[benthead2]

I ask you, if you're going customize a bonnie, why not make it look more like the bonnie?

I have a few more things to do (like an 18" rear wheel, and painting '03<-->'58 on the slicer), but overall I think it's getting close. How about you?

My list of mods is pretty long including a new spedo/tach, fiberglass fenders (the front one is an old '58 replacement fender that I convinced to fit my '03), paint (Thanks Color Rite for having both Saphire Blue and Opal White) and misc. bolt on's all of which are pretty easy to see. I'll leave the mods you can't see to your imagination.

 

[DaemonWulf]

thats 12 shades of beautiful right there. i cant think of a better thing to do with a new bonnie.. cept maybe make it look like a war bike, but thats just my peculiar lil fetish, i guess. anyhoo, absolutely gorgeous. thanx for sharin.

 

[Baltobonneville]

Welcome!

Very nice for your first post here!

 

[ohiorider]

Nice! I really like the blue and white with red coachstripe on the 2003 T100. Triumph's 68 group could take a lesson or two from this bike, and offer a front fender just like the one you installed. They could also take a lesson from Royal Enfield, and put together a real set of options for the bikes. If they really got aggressive, they could sell a bike minus fenders, mufflers, etc, and let the new owner take the bike down his/her own path.

Sorry, I got on a rant when all I wanted to do was say what a nice job you'd done on your Bonnie.

Bob

 

[DrX]

:welldone: The union jack is too small.

 

[CAPTDON]

New Look Old

When I lost the Cremecycle @ the dealer- I decided to do just the same. Took an 04 Bonne Blk & put chrome casings on her. Not done yet but getting there. Now it looks like my old 59 split case I had in the 70's. Since they didnt have BB's in 04 its real different looking. Someone labled it the tuxedo modle one time yrs ago! Its in here somewhere under Grey plagues's pic post. I cant do that stuff, so he did it for me.Its an old pic- changed a lot since then! Still workin for that look tho! I know what ya mean.Ditching the rubber ducky sigs & putting on the Lucas tail light made a nice difference! Some other stuff as well.

 

[doogin]

Your bike has a look that hits so well with me. There is a balance. I am curious to see how the 18" rear wheel works out. I would ride that with such pride. Can't imagine how many motorists get a glimpse on the road and ask themselves if their eyes are deceiving.

 

[rmak]

Very tasty! I'd sure like some details about how you mounted the front fender. Also wondering about your choice not to put on gaitors. It almost does look like the earlier Bonnies with all black forks and the nacelle headlight. Is that what you were shooting for?

 

[Olderslower]

Your bike looks great, nicely restrained. I think the shocks and small speedo really help the 50's look. Everything in your design blends together to make it work. Good job!

 

[davidc]

I LIKE it!

 

[rmak]

You thinkin' retro-Thrux, Dave?

 

[keithk]

what handlebars have you got on there? -keith

 

[Calliway]

What front fender did you get?

I love the look. Very well done!

 

[fishinhook]

Spill it Benthead

Spill the beans man! You can't leave us hangin' like this. We want details brother. The front fender/slicer look awsome. Is that a stock sized headlight? Thanks for sharing. Bob

 

[gumpt1oo]

Looks cool mate! Just needs gaitors IMO.
I went down a similar route with the retro theme,
someone mention a war bike?

 

[fishinhook]

Awsome Gump!

:elated:Yes! I like it. Very nice color and I really like the rear shocks. Hagons? The little rear reflector is a nice touch also. Great background. Where were you?

 

[DaemonWulf]

gorgeous bike, Gump! little flatter on the paint and a little less chrome and shes perfect.

 

[gumpt1oo]

:elated:Yes! I like it. Very nice color and I really like the rear shocks. Hagons? The little rear reflector is a nice touch also. Great background. Where were you?

Yes they are Hagon rear shocks, 25mm longer that stock bonnie shocks.
The picture was taken on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border in the north of England today.

 

[trel]

You guys have done some beautiful work on your bikes. They are very attractive machines.

