Formerly owned by On Any Sunday director Bruce Brown, 1967 Triumph 197cc T20M Mountain Cub

Frame no. T20M 2895 Engine no. T20M 2895

• Ex Bruce Brown bike
• The bike took part in the genesis of On Any Sunday
• Just 1377 miles on the odometer
• Matching numbers
• Original condition

While it would be a stretch to say Triumph's 200cc Mountain Cub was wholly responsible for the making of everyone's all-time favorite motorcycle movie, there's no doubt the trail bike played a role in the concept stages of On Any Sunday, director Bruce Brown's cinematic ode to motorcycle sport.

A self-taught filmmaker and avid surfer, Brown was eking out a living showing his surf flicks at rented gymnasiums when he hit it big in 1966 with The Endless Summer, a tale of two surf bums who travel the globe in search of the perfect wave. Made for a modest $50,000, the film has raked in $20 million at the box office to date and helped expose the sport of surfing to a worldwide audience. For his efforts in popularized surfing, Brown was named as the fifth most influential surfer of all time by Surfer magazine and was later inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame.

With an unaccustomed flush bank account, Brown traded in his Honda 50cc step-through for a Triumph Mountain Cub, which led to cowtrailing, enduro riding, desert racing, a friendship with actor/rider Steve McQueen and eventually to On Any Sunday, the semi-documentary about the pastime both men loved. The movie remains a favorite of motorcyclists almost a half-century after its debut. Filming began in late 1969, funded by $300,000 from McQueen through his Solar production company. Anchored by Mert Lawwill's ill-fated 1970 AMA title defense and by the ever-smiling Malcolm Smith's far-flung off-road adventures, the movie was ahead of its time in the use of super-slow motion and tightly cropped telephoto shots. McQueen was featured, too, blasting to a 10th place finish in the Elsinore Grand Prix off-road race. On Any Sunday opened in July of 1971 in Los Angeles where it broke all-time attendance records. It was nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award that year. "Whatever you do, don't miss it," Cycle World magazine told readers. "It is, without question, the finest motorcycle movie ever made."

As with his surf film, On Any Sunday is credited with fueling the sport it portrayed. "The movie helped spur the explosive growth of motorcycling in the 1970s," said the AMA in naming Brown to its own Hall of Fame. "Brown's movie conveyed the fun and enjoyment that motorcycling added to people's lives."

This Mountain Cub, previously owned by Brown and showing just 1,377 miles on its odometer, was acquired by a friend of the family shortly before the filmmaker's death in 2017. As it has been sitting for some time, it will require a recommissioning but appears complete with an engine that turns over freely. A copy of the bill of sale signed by Brown will accompany the motorcycle.