My Triumph Thruxton Daily Ride

Posted on June 3, 2018January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

03 Jun

My 2013 Triumph Thruxton has served me well over the years, compared to my vintage triumph, this is chalk and cheese in the reliability league and the bike has given me many thousands of miles of fun and still does. it has now had 3 different guises since I acquired the bike from Socal Motorcycles and it certainly gets a lot of attention.

I bought the bike but it was the British Racing Green Color scheme, I’m not a fan of green but, stuck it out as long as I could but, saw so many this color, that I had to do a few things to make it into the bike I really want to ride. I first made a Diamond Upholstered seat for it, long before people were doing it and got a lot of compliments, then I set about designing reverse Cone megaphones in Stainless Steel, and that sure did get people looking.

Next up was to remove the swing arm and weld tubes in to make it look like drilled holes, then re-chrome it, soon as I did that, I fitted New Alloy Rims, wide 5.5 rear from Canyon of the TT range and this really filled the swing arm out nicely. I repainted the gas tank and made side covers as well as the front fairing and the rear cowl, making the seat fold down to allow access to the storage compartment.

The New rims were such a change in handling for this machine, the fatter tire grabbed the tarmac like glue and this was a fun machine to now take out and enjoy .

I loved slinging my leg over this 900 and tear away up the road with a smile on my face, it was now a machine that was starting to get dialed in to how I wanted it, but there was another look I wanted after a while, I mean I also build and design bikes and parts, this is my business card, so always like to change things up and now its on its way to its third livery.

I removed the fairing and was contemplating a different look, so it came to my mind to fit An Alloy Gas tank and side covers, but, I wanted to make an alloy rear cowl for the bike, so with Egg shape Hammer in Hand I set about and made a rear cowl, then frenched a pocket into the rear cowl to alloy for a Vintage light but have a LED insert in that light, old with new.

Loving the look of this and am glad that i went this route, this time I wanted to change the seat padding and went for a soft Tan leather with Diamond Stitching.

Now this sure is comfortable and feels way better than the old one as I simply wore it out with my fat arse sat upon it all the time and this is now comfortable once more.

I now have my Alloy Gas tanl on the bike and sometimes I fit different seats when I make them to check for fitment and this bolted right up with no issues at all.

Right now here she is sat at home and I really do like the way she looks, Classic styling and its a fun machine, this afternoon I shall change out the grips to go with the New leather seat and give the bike a better flow and color coordination. I shall take some pics later in the week to see how they look and feel first.

The front fender I made from an old BSA mudguard and then welded some brackets to the side and the contour is just how I want it too, came out well and love the look of it. if you look at the lower part of the chassis, you see I have my own hand made Bash plate that I made out of Aluminum and then added a Bottle opener, just in case ya stuck when you are out camping.

The Zard pipes sound great and may polish them to get a mirror finish to accentuate the rear cowl that I made as I love how this has turned out as a one off design.

You will also noticed that I wrapped my headers, this was something I wanted to try with an Aircraft application and rather than the old school wrap, I thought that this would look pretty cool as a slip on heat Sock, and sure glad I went this route as these Performance pipes get bloody hot when riding.

I also have a set of Works Performance piggy back race shocks to soak up the bumps, not cheap but my old shocks I had that were TEC, Blew the Nitros out of them when I was in the Canyons on a few pot holes, so a more expensive and professional set were purchased and I am also a dealer for Works Performance and so glad that I have these now as it is night and day on suspension set up.

I also designed and made the Knuckle Duster Heel guard, and offer that on my website as well, I then blanked off the rear passenger foot peg hangers to tidy that area up a little.

Bike now sits well and I am happy with the look, I will be fitting the grips and will show the pics on here so you can see what they look like.

I went with some Cole Foster grips, looked at many but thought that these would be best to go with my leather seat, and am happy with the choice and are really comfortable too.

Really happy with my choice and my hands will thank me later too.

