of the movie in London which Tim attended.

Tim says he has only seen The Great Escape a couple of times.

He says he took “a code of silence” not to talk about the filming, so the home movie was “put away”.  

It shows Tim riding as a Nazi soldier who is trapped by McQueen’s character stringing a wire across the road.

Steve McQueen with Bud Ekins and Tim (obscured) while filming The Great Escape in 1962 (Image: Getty Images)

“During the first take I overcooked the slide and went straight into the cameraman filming the stunt,” he told the Daily Mail.

“I thought he just had a bruise or something, but someone told me he’d broken his leg and so I decided to sneak off set before I got into trouble. 

“But as I was walking away the director shouted my name and called me over. And he remarkably told me to do exactly the same thing again. He said the sight of a motorcycle coming straight towards the camera would thrill audiences. 

“So we got another cameraman and did the whole thing all over again, but this time we made sure the bike was able to miss the poor chap filming.”

Tim says he was “ashamed” to be seen wearing the Nazi uniform while filming in Germany only 17 years after the war ended.

Great Escape jump scene

He and Bud also helped prepare the famous Great Escape fence jump scene on a Triumph TR6.

“We spent a long time finding the perfect dip in the ground to launch the motorcycle over the barbed wire,” he says.

“Bud and I had a few practice runs at riding up from the dip, and it wasn’t an easy stunt.

“The Triumph wasn’t really the right bike to be doing it on; it made things a lot more difficult. It was just an ordinary street bike with fancy tyres, one that you’d use to go to the shops. 

“It wasn’t a stunt Steve McQueen could have attempted, and the film crew wouldn’t have let him do it anyway as they had to ensure a big star like him didn’t get injured. 

“Even Bud, who eventually did the stunt, said he was only going to try it once and then I would have had to try and do it myself. He said before he did it that he didn’t want to do it. But he managed to get it done.”

Tim’s tally

Tim Gibbbes performing in a Welsh competition escape
Tim Gibbbes performing in a Welsh competition

Tim won three win International Six Day Trial medals for Australia, including the first in 1956.

In 1961, he married Joan and moved to Palmertson North, New Zealand.

He continued to race, winning a total of six Gold and one Bronze ISDT medals.

Tim stopped competing at the age of 60 and has since been honoured with a John Britten Innovation and Service to the Industry Award, a Motorsport NZ Distinguished Service Award and in 2016 he was inducted into the MNZ Hall of Fame.

While in the UK for the movie anniversary, Tim says he will also the visit Dick Shepherd Triumph motorcycle museum, The Triumph factory at Hinckley and the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com