Mule Motorcycle Europe – Catalina

At this years Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride I met a chap who was riding a Mule Catalina prototype, not an every-day occurrence here on the sunny South Coast of England, or in fact anywhere else outside of the U.S.Being a fan of Richard Pollock, I immediately recognised his work – no surprise, as Richard can not only build a mean Triumph Scrambler, but also a bloody fantastic looking Triumph Tracker. I took the opportunity to take a good look at this rare beast, noting many of the unique products fitted, all of which are available from the Mule European and US catalogues .This particular Mule wasn’t actually built by Richard himself, but by Mule Europe, run by Stephane Bergeot, who met Richard at the Laguna Beach motorcycle show, instantly hitting it off and now work together to bring those of us on this side of the pond official Mule Motorcycles.

I’ve been aware of Mule Europe for the last year, so I asked Stephane if he could tell us more about The Mule Catalina Triumph Twin….

“The prototype of the Catalina was built in 2015 by Richard Pollock of Mule Motorcycles USA.Richards donor bike was a carb model, and took a year to build. At the same time, Mule Motorcycles Europe started their own build, but  based on a later EFI model”.“We met more problems on the EFI Triumph Twin than Richard did on the Carb bike. The main issue was the electrics under the EFI models seat, many of which needed replacing or modifying to get the Catalina seat to fit”.“Problems aside, the Catalina built in France is the same as the one built in California, except the retro drum brakes system Richard opted for. – fitting these in France would have caused a nightmare to get the Triumph road legal!. So what has been removed, changed, or replaced on this 2014 Bonneville T100 Black with only 2500km on the clock….““Nearly all except the frame, which has been modified (all unneeded brackets and the stock rear loop has been cut, small spacers welded to allow the screwed installation of the Catalina loop to be able to remove it and replace the Mule modified stock rear loop to install the stock seat if you want), the front end has been replaced by a Mule aluminium triple clamps with YZF R6 forks, 6 pistons Nissin calliper, 320mm disk brake and of course the famous stainless steel Mule handlebars”.“We removed the stock subframe with the oil-cooler and installed a new Mule subframe with integrated oil-cooler. As I mentioned the stock was replaced by the Mule seat, a set of Mule aluminium fenders, YSS rear shocks, new battery box, in which one all the electrical components has been placed”.“Of course, as we removed the stock gauges we needed to install a m-Tri Motogadget with a Tiny. We also installed a Dynojet PCV with K&N air cleaners. To finalise the deal, Mule set of pipes were installed (with removable baffles…)”“All the frame has been grey powder coated and the other elements painted with liquid paint (thanks to Global Paint Shop – Paris for the incredible paint they do). A set of Golden tyre on the wheels and it was time to ride it. This bike has been presented in the Moto Heroes Magazine and sold immediately to a UK client (to a chap local to Bonnefication). We can do exactly the same if a client wants it…but we also build trackers”

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