Sat next to My Hot Rod, the Triumph looks happy in its new set of clothes, looks a different bike too, still a little more I want to do as I go along but, thought that I would share some pics on a Blog and see if you like what I have done.

Here is a list of what is on here.

Motone Alloy Gas Tank

Motone Side Covers

Cole Foster Grips

Custom Clip 1″ on’s

Wide wheel kit from Canyon

Custom Drilled and Chromed Rear Swing Arm

Upsweep Rear Polished Alloy Caliper Bracket

Zard Stainless Steel Exhaust Kit

Titanium Aircraft Heat Shield Sock

Speed merchant Finned Engine Covers

Wave Brake Rotors

Beringer 4 pot Brake Caliper

Hand Made Alloy Mudguard from a BSA

Hand made Seat with Leather Upholstery

LED internal turn signals and 6000 Lumens headlight

4 inch Chromed Fog light

Custom hand Made rear Cowl with LED Rear Light

Works Performance Piggy Back Racer Shock Absorners

Hand made Knuckle Duster Heel Guard

Joker bar End Mirrors

Lithium Ion battery by EarthX

K&N Pod Filters

Fender Elimination kit

Custom Horn

Hand made Alloy bash plate with Bottle Opener

Power Commander

Irridium Spark plugs

LED rear Turn Signals

TEC Front Steering Stabilizer

Custom Machines Foot Pegs

Rear Blank Off Plates On Hangers

Ace Cafe and some explanation of Triumph Bonneville.

Posted on November 3, 2017January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

03 Nov

Well Friday Already,

I am stuck for a bit of time but thought I would add a post of my mate Mark Wilsmore on here at the ACE Cafe, talking about the Rockers and of course the Bonneville.

Have a safe weekend out there.

Socal Norton Club‎ 36th Annual Hansen Dam Ride and Show SUNDAY!

Posted on October 29, 2015January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

29 Oct

Ok, this Sunday is coming around super fast and I shall be heading down to Hansen Dam for the Norton Owners Club 36th Meeting that is annually and boy what a treat this is.

Last year was my First attendance at the Hansen Dam ride and boy did I have fun there, a few hundred bikes turned up and the ride through the canyons was brilliant fun, no need to race but you could give it an ear full if you so required, but I sure did have fun on My Thruxton.

I will be going again with my crew from the Orange County 59 Club and take in the atmosphere of this well represented Norton club.

What time:

at 7:00am – 3:00pm

3 days from now · 85°F / 60°F Clear

Where:

Hansen Dam Recreation Park

11770 Foothill Blvd, Sylmar, California 91342

Schedule of events:

8-9:45 Coffee, Donuts and Show Bike Info
9:45 Riders Meeting and Announcements
10:00 Ride leaves via Osbourne/Foothill/Little Tujunga
1:30-2 Return to Dam for ride pins and Best Bikes Show and lunch
2:30-3 Show Bike Awards in six catagories
Catagories are:
Best Norton
Best Triumph
Best BSA
Best British Custom
Best British Other
Best of Show
Bikes in show must participate in ride.
This is the best motorcycle show by a dam site.
Directions: 210 to Osborne St. exit #8 Foothill Blvd. west, left on Osborne St., left on Dronfield Ave., right then left to lower parking lot.

This is a great event and for all classic Motorcycles, if you want a fun day out on your two wheeled machine on Sunday, then this is the place to be at.

You will see a few faces you may know there, I saw Barry Weis there and he is such a fun guy to chat too.

Also you will see Many unique machines from Norton, to Greeves, it will all be there and a great hang out before the ride into the twisties.

If you see us, please come and say hello as this is one of the friendliest meets I have never been too, other than the VJMC as their events are super cool too.

So get ya arse down here if you can as it is a memorable ride and so many cool classic machines to look at.

I hope to see you, give us a wave if you are on the run as this sure is a fun day to ride your motorcycle.

If you would like to ride with us , then get up early as we shall be at Alea’s Cafe on the corner of Miraloma Ave and Miller at 7am remember you have to change your clocks on Sunday morning at 2am.

