2005 Triumph Bonneville "Tracker"
Original Article at
Built in 2019
Over the years, we have primarily stuck to bikes that were born in the '70s and '80s. When I was approached by a customer to build something of the modern era, I jumped to the opportunity. The customer had come to me with a couple of images for inspiration, noting a couple of crucial designs features he had to have on the bike. After an hour or so, we came up with a plan for executing the build.
The first thing was to strip down the bike entirely. The customer assured us that the bike had low miles, and no motor work was necessary. We double-checked for good measure and scrubbed all of the parts we would be reusing.
The frame fabrication came next. We cut off a couple of inches on the back of the frame and fabricated our custom rear loop. Once we were happy with the loop, we cleaned up the rest of the frame, removing any unnecessary tabs or mounting points and set aside for powder coating.
The suspension was overhauled, making for a more rigid ride and leaning more towards a race set up. The wheels received a sandblast and powder coating with a fresh set of spokes to clean them up. The carbs scrubbed and ran though an ultrasonic bath. Blown with air and reassembled.
From there, we moved on to building a seat pan. These bikes have an offset gas tank mount that sits about 2-3 inches above the top tube. We needed to come up with a way to connect the two planes seamlessly. With some tricky sheet metal work, we were able to come up with a solution. The seat has a pocket that slips into the gas tank mount.
The gas tank was the most time-consuming task on the bike. The painter we subcontract killed the design. The design was a collaboration between myself and the customer, and I was pleased he wanted to go in the direction he picked. The paint job itself took quite some time. The painter laid down a gold micro flake base layer and taped and masked each scallop in the design.
Electronics play a huge role in modern bikes today and for a good reason. These bikes handle so well it's hard to argue the fact. With more complicated systems comes more complicated wiring, and we learned that on this build. The harness stays pretty much stock from the gas tank back. We did have to do some substantial modification to the harness up front. The gauge cluster and switches on these bikes are pretty involved.
We dressed the handlebars with modern motocross controls and our bar-end turn signals.
This bike is a dream to ride. It hauls ass and stops on a dime. Thanks, Graham, for letting us build it!
The frame fabrication came next. We cut off a couple of inches on the back of the frame and fabricated our custom rear loop. Once we were happy with the loop, we cleaned up the rest of the frame, removing any unnecessary tabs or mounting points and set aside for powder coating.
The suspension was overhauled, making for a more rigid ride and leaning more towards a race set up. The wheels received a sandblast and powder coating with a fresh set of spokes to clean them up. The carbs scrubbed and ran though an ultrasonic bath. Blown with air and reassembled.
From there, we moved on to building a seat pan. These bikes have an offset gas tank mount that sits about 2-3 inches above the top tube. We needed to come up with a way to connect the two planes seamlessly. With some tricky sheet metal work, we were able to come up with a solution. The seat has a pocket that slips into the gas tank mount.
The gas tank was the most time-consuming task on the bike. The painter we subcontract killed the design. The design was a collaboration between myself and the customer, and I was pleased he wanted to go in the direction he picked. The paint job itself took quite some time. The painter laid down a gold micro flake base layer and taped and masked each scallop in the design.
Electronics play a huge role in modern bikes today and for a good reason. These bikes handle so well it's hard to argue the fact. With more complicated systems comes more complicated wiring, and we learned that on this build. The harness stays pretty much stock from the gas tank back. We did have to do some substantial modification to the harness up front. The gauge cluster and switches on these bikes are pretty involved.
We dressed the handlebars with modern motocross controls and our bar-end turn signals.
This bike is a dream to ride. It hauls ass and stops on a dime. Thanks, Graham, for letting us build it!