This is the Triumph Bonneville “Type 5” by Reverie, an Italian custom motorcycle workshop that also customizes classic electric guitars and vintage amplifiers.
The Type 5 started life as a standard 2004 Triumph Bonneville with the 790cc parallel twin and road-focussed design. This would be one of the most popular British motorcycles of its age, an English rival to the Harley-Davidson Sportster, and its sales figures helped reestablish Triumph as a major global motorcycle marque.
This is how the Triumph Bonneville 790 looked when it debuted in the year 2000, it featured modern classic styling that has helped Triumph become one of the world’s most prominent motorcycle marques. Image courtesy of Triumph Motorcycles.
The Triumph Bonneville And The 790
The Triumph Bonneville is a model series that has been in production on and off since 1959. There have been a number of generations and all share a few key features – they’re powered by parallel twin engines, they have tubular steel frames, telescopic forks up front, an upright riding position, dual shock absorbers in the rear, a chain drive to the rear wheel, and classic British styling.
If those parameters sound broad, that’s because they are – the modern version of the Bonneville is certainly influenced by the styling of its forebears, but underneath its a state-of-the-art machine that’s both more powerful and vastly quicker than even the most wildly-tuned Triumph race bikes of the 1950s or 1960s.
The Triumph Bonneville 790 debuted in the year 2000 as a new Bonneville for a new century. It received all the “modern classic” styling of its predecessors but was now powered by a new air and oil-cooled parallel twin with double overhead cams, two valves per cylinder, dual carburetors, dual exhausts, all built in-unit with a 5-speed transmission.
The bike had the standard arrangement of a tubular steel frame, telescopic forks, spoked wheels, dual rear shock absorbers, and seating for two. The engine was good for 62 bhp at 7,400 rpm and 44 lb ft of torque at 3,500 rpm, and 90% of the engine’s torque was available from 2,750 rpm all the way up to the red line.
The Bonneville 790 was designed to be a daily-rideable motorcycle for commuters, as well as a weekend B-road machine for those seeking a little more adventure. Period reviews noted that the bike had forgiving handling characteristics and was very approachable, both for new and returning riders.
In 2007 the Bonneville 790 was upgraded to the Bonneville 865, it shared almost all the same parts but the engine displacement was increased to 865cc, and it would be this model that would remain in production right the way through until 2016 when the new liquid-cooled Bonneville T120 would debut.
This highly-modified Triumph Bonneville 790 from Reverie is now a street scrambler, with styling cues reminiscent of the desert sleds of the 1960s.
The Triumph Bonneville “Type 5” Reverie Shown Here
The motorcycle you see here may have started life as a 2005 Triumph Bonneville 790, but it’s been so thoroughly reworked it really deserves its own name, which is why the Italians at Reverie dubbed it the “Type 5.”
The rebuild was extensive, it began with a full teardown and an inspection of all parts. The frame was modified and given a new rear subframe, it was then sandblasted and nickel-plated. The original carburetors were upgraded and fitted with a Dynojet kit with SF high-flow single air filters, the oil cooler was also removed, the oil is now running in frame in classic Triumph tradition.
Fuel is now carried in a new carbon fiber and fiberglass fuel tank with a 1960s Monza aluminum fuel cap, there’s an air vent in the steering head, and a speedometer integrated right into the tank for that classic clean-handlebar look.
The suspension now consists of multi-adjustable rebound and compression forks up front with twin rear gas shock absorbers with separate reservoirs. The bike has a Nissin three-piston front brake caliper with integrated Cross Racing reservoir master cylinder, an aluminum rear brake master cylinder with integrated reservoir.
Power is provided by an uprated 790cc parallel twin, it’s now fitted with a Dynojet kit with SF high-flow single air filters and a high-flow exhaust.
The bike now sits on a pair of 19 inch front and 17 inch rear cross-spoke wire wheels powder-coated in gloss-black, fitted with Michelin Anakee Adventure tires, all sitting under high-mounted alloy fenders. It’s finished in blue with contrasting white pinstriping and airbrushing, and it has a black Alcantara and synthetic leather-trimmed seat.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Reggio Emilia, Italy with a registration document and an inspection certificate on Collecting Cars. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
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.