Alea Cafe

3371 E Miraloma Ave, Anaheim, CA

My Thruxton with a New Look !

Posted on August 3, 2015January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

03 Aug

Here we are with a brand new look to my 2013 Thruxton, as I had drawn this up a long time ago and wanted the old style look with a new ride.

I was so fortunate to be honored as the President of the 59 Club for Orange County, California and that was back in March 2014 and sure am stoked to have that bestowed upon me and I do my utmost to promote this famous club to the best of my ability.

I have made numerous changes to my Thruxton and am still making improvements as and when time and money is available.

As you may notice, I have made my own front bikini fairing, similar to the Thruxton but extended two inches on the top – and of course I have the ears extended back to give it a slight Rickman styling, also I added my 7 inch LED headlight that really sets the front end off on my machine.

I am from the UK and as a teenager I grew up loving motorcycles and immersed myself in what ever I could, I loved all the classics and my first ever Caff racer was back in 1978 when we got our provisional License and had a 50cc Suzuki that I put Clubman bars on, cut down seat and fitted a fairing and from then on I was hooked into the scene.

I used to go to all the Rocker Reunions to watch the Gene Vincent styled bands play, from Joe Brown and His Brothers to The Rapiers, who still gig today.

If you look on the tank I have painted Ton Up and ask any Rocker what that means, it means to go over 100 miles an hour and back in 1959 that was quite a feat to accomplish. This has nothing to do with the TON UP clubs that are all over the place, I had this logo many years ago as we were Ton Up Boys back then and this term was coined back home in the 1950’s by the 59 Club members. I wanted to use a Triumph Style font and love the look.

I made the tail cowl too and my seat has the compartment inside the cowl so that I can store all sorts of stuff for my ride. You will also notice the awesome polished finned Primary Cover that I received from Speed Merchant and boy does that look trick now.

I have Speed Merchant covers and love the look, fit and style of these castings etc, and get many good positive comments on the set up I have.

My stainless steel Monarch Megaphones bark like a scolded dog and actually improve performance, hope to get a dyno chart on them soon.

I also make the side covers too and have an air intake style grill that really helps the bike and as I now have pod filters, these breathes well.

Right now I am working on making brand new stainless steel headers for the Thruxton and the Bonneville, so stay tuned on my website for that.

I have the big wide 5.5 T.T. rear wheel set up with Wave rotors too on a stock swing arm and it handles very well but soon I will have new alloy rear swing arms that will be available for all to purchase for your rides.

I have TEC shocks right now with my covers I machined on them to give that racy look and am happy with that set up until I can afford some Works Performance piggy backs.

The bike sits well and I have Wave rotors front and rear, it corners so well and have such fun with this bike.

Just have a look at the gorgeous SM Finned Clutch Cover, it really is a piece of art and a happy I went this route as its kinda Hot Roddy!

From the right side you can see that I have my own oil pressure gauge set up on the bike and I love to know I have good oil pressure.

I changed the Front sprocket to a 19 and love the performance and fuel millage on it and now will be fitting a nickel DID chain to compliment it.

To break 100 MPH in Great Britain back in the day was a major effort and the 59 Club were the first Rockers organized motorcycle club and that where you started to hear TON UP, doing the Ton, Ton up Boys, Ton Up Pirate, Ton up kid. To break ‘the ton’ was a huge achievement back in the day and gave you some bragging rights.

Back in the day my dad would point if we were in the car going somewhere and would say look, “Ton Up Boys”

My first Ton Up experience was putting my brother on the back of an RD200 and tapping him on the shoulder so he could look at my speedometer needle bouncing at the 101 MPH, it was an awesome experience and a sense of accomplishment back then, albeit it highly illegal, as it still is today!

The real badges I have from back home.

The FIRST organized motorcycle club in Great Britain and when Britain was really great was the club I am now president of here (the Orange County, California chapter) some 55 years later.

