This is a 2002 Triumph Bonneville T100 that has been given a comprehensive rebuild into a scrambler by experienced custom motorcycle builder Kevin Dunworth of Dunworth Machines.
Triumph motorcycles have been used for scrambler builds for decades, maybe even the better part of a century now, starting back in the time when off-road “scrambles” motorcycle racing first originated in Britain.
Named the “Badger” this bike is a classically-styled Triumph scrambler that would look familiar to the original scrambler racers of the 1960s.
The First Scramblers
The first scramblers were road-going motorcycles that were modified for off-road use, often fitted with chunky tires, high-mounted exhausts, reinforced frames, upgraded suspension, given as much weight reduction as possible, and fitted with sump protection and racing numbers.
This fundamental recipe would remain in place into the 1940s and 1950s, when motorcycle manufacturers really began focusing on building factory off-road motorcycles, marques like Ariel, Matchless, Triumph, Greeves, BSA, and others.
By the 1960s models like the Triumph TR6C were selling in vast numbers, mostly to American riders, who were using them to compete in (and win) major off-road desert racing events on the West Coast.
Perhaps the most famous TR6C owner would be Steve McQueen who owned a number of them, all further modified for improved performance – McQueen was an accomplished racer in his own right on two wheels and four.
Classic scramblers were largely replaced by two-stroke enduro and motocross motorcycles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but some four-stroke scrambler-type motorcycles did survive, slowly evolving into bikes like the BMW R80 G/S and kicking off the modern adventure motorcycle genre.
The bike you see here started life as a standard 2002 Triumph Bonneville T100, a road bike with classic styling but fundamentally modern engineering for improved reliability.
Modern Scramblers
Thanks to the surge in popularity around retro-styled motorcycles around the turn of the 2000s, there are now scrambler models offered by many of the largest motorcycle manufacturers including Triumph, Ducati, BMW, Moto Guzzi, Honda, Yamaha, and others.
Some of these models have been built from the ground-up to be genuinely capable both on road and off – like the Ducati Desert Sled, the Triumph Scrambler 1200XE, and the BMW R12 G/S.
Despite all of this, there are still many who prefer to ride a scrambler that was built to a more traditional set of criteria, and as a result the market for hand-built custom scramblers has remained strong.
The Triumph Bonneville T100 Scrambler Shown Here
The bike you see here started life as a standard 2002 Triumph Bonneville T100, a road bike with classic styling but fundamentally modern engineering for improved reliability (not to mention modern emissions standards compliance).
The bike you see here started life as a standard 2002 Triumph Bonneville T100, a road bike with classic styling but fundamentally modern engineering for improved reliability (not to mention modern emissions standards compliance).
It was bought and sent off to Kevin Dunworth of Dunworth Machines, one of the better-known custom motorcycle builders of the modern age, who then transformed it into a motorcycle that would look immediately familiar to the likes of Steve McQueen.
Kevin and his team stripped the bike down to its bare frame and sent it off for nickel plating, once this was done the newly nickel plated frame became the foundation for the bike as it was rebuilt one nut and bolt at a time.
It was fitted with wire-spoke wheels with 19″ front and 17″ Buchanan’s alloy rims, a polished telescopic fork with black gaiters up front, and twin Progressive 490 adjustable shock absorbers in the rear. It has single disc brakes front and back, as well as front and rear chopped aluminum fenders, and a green fuel tank with polished metal accents and a “Badger” script.
A chrome cross-braced handlebar was then installed, with a left bar-end mirror, Motion Pro grips, and aftermarket switchgear. It has a white-dial Motogadget 200 mph speedometer, that has an inset digital odometer.
Power is provided by the original air and oil-cooled 790cc double overhead cam parallel twin that now has dual Keihin CVK carburetors with pod filters.
Power is provided by the original air and oil-cooled 790cc double overhead cam parallel twin that now has dual Keihin CVK carburetors with pod filters, and a Scrambler-style high exhaust that has wrapped headers.
The bike now shows just 276 miles on the odometer and it’s now being offered for sale out of North Salem, New York. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
