Hot on the heels of Project Café, the 1973 Honda CB500 we transformed from a tired salvage yard reject to a beautiful café for the street, we’re gearing up for our next project, a customized and upgraded 2010 Triumph Bonneville. Dairyland Cycle Insurance is helping us make it happen, and when we're done, you could win it!
Since its introduction in 2001, the Bonneville has been a best seller for the relaunched Triumph brand. Company founder (or is that re-founder?) John Bloor waited 10 years after relaunching Triumph to revive the Bonneville name, and owners of the much heralded and already iconic “new” Bonneville will tell you it was definitely worth the wait.
When they reintroduced the Bonneville, Bloor and company knew their aim had to be true. As perhaps the most popular British bike of all time, they had to get the right look, while suitably endowing the new Bonneville with modern attributes to guarantee reliability and rideability.
Mission accomplished, as the Bonneville is hands-down one of Triumph’s best looking motorcycles and arguably the bike that gave the retro revolution its legs.
While we plan more vintage builds in the future, this time around we thought it’d be fun to see what we could do with Triumph’s retro classic Bonneville. The standard bike looks great (that’s a stock 2010 Bonneville in the image above), but ours will be that much cooler.
We’re not going to tip our hand just yet as to exactly what attributes our reworked Bonneville will have, but suffice to say we’re going to give it a new and distinctly American look, customizing the color scheme and upgrading components for a retro Bonnie with a lot more attitude.
The good folks at Dairyland Cycle Insurance are sponsoring our Triumph build — and four of our planned 2010 shows, as well. That includes our show at the just announced Road America Vintage Motorcycle Classic (where we’ll show the Bonneville for the first time), the 19th Annual HOAME show in Kansas City, the 5th Annual Bonneville Vintage GP in Toelle, Utah, and the 6th Annual Barber Vintage Festival in Leeds, Ala.
And the best part is, once we’re done, someone is going to take it home. We’ll bring our Bonneville to the 6th Annual Barber Vintage Festival Oct. 8-10, where we’ll announce the winner of the Dairyland Cycle Insurance/Motorcycle Classics Bonneville.
Watch these pages, and log on to www.dairylandcycle.com and www.MotorcycleClassics.com for updates. Meanwhile, just click here to enter to win our Bonneville Build!
Motorcycle Classics at Road AmericaCan’t wait for the 6th Annual Barber Vintage Festival to see our Bonneville in person? Then head for Elkhart Lake, Wis., and the famed Road America race course for the inaugural Road America Vintage Motorcycle Classic, June 11-13.
This will be a great weekend of classic motorcycling, as Road America partners with longtime motorcycle events producer Will Stoner (Will established the highly successful swap meet at Vintage Motorcycle Days, among others) to create a new event for classic bike fans.
In addition to a swap meet and club corrals, the weekend will host round eight and nine in the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s (AHRMA) Historic Cup Roadrace Series (www.ahrma.org).
AHRMA’s been road racing at Road America for years, but for the Vintage Motorcycle Classic they’re upping the ante with motocross, cross-country and trials on courses built specifically for the event (www.roadamerica.com).
Motorcycle Classics will be there, hosting the inaugural Road America Motorcycle Classics Ride and Show. The Saturday bike show will be open to all bikes 1990 and older, and will include a leisurely 40-mile ride through the scenic Wisconsin countryside, followed by judging and awards. It’ll also be your chance to check out the progress on our Bonneville build, as we’ll be bringing our Bonnie along for its first public outing.
