Classic Bike Raisch – The Vintage Cruiser

The Vintage Cruiser is the third custom Triumph Twin from family-run business Classic Bike Raisch to be featured on Bonnefication, and if this build is anything to go by, it certainly won’t be the last. Father Rainer, and sons Christopher and Yannic are the names behind a brand who not only customise motorcycles but also offer an extensive range of parts and accessories allowing themselves and their customers to transform the appearance and performance of the Hinckley Triumph Twin.The teams latest build is based on a 2015 EFI model Bonneville T100, and features not only the best off the shelf parts and accessories available but also the coolest in-trend modifications and customisation.

Typically we start with the frame, shortened, looped and seamlessly blended in to hide the joins between the old and new. A new custom alloy mudguard now fills the gap where the original once sat, topped off with a Shin-Yo Bates style LED stop/tail light, the wiring kept tidy by being fed through the modified frame.To keep the back end clean, the number plate has been relocated from its usual position on the mudguard to the left hand side of the swing-arm using a Classic Bike Raisch side mounted bracket, with the huge stock turn signals being replaced with items from Motogadget and relocated to the inside of the shock mounts using off-the-shelf brackets.The custom aluminium rear mudguard is now free to show off its brushed finish to full effect, a finish extended to its front counterpart, the new alloy side covers and onto its attractively sculpted off-the-shelf aluminium fuel tank manufactured by Motone Customs, a tank now centrally crowned by a Joker Machine CNC’d aluminium gas cap, with Joker Machine also supplying the CNC’d ignition relocation bracket mounted to the right-hand side.Keeping the rider comfortable is a new custom seat, shorter than stock and sculpted to match the new frame geometry. Finished in black leather the new seat was crafted to show off more of the frame. An effect which makes the seat appear thinner, when in fact there is little difference in the padding.

The cockpit of The Vintage Cruiser is much changed from the stock Bonneville, now sporting Motogadget’s excellent Tiny speedo, cleverly wired straight into this CAN bus model EFI twin using Motogadget’s m-tri adapter. The standard bars are gone, replaced with a set of Roadster bars from LSL, these are fitted with the stock switches and levers, black Biltwell Recoil Grips, a set of bar end mirrors and Motogadget’s Blaze bar-end turn signals.I’m not a fan of the stock Bonneville headlight, from experience they are not brilliant for riding the dark country back roads where I live. The chaps at Classic Bike Raisch, are perhaps of the same opinion, choosing to upgrade The Vintage Cruisers lackluster stock unit to a super cool 5¾ bottom mounted J.W Speaker LED headlight, a headlight I too will fit to my own Scrambler this year.When I first modified that Triumph Scrambler, I often struggled with the way it sat, I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was I didn’t like. It wasn’t until I fitted a set of Dual Sport TKC80 tires and changed the Scramblers stance with Hagon shocks did it finally become the ‘Desert Sled’. Here The Vintage Cruiser has been fitted with a set of shocks from Ikon, a good and easy choice, but when it comes to tires it can be a different story.Not all styles of tires are popular with the custom motorcycle community, Vintage Tires particularly cause a lot of divide, but you can’t deny they do radically change a motorcycles appearance, and when its about style, performance may not be one’s biggest priority, its certainly was never mine when I fitted those TKC80’s, not a great tire in the wet.To get classic tires to fit a Hinckley Triumph Twin can be expensive, you will after-all need a set of wheels in classic sizes, something this modern Bonneville lacked. So the stock wheels were stripped of their hubs and relaced to a set of San Remo rims, 16” rear, shod with a Shinko E270, and the 19” front being fitted with a Shinko E240.I imagine when many readers first saw the pictures of The Vintage Cruiser sporting ribbed engine covers, this build may have piqued their interest, no surprise really, after all, they are rather stunning. We don’t see many Triumph Twins sporting  carb cap, clutch, stator and cam covers from the excellent Esteves Motorcycle Design, and for good reason, that little lot is going to set you back close to $1800, and that price doesn’t include a sprocket cover, as the one fitted is from British Customs, who also supplied the chain guard. Those EMD goodies are an expensive styling upgrade, but you would if you could!?The black and heat wrapped ‘Grid Pipe’ 2 into 1 full exhausts system mounted to the high side is from Classic Bike Raischt, and finishes The Vintage Cruiser a treat, giving this stunning air-cooled Hinkley Triumph Twin a voice and attitude it deserves. If you want to see The Vintage Cruiser first hand, why not visit Motorbeurs’in Utrecht in the Netherlands this weekend to take a look.Note
Bonnefication.com and the chaps at Bike Brewers are working in a collaboration to feature this build by Classic Bike Raisch , with both Bonnefication and Bike Brewers releasing article simultaneously today. So for a different perspective, and more images of The Vintage Cruiser pop over to www.bikebrewers.com

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