Custom Bonnies are a blessing and a curse; they’re easy to live with, yet hard to make look truly unique. They’re stylish without being wanky, yet they’re also pretty heavy and low on power as far as Triumph’s range goes. When a chance to make one seriously unique without being over the top came my way, I all but jumped at the opportunity to finish it off.
Some bikes have stories that can’t be neatly fitted into a bite sized story. Nank’s Classic T100 is one of those, a bike that started down the custom path by the original owner long before Nicky (Nanks) owned and started modding it to her tastes. I actually sold Nicky the doner bike for this about 18 months before she came back to me to get it modified further. It had a black & tan colour scheme with an Omega seat, cheap and nasty pipes and the airbox kept stock and intact.
Between me selling it to her and doing work to it, she had worked with Timeless Auto Trim and Port & Hyde to change up the aesthetic to replace tan with burgandy. A gorgeous one-off leather seat was made up from the bones of the Omega seat, with a tank strap and leather grips made up to match. Port & Hyde followed this up with a saddlebag that tied in the new colour scheme incredibly well. The initial tank had been stripped and polished, which had slowly begun to rust with the logo decals fading and peeling at the edges. The motor ran, but Nicky wasn’t really loving the whole package, and wanted an update to the performance, the sound, the look, and the feel.
I began work by removing all parts that needed updating; the headlight was replaced with a Kelpi prototype and the brushed steel + black finish to the headlight bucket was improved with fresh clear sealing it up. I fitted up a Purpose Built Moto orbital tail light, and fabricated a small bracket to have it sit nicely above the number plate. Kelpi Blindsider indicators were next front & rear, as well as an ultra wide beach bar with bar-end weights to keep it safe. Several parts like the sprocket cover, sump guard and chainguard were either rusted over or looking fairly tired; these were given a fresh brushed steel finish and better quality direct-to-metal clearcoat to ensure the bike wouldn’t have this issue again.
The tank needed to be stripped back and started fresh, with decals supplied by Tim BG and the design done in a mix of gloss black and hand polished steel. Once done, K&N Pod filters were added with the airbox deleted, a step towards creating half decent power out of the motor. From there, I ripped off the tattered and faded black exhaust wrap and threw the cheap exhausts into the bin. Whilst I usually use Kelpi pipes for my custom builds, this time I settled on a set of British Custom Predator pipes that included a performance tune that would work with the pod filter conversion. I gave them a matching brushed steel finish, and then installed some much better quality titanium exhaust wrap that wouldn’t change colour or fall apart over time onto the headers.
The build was starting to take shape, and the excitement that comes with a build that’s rapidly taking shape is bloody infectious. Nicky started to get just as excited as we started working on finishing touches. The spokes on the front and rear wheels were terribly rusted, so I stripped, polished and DTM clear-coated these next, with 41mm fork preload adjusters added to fix up the wallowing characteristics of the front end handling instantly. Metzeler Tourance tyres were also used, giving solid road handling whilst being more than capable of dirt and gravel roads should the need arise.
Finally the bike was tuned with the BC Predator + Pod Filter map, and given a quick minor service to ensure everything would stay golden in the near distant future.
Nanks wanted something that looked, performed, sounded and felt better than original, and I managed to make that a reality for her across a fairly conservative budget.
The finishing touch was a prototype pair of Kelpi burgandy gloves to Nicky’s surprise.
Some builds don’t inspire confidence, pride, or affirmation, but this one did.
Whilst this isn’t a heavily modified bike, it’s been lightly modified in all of the best ways, and I’m proud of how it’s come out. Thanks for your trust and support Nanks!
