Triumph Bonneville Scrambler - Rumbler - Custom Special

£11995.00 ono

Tel: 07548 670689
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Although the photo's really don't show the bike off anywhere near as well as it looks in the flesh, you will see the colour scheme is a mat chocolate brown and contrasting mat cream. The seat is hand trimmed by a master craftsman at Aston's and the leather colour chosen (Kestral Tan) to match the wooden tonneau cover of the car that gave us our inspiration, but with a view to it weathering and darkening in time, as all leathers do. As a side note, on the seat we used the same diamond stitching pattern template that we used on the seats of the DBS Bond car used in Casino Royal (for all you James Bond lovers out there) - trivial, but fact.

So that is the basics behind how it came to be. I started out with a £7.5K donor scrambler (6 months old when purchased) and I spent as much again (and some) to reach completion - in total I spent in excess of £17K (including the initial bike purchase), plus many, many hours of work - it took a total of 2 years to complete this bike.

The biggest single outlay was the complete Öhlins adjustable front and rear suspension - which included some engineering and machining work as well as a bespoke professional set up (which was done by an ex-world motocross champion - involving weighing me and playing with lots of different rated springs and oil viscosities until we got it right - however the set up is fully adjustable and can be tailored to suit you). The rear shocks were a basic swap, as in no modification was needed - but for the front I wanted to keep the original look of the forks (with old school gaiters - we were aiming for the bike to look vintage). You can't fit Öhlins cartridges into the standard Bonneville forks, so machining was required in order to get the plan to work. I'm glad to say we pulled it off, and apart from the adjusters you can see at the top of the forks, the Öhlins have no physical impact on the appearance over the stock forks, which was the intention, and gives it more of a vintage look to the original Rumbler (personally I don't like the look of the up-side-down forks on the original, and they certainly wouldn't work with the rectro-vintage look we were trying to achieve on this bike). Without a doubt, this is now one of the most grounded and rideable bikes I have ever owned - and if you have ever ridden a stock Bonneville you will know that the standard suspension set up is pretty dire, so this upgrade is an unimaginable improvement over stock. I took the bike through the Brecon Beacons and was throwing it around (with a massive smile on my face) like it was on rails, even on knobblies - the guy riding behind me was astounded and couldn't keep up with me through the twisties!

I had the frame shortened at the rear and a lower and shorter seat fitted (these two changes make a substantial impact on the proportional appearance of the bike). Ideally it's more suited for solo riding but if you scoot forward, you can still get two adults on the bike. As I previously mentioned, the seat is trimmed out in Kestral Tan Connolly leather - a unique colour limited to Aston Martin's only.

All of the body work, with the exception of the tank, is bespoke and all the stock lighting (which is really pretty poor, particularly the headlight) was replaced with all round LED's after a bit of playing about with relays and the like. The headlamp is now as bright (if not brighter) as any you will find on a new bike, not just a Triumph. As you can see the headlamp unit is fully bespoke, as is the tail light incorporated into the customer rear fender. Full LED directional indicators were added (cast aluminium, powered coated bullet/teardrop design - I also had all the additional lighting brackets and cut down frame powder coated at the same time). As I had the bike totally stripped down, I fitted a tracker system and wired the bike up for a trickle charger to keep the battery in good order over the winter, but without the need to take the seat off to do so - the hook up connector is semi hidden underneath the Arrow pipe. From an electrical perspective, I really dislike the stock Triumph "Mickey Mouse ear" clocks and wanted a much flatter, single clock design for the bike - the original Rumbler bike that inspired this was not built for road use and had no clocks fitted, so I wanted to minimise the appearance of anything I had fitted. I originally fitted a smaller, cheaper unit and it just didn't look right, so I found a suitable alternative unit from MotoGadget (full digital speedo, but with an analogue tacho). Unfortunately you cannot simply replace the clocks on a Bonneville so I had to get a new ECU (m-Tri unit) wired up and go through all the drama of getting everything to function as it should - which took far longer than I had hoped! Just over two months later (and with the eventual help of an auto-electrician at work) we were in business - you can see the results in the photos - I think it looks really trick and sits nice and low. I plumped for the addition trip button feature mounted by the main dial, subtle but easily accessible with a gloved hand (used to toggle through the feature of the Motogadget, reset trip etc). The alternative was to have a handle bar mounted affair, which we fitted, but looked decidedly after market when we set it up, so we started again and arrived at this much simpler/neater solution.

You will see the bike is fitted with LSL bars and risers to change the look and riding position to something slightly more elevated than stock - what we ended up with is a really comfortable riding position as a result. The bars are a bit trick as they taper in diameter, another subtle touch. Adjustable clutch and brake leavers were fitted to enable the perfect set up for any rider. I went for a Triumph machined brake reservoir, anodised in black just to finish off the whole headset/top end perfectly.

The front and rear disks are now both a wavy disk setup (the front is also floating) and the front disk caliper was upgraded to a 3 pot (Nissin) in gold that complements the colour scheme of the bike. All the brake lines were replaced with braided hoses, but we went with a black covering for a more subtle appearance.

If you walk around the bike you'll probably not be able to notice every detail that is non-standard as it all works so well (many people have asked if it was factory built), and I can't honestly recall all that has been replaced or modified over the 2 year build (pretty much everything), but the obvious stuff to spot over stock - lightweight rear sprocket and machined front cover, machined front and rear pegs and brake peddle, black skid pan, Bitwell grips and end plug mirrors. I had to reposition the ignition, rectifier and horn when I modified the headlight, so the ignition now sits down on the right-hand side below the tank (LSL billet machined ignition housing). The bike was rewired to enable a full LED set up all round (and to accommodate the ECU needed for the Motogadget clock), obviously the bespoke body, cut down frame and custom leather seat. The entire brake system was upgraded and the suspension is now a top draw, fully adjustable complete Öhlins set-up. LSL bars and risers are fitted, a Motogadget digital & analogue clock and the accompanying ECU to talk to it. I've fitted a new Arrow 2 into 1 exhaust system and had the dealer do the necessary set up (loaded the Triumph factory Arrow map which does not void the warranty) and the bike now sounds as good as it looks, which is awesome! I'm running the bike on knobblies and they are surprisingly good for road use as they are a pretty soft compound (virtually new - rear just replaced). It does set off the appearance of the bike perfectly, I think you will agree - it looks so cool from the rear (see photos)!

Trust me when I say that without exception, whenever I ride this bike, I will have someone comment on it. I have lost count of the number of people that have asked if I would sell it. My local dealer has photographed this bike and sent the pictures to Triumph HQ as they were so impressed with the standard, execution and end result of the build. The bike has also been used in a couple of photo shoots as well as "borrowed" for a national bike show, used on an after market supplier stand.

I appreciate there is a ceiling to the price that can realistically be asked for this bike, but if you consider that you couldn’t replicate it for the price listed, based on the value of parts alone, and that the only place I have found that will build a Rumbler are asking in excess of £28,000 (€31,900 here), I think the price is realistic, but obviously I am open to sensible offers. I have arrived at a price based on the cost of parts, along with the time and effort that has gone into the build and the quality of the finished product. I don't do this to make money, I do it because building bikes is my passion and I love doing it! Having successfully completed this build, and after a couple of years of riding it, it's time for me to start a new project.