Triumph T120 Bonneville

The Bonneville “Racer” was in the workshop for a few years and it has been worth the wait, and all the time and effort getting it right. Right for the road without destroying the racing heritage and provenance of a bike which is rather special in so many ways. There is a lot of history with this machine, everything known from the very first of only three owners (father and son and one other) who bought the bike new in 1963 (the rarest of Bonneville years in production numbers and the first of the unit twin engines). Too much to list here but it was raced by the first owner and many of those lightened parts and racing touches remain on the machine. The engine blew up (obviously) and was replaced long ago by a later (and stronger) T120 lump which has been re-stamped with the original “matching” number. The frame is the original and bears the original factory stamp. When the rider and machine retired from racing it passed to the son and he sold it to us after years in storage. Since then it has had a complete engine rebuild using the best parts money can buy, carried out by the respected Classic Bike Workshop engineer Gerry Fry who also restored the bike sympathetically as you can see. The electrics have been completely renewed with a new cloth-bound loom, electronic ignition and reg/rec (hidden so you can’t tell) and the frame has been powder coated. New alloy mudguards, exhausts and fittings, seat kept as it was, brakes re-engineered (TLS front of course) and very recent new tyres. The classic white paintwork identifies it as that rarest of models; the 1963 “crossover” year. The original parts pay homage to the first owner and the bike’s racing heritage. The new engine and electrics will provide performance and reliability. This bike comes with a documented and pictorial record of the rebuild and restoration. The spec is what every racer wanted (flanged alloy rims, clip-ons, rear-sets, alloy and lightened this and that, and whilst it is back to full road trim with lights and the engine is standard late T120 it still looks and feels like a racer. We love it and we have put a lot of love into it. The last owner loved it too and gave it the name “Malcolm” and that has stuck so every owner is represented in this fine machine. Looking for someone to put their stamp on it now and with all the work we’ve put in hopefully a long new chapter is to be written.