I wanted to fit my fairing on the bike and give it a slightly nostalgic look that I grew up with, having a fairing back then was not just cool it made you more aerodynamic, which meant you could go faster, I also used to be able to tuck stuff in the fairing like tools, maps and spark plugs, etc., and on occasion, as my throttle would stick, keep the throttle wide open on cold mornings on the freeway and put my cold hands in the fairing to warm up a bit.

This is the rear of the bike with my own made cowl with old style metal-flake gold paint and of course the famous 59 Club insignia I am so proud of.

My peanut style tank looks great in the new livery as green was just too common and I have had many green bikes over the years but always loved black and gold. you can see my old style European Fog light and oil pressure gauge to the right of the bike.

My ram air system style side covers not only looks cool they are cool and function very well transporting cool air to my pod filters.

This has House of Kolor Aztec Gold flake and it sure looks good when the sun is out.

So, here she is outside my shop and has so many of my parts on her, the Oil Pan Bash Plate, the fog light, the fairing, the exhaust, the rear cowl and seat, the side covers and the front alloy fender, all designed by me and available to you, too.

I have so much fun with my Thruxton and we have many rides to great places, check out meetup.com under Carpy’s Cafe Racer Meet Ups and come on a ride with us all, you will love it.

I still have more to do to my bike as I will be making a 3/4 Dunstall style fairing for her to give that early 60’s styling and something I really like.

I thank you for looking at my Cafe and love to hear from you, carpy@carpyscaferacers.com if you want to drop me a line or two?

Look forward to seeing some of you on the road, as we have many rides and start to go to more places too.

Stay tuned for more stuff like parts and apparel, etc., as I love what I do and enjoy meeting like minded people.

Just some history below back in 64.

1964 Rockers from Hong Kong Rockers on Vimeo.

1964 Rockers footage
Edit by H.K.R.C. (Hong Kong Rockers Club)

Here is me on my Thruxton a few months ago taking Big Bear Area in, I loved how the bike handled with the new rims on.

Tenacious Ton – 1975 Honda CB750K Custom Alloy Cafe Racer

Posted on May 27, 2014January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

27 May

MY ALLOY CB750 CAFE RACER called the “Tenacious Ton”.

This is a 1975 CB750K Original model that has been customized over 9 years and a fun bike at that, I have a title and she runs and drives.

I have been in many Magazines all over the globe with this machine and it also went to Sturgis last year for the Ton Up show and had great reviews.

I am now building other machines and am going to be selling a few of my Personal Motorcycles to make space, this is a cool ride and I know you will get plenty of head snapping reactions.

This has a One Off 5 Gallon Manx Tank built by an old fella in Ireland that has since passed on, this is one really cool gas tank and it screams out Isle Of man T.T.

There are so Many mods on this I have forgotten how much work I did to this, but have a look and you will see the tank, I made the Alloy seat and it has WW2 material on the seat.

We also have a Lithium battery that powers the 836cc Motor and minimum instruments to be honest, stripped down to the bare bones is cool.

This has Original 1970’s Borrani rims that are hard to locate these days, not aftermarket and these are the real deal, not only that, check out that front end an original Arces of Italy front end, even rarer than Cerriani. And that came off a GP road racer from the UK back in 1978.

I converted this K frame to a Rear Disc set up ad its a super cool design, but also, I used 3 Alloy swing arms to come up with this set up and it works great.

The Oil tank is from 1972 and was on an early Drag bike from Santa Pod back home in the UK and fitted with Goodridge Hoses.

Original 1973 Finned Engine dress up goodies adorn this machine too. Hand made Chain Guard and old CB1100F shocks at the arse end.

The exhausts are our Dunstall style 4 into 2 and these were the first ones we made.

This bike is a classic, its not a showbike and never wanted it to be, but all the frame is smoothed out and has plenty of life in her.

Polished cases and whats cool is we hand turned the Velocity stacks out of 7075 and then polished and fitted stainless bug screens.

Double disc front set up with an old De-soto headlight up front just looks cool.

So many things done to this bike I have forgotten half of it, but as I said I have the title in my name and can ship if needed using Eagle One trucking.