They do not, however, look anything like the bikes from the late '50's or early '60's. I mean this in the least disrespectful way, but take an old bike put it next to a new one, and the new one might as well be a space ship.

New ones are bigger in every dimension, they have all sorts of wiring and safety features and modern contrivances that simply cannot be replaced or styled-away.

I had a revelation this weekend while teaching a friend how to de-coke the heads on his new (old) TR6:

The Bonneville is a modern bike that stands up on its own merits stylistically and mechanically. Whether or not it is possible, is it RIGHT to deliberately try and make it look like a bike from 40 years ago? Doesn't that sell the bike short?

It's a modern bike: it's mechanical reliability is through the roof, and with very little work, it can blow the doors off bikes with double its displacement, and certainly when the road twists.

As a modern bike, then, why not style it as such? One of the things that killed Triumph the first time around was a refusal to evolve, both mechanically or stylistically.

I look at some of the Thruxtons I've seen where their owner treats the bike like a sportbike instead of a retro-thing. They replace the classic pea-shooters with a carbon fiber 2-into-1 system, lose the fenders or replace them with carbon bits, front-end swaps with crashed Gixxers. They basically do whatever is necessary to improve performance and, in the process, move as far away as they can from the cafe-racer style the bike was originally designed with...and the result looks awesome.

Really, if you want a bike from the early '60's, they're readily available, and still much cheaper than Hinckley Bonnies.

Sorry this turned into an essay. You guys really do have cool-looking bikes. (I have a blue T100 too, I was going to paint the fenders white as well before I just removed them outright.)

 

[fishinhook]

Personalizing a Modern Classic

You guys have done some beautiful work on your bikes. They are very attractive machines.

They do not, however, look anything like the bikes from the late '50's or early '60's. I mean this in the least disrespectful way, but take an old bike put it next to a new one, and the new one might as well be a space ship.

New ones are bigger in every dimension, they have all sorts of wiring and safety features and modern contrivances that simply cannot be replaced or styled-away.

I had a revelation this weekend while teaching a friend how to de-coke the heads on his new (old) TR6:

The Bonneville is a modern bike that stands up on its own merits stylistically and mechanically. Whether or not it is possible, is it RIGHT to deliberately try and make it look like a bike from 40 years ago? Doesn't that sell the bike short?

It's a modern bike: it's mechanical reliability is through the roof, and with very little work, it can blow the doors off bikes with double its displacement, and certainly when the road twists.

As a modern bike, then, why not style it as such? One of the things that killed Triumph the first time around was a refusal to evolve, both mechanically or stylistically.

I look at some of the Thruxtons I've seen where their owner treats the bike like a sportbike instead of a retro-thing. They replace the classic pea-shooters with a carbon fiber 2-into-1 system, lose the fenders or replace them with carbon bits, front-end swaps with crashed Gixxers. They basically do whatever is necessary to improve performance and, in the process, move as far away as they can from the cafe-racer style the bike was originally designed with...and the result looks awesome.

Really, if you want a bike from the early '60's, they're readily available, and still much cheaper than Hinckley Bonnies.

Sorry this turned into an essay. You guys really do have cool-looking bikes. (I have a blue T100 too, I was going to paint the fenders white as well before I just removed them outright.)

I understand what you are saying and don't take offense. I own a 2008 T100 that I am attempting to make more vintage looking by removing the modern turn signals and taillight, and adding lucas style lights, more traditional bars, shrouded shocks, yada yada yada. The reason I've taken a modern bike and attempted to give it a more vintage style is because I like the looks of the old bikes but I don't want to deal with the vibration, oil leaks, repairs bla bla bla. I like to ride! And I also like to personalize my bike to my individual tastes. I don't want to ride a bike that everyone else has. I want something that suits me and also something that is gonna start when I push the button in the morning (every time). As for the Thruxtons, I had an 05 that I removed the rear fender from and added bar end mirrors, Kellerman signals and such. I wanted something that wasn't gonna go out of style within a couple of years and I also really liked the looks of the machine. Yes, the Thruxtons look awsome without their rear fenders and stock lights shaved.