1956 Triumph TR5

My name is Arrie (Armand) Redelinghuys and I hail from Rochester, MI. I was born in South Africa was fortunate to come to the USA 15 years ago. Growing up in SA, British bikes were very much the beat we grew up with. Although a motor-head for anything on two wheels the sound, look and feel of the old British bikes remain tops. Upon coming to the USA I met my buddy Paul (fellow Cannonball and Chase rider) and being a Triumph collector it did not take much encouragement from him to nudge me over the edge. Today I own a decent collection of Triumphs and related collectables. My garage is not an uncomfortable place to be. The “youngest” of my bikes is a 970 T100R Daytona and the oldest is a 1919 Model H. In the end I hope to have collected good examples from each manufacturing decade since Triumph got to build their first motorcycle in 1902.

Going cross country with a motorcycle is something I was fortunate to tick off the bucket list back in 2015. Me and the wife took a 7000 mile ride roughly from Washington DC to San Francisco. In the process we stopped and detoured to many of America’s natural treasures. Our route took us over Sturgis during the annual motorcycle rally and what a great experience that was! The cross country only fueled the desire for long distance motorcycle riding and in 2016 we did a couple of thousand miles across Alaska. Only thing I can say about that trip: if you have a bucket list put this on it! And preferably at the top of the list – it is well worth every mile of the way.

Owning a real vintage motorcycle was never really on my list, but once I went that route I absolutely came to be humbled by the fantastic privilege to own, fix and ride such old machinery. As a member of “Team Triumph” I participated as rider #70 in the 2018 Cannonball. For this event I will use something a bit more moder in the form of a 1956 Triumph TR5 (500cc).