A Modern Legend

Casper van der Ven — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 20:29:20 +0000

Intro & Ingredients

Once in a while, you strike gold! The motorcycle I’m writing about today made its first appearance in the wild at the Big Twin Show in Houten, the Netherlands, earlier this month. In our case, we got a bit (a lot) of a head’s up. I have been personally involved since a frame and a few crates of parts were inspected and, after a haggle and a handshake, collected. We have previously posted about a Blast from the Past, and about a Modern Interpretation of the famous concept. While often considered the first cafe racer and the heritage of custom builds, these bikes are now considered unicorns. They often find a home in a living room or a museum, rather than a garage. A few years ago, we were brave enough to call it “one of the most legendary machines out there”. What I am referring to is the ‘Triton’, a Triumph engine in a Norton frame. These bikes were built in the UK between 1950 and 1970, in various attempts to put the fastest engine into the best handling frame.

Here, I would like to present one built in the Netherlands, in 2022. The basic recipe for a classic Triton is relatively simple:

Norton (Wideline) Featherbed frame – 1pc.
Triumph Pre-Unit 650 twin engine – 1pc.
Roadholder fork – 1pc.

Trying to source these main components is one thing, trying to make them fit each other and look good is another… Let’s get into it!

It’s all in the details

Georges Martin, inspired by Egli, built this particular frame and swingarm based on the Norton wideline featherbed measurements. He ingeniously routed an oil line inside the frame for the crankcase breather.

Piet from Land’s End Motorcycles in Hengstdijk, the Netherlands overhauled the 650cc 360° parallel twin engine. He increased the capacity to 750cc, plugged in matching pistons, and topped it off with a T140 head to convert to a pushover exhaust. Furthermore, he installed a belt-driven Bob Newby racing clutch to transfer all 55 horses to the Norton AMC transmission. Yes, that is the same Bob Newby who won several TTs in the 1980’s. All this mounts into the frame with waterjet cut 7075-T6 aluminium brackets. Piet also serviced the Roadholder forks and mated these to the frame. He further modified the frame to also fit the polished aluminium oil tank behind the engine and underneath the seat.

Rolling along

In the front, Haan Wheels in Schijndel laced a Grimeca 4 (!!!) leading shoe hub with stainless steel spokes and a 19″ Morad high shoulder rim. The 18” rear around a weight-reduced conical hub. Both were drum-polished to achieve that top shine finish. Bridgestone Battlax BT45 rubber ensures optimal contact to the road surface.

A touch of modern

Not all on this bike is a collection of old and refurbished parts from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, the UK, and the US.

If you look closely, the vintage Tommaselli Matador levers neighbour modern Motone CNC milled aluminium push button controls. This is one of the hints at what lies underneath the shine. When laying new wiring, one might as well go all the way and replace analog fuses and switches with a digital control unit. In this case, a MotoGadget mo.unit replaces all relays and fuses, and simultaneously simplifies the wiring. The pulse switches control the unit via a low current circuit, allowing for small diameter wires inside the clip-ons. The thicker wiring for 12 volt supply to the power draining components are thus no longer routed via the switches. Yes, I’m looking at you, H4 headlight!

The chrome headlight bucket also houses a digital voltmeter and LED indicator lights for the high beam, oil pressure, and the indicators. Bright as the sun, these tiny LED indicators are another hint at the high-tech core of the motorcycle. We concidered and accepted these modernisations, because the original manufacturer of Triumph and Norton lights, Lucas, is jokingly known as ‘the Prince of Darkness’.

When you are on the bike, you can clearly see the indicator lights and voltmeter when you peak between the original Smith’s tacho and speedo. Bob Carter in the US rebuilt these, since some things are best left to the experts.

Hand built

Behind these beautiful gauges sits la pièce de résistance, a handbuilt aluminium petrol tank. It subtly dips below the spine of the frame, yet perfectly aligns with knees where it narrows to meet the seat. Combined, the curvature of the tank and the seat play a large part in the aesthetic that stops people in their trot. They often utter something along the lines of “I have no idea what it is, but it’s beautiful”. The seat hump houses the lithium ion battery and control unit. Maarten, or Yellow Rider, Zevenaar, famous for converting Yamaha’s into vintage racers and board trackers, made it by hand, since the available humps did not follow this curvature. The broad silver band aligns with the metal strap that secures the tank. Seats are his specialty, and his craftsmanship shows!

