MIKE ESTALL

Sadly Triumph Cub expert Mike Estall passed away suddenly in late October 2021. Author of The Tiger Cub Bible, Mike was and will forever be known for his knowledge and his readiness to share it with anyone who asked. But, more than that, he was probably the nicest man you would ever be likely to meet. He was too modest to acknowledge that so I never got to tell him. Now I wish I had.

Born in January 1938 in Perivale, Middlesex, Mike left grammar school to work as a lab technician and then did his National Service at RAF Tangmere until 1961, after which he became an officer for HM Customs & Excise at Heathrow, taking early retirement in 1991.

During his early working life his daily transport was a motorcycle, a new 1956 Tiger Cub which, 40,000 miles later, was exchanged for a Triumph Speed Twin.

Twenty-five years later his interest in Cubs was rekindled and a basketcase

Cub was purchased, the first in a long line of restoration projects which led to him researching the model and preserving every scrap of information available. Along with his personal knowledge, this was collated into The Tiger Cub Bible which is his monument, while his register of existing machines is his legacy.

A golfer, philatelist and enthusiastic chorister, Mike’s interests were wide and varied, but his devotion to Janet, his wife of 57 years (seen here with Mike and one of his first restorations), and their family was always his priority. All our condolences go out to Janet, daughter Helen and Brian, younger daughter Carole and Olly and grandchildren Lauren and James. Mike Powell, Triumph Tiger Cub Club