Author: Hutch

There’s nothing we like more than to see a renown restorer such as Leroy Turner applying our paint to his latest restoration project.

In this case, he’s just completed a 1965 Bonneville for the very well regarded Wayne Hamilton collection.  Leroy and his team have done wonderful work, and we’re proud to have played a small part.

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As many in the British bike community know, our founder Don Hutchinson experienced some health challenges toward the end of last year which waylaid him for the better part of 3 months.

We’re thrilled, of course, with his recovery and return.  Our shop is finally back to normal.

While Hutch was away, we did everything we could to keep things moving exactly as he would want.  One project which made it’s way to the top of our list was the restoration of this fine 1968 Triumph T120R Bonneville.

This bike began as a complete core, found in a shed, covered with dirt and rot.  We completely disassembled the bike, powder-coated all the black parts, re-chromed the chrome parts, cad plated the proper parts, and replaced a number of components.

Most of the parts are original, including all chrome parts and sheet metal.  Look for our special touches, such as the original white plastic front brake cable router, bakelite Champion spark plug caps, and restored Lucas ammeter.

Needless to say, the paint job is one of our finer efforts.  The Hi-Fi Scarlet and Silver Sheen with hand-applied gold pinstripes is just outstanding (if we say so ourselves).

We’re proud to say the result is pretty typical of our shop, and we look forward to the owner of this bike enjoying it for years to come.

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We’ve spent a good deal of time working with a valued customer to make his 1969 Triumph Bonneville as perfect as it gets, and we’ve succeeded.

We’re thrilled with the results.  While it was a wonderful bike to begin with, it now stands out as a near-flawless example of this legendary motorbike.

Please see additional photographs, and links to prior blog posts regarding this machine, in our “Customer Bikes” section.

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Back in early February, we began by sharing photos of the bike in its then-current state, and outlining our plan of attack.

By late February, we’d sandblasted our frame. In early March, we’d sandblasted all other parts to be powdercoated, and had sourced an original fuel tank.

As we moved towards April, the powdercoating was completed, our tank was prepped for paint, and we’d begun the enjoyable task of filling our parts table with new and NOS components.

In April and May, we continued sourcing rare parts, and painted the tank to exactly match the original.

Since that time, we’ve been busily assembling the engine, and in turn, the completed machine featured here. It is an outstanding motorbike in every way. The engine growls, the suspension and controls are precisely calibrated, and the bike is every bit as beautiful as we’d originally envisioned.

As the build of this bike progressed, we were pleased to arrange to deliver it to its new owner immediately on completion, so it is not available for sale. However, we’ve already begun restoration on a 1970 Bonneville, which is available to build to customer specification.

Check additional photographs of this bike out in our “Customer Bikes” section.

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In a previous post, we showed how we begin preparing a tank for paint by burning off all existing paint, body filler, and tank sealer.

We’re not fans of tank sealer, as it eventually fails. We prefer to find and weld leaks shut, and ensure our tanks are properly repaired for the long term.

We recently performed some repairs on a tank which had a faulty repair carried out in it’s lifetime on the mounting studs. The original studs had broken off, and in their place were badly misaligned heli-coils with incorrectly threaded studs. To make matters worse, the new studs were too long, and punctured the tank when installed. The owner then soldered around the base of the studs in a poor attempt to fix the inevitable leaks.

Our typical repair involves removing the faulty studs and bottom caps altogether, and then sealing the holes completely with white brazing flux (which we also use, incidentally, to seal leaks around the filler neck).

Once the leaks are thought to be sealed, we use our gas cap pressure test assembly pictured below to ensure no leaks remain. We affix the cap to the tank, pressurize it with air, wet the outside of the tank, look for bubbles, and re-solder pinholes as necessary.

Finally, we weld and tap new bottom caps which will accept the proper studs. The end result is long-lasting and undetectable.

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