One of the largest challenges with this build was to find parts that fit. And when you cannot find something, you fabricate it. There is a lot you can bolt on nowadays, almost all manufacturers offer parts to personalise your bike further. Aftermarket suppliers often go as far as offering various types of entire kits to convert your motorcycle. Just sometimes, your hand tools are not sufficient to fabricate the parts needed, and that’s when you call the cavalry.

Maarten also crafted the base plate and adapted the subframe hoop before it went to powder coating. RAL 6005 with a structured finish is a unique combination that is a tad lighter than the famous BRG. British Racing Green. It really makes the bike pop and sets it apart from that traditional black, chrome, red colour scheme. Finally, Maarten fabricated stainless steel actuator and anchor rods for the rear brake and gearbox, as well as the brackets for the Norton Peashooter exhausts.

Big (T)winner

At the show, we’re getting very curious about the sound. And with us, a few other people in the audience looked at the cafe racer category winner at the Big Twin Bike Show with great anticipation and hope. Luckily, after tickling the Amal 930 carbs, a firm kick draws in the air via DNA filters, the Beck electronic ignition generates a spark, and the parallel twin roars. Just a tad louder than the crowd ;)

Um cassino on-line que oferece acesso a uma variedade de jogos de azar, incluindo caça-níqueis, roleta, pôquer e muito mais emhttps://betandreas.br.com/

Photo credit: Jan Eggink Photography

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Modern classic: Triumph Bonneville – Triton “Legend”

Adnane Bensalah — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 07:05:15 +0000

Icon Motorcycles
You may have never heard of them, Icon Motorcycles. The Netherlands-based outfit has dedicated itself completely to building classic British café racers. At Icon they don’t just produce motorcycles; they go back deep into history. They let their hands do the work and put their soul in every model, with the greatest care for the smallest details for the sole purpose of creating the perfect harmony between man and machine. That’s the sales pitch at least.

Merger
They do that by combining the best of two motorcycles into one. First, there is the famous Norton featherbed frame, which bears an unparalleled reputation for both rigidity and comfort. It is a double cradle frame with a wasp’s waist. It has a “roadholder” fork and swing rear suspension, and was built by the Irish McCandless brothers. An absolute legend of the British motorcycle industry. At the time, the amazing features of this frame were applauded by many, especially those that loved to race because of the dramatically improved handling. It is this type of frame that is used by Icon Motorcycles. Mated to the famous Triumph Bonneville 360-degree parallel twin engine, which churns out a healthy 69hp and 69Nm of torque from its 900cc lung capacity, one could say that this would be the birth of the new Triton!

Classic Café Racer
Icon Motorcycles really goes all-in with their build. The longing for the good old days is so strong, that it can be felt in every part that passed the hands of these craftsmen. Their philosophy is that a café racer is more than just a machine. There is a human aspect to it as well, which is just as important as the machine. You see, the riders of café racers were young men and women, that had a need for speed. There were basically 2 ways to achieve that goal: lose weight and more power. This started out with very basic stuff like ditching fenders, and removing indicators. Later on, it started to get more serious, with the most well-known modification being a combination of a Triumph engine with a Norton frame. Hence the name Triton. With its spartan look and aggressive feel, the “Triton” is one of the most distinctive and respected motorcycles in the world. Some purists believe that without the emergence of the “Triton”, manufacturers might never had developed modern sports motorcycle.

Tuned for performance
Besides the café racer scene, there was also a movement that demanded that their machines be driven even faster and that the appearance of their bikes needed to be similar to the machines of British racing heroes such as Mike Hailwood and Geoff Duke. Reaching a 100 miles per hour, or the “Ton” as it was called, became the ultimate goal. This meant a sleeker fuel tank, stiffer suspension, lowered frames, clip-ons, and fibreglass fairings. Engines got blueprinted and received performance upgrades such as forged pistons, bigger valves, race cams, open exhaust, larger jets, and lighter flywheels. This is the look and feel that Icon Motorcycles is aiming for.

British to the bone
The motorcycles that leave their workshop are all made with British parts. There is the Triumph engine, Norton frame, Hagon shocks, Lucas’ electrics, and Dunstall exhaust system. All parts are made of British entertaining, a Triumph engine, Norton frame, Hagon shocks, Lucas electrics and Dunstall exhaust. The parts are painted in “British racing green”, in a two-tone color scheme. The short aluminum racing tank and the swept back exhaust curves are a real nod to the old café racers. In each section you feel the British industry is represented. They do that because they are convinced that the urge for quality is what makes it so special.

Builder details:
Icon Motorcycles
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