Triumph Thruxton Cafe Racer

Triumph Cafe Racers

Many of the early cafe racers built in post-war England were of Triumph Engineering manufacture, founded in Coventry in 1885 and later based in Meriden. In the 1980s, after the original company went bankrupt, Hinckley-based Triumph Motorcycles Ltd obtained the rights, becoming one of the biggest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Both the vintage Meriden and modern Hinckley machines are popular platforms for Triumph cafe racer builds. Below, we have a range of our favorite such builds.

Triumph Thruxton RS Cafe Racer Winner, Winner: Aluminum-Clad Triumph Thruxton 1200 RS - Classic Custom Winner…and Beyond: Thruxton RS by Jake Apiata x Triumph Annecy…    Triumph is one of the brands that’s readily embraced the custom world, inviting and commissioning various dealers and bike-builders to transform production machines […]
Tamarit Thunderbird Tamarit Thunderbird: Thruxton 900 Café Racer - Thunderbird 1: Built for an RAF veteran…  Introduced in 2003, the Triumph Thruxton 900 was a modern café racer, a “neo classic” with a big-twin engine, clip-on bars, sporty suspension, and a racy riding position. […]
Triumph Trident Bobber Hinckley Howler: Triumph Trident Bobber - Triumph T300 “Tri-Bird” from Chris Forward…  The early Hinckley Triumphs of the 1990s are quickly becoming modern classics. These “T300” machines brought the great British marque back from the shadows and spearheaded the brand’s many […]
Triumph 955 Cafe Racer All About The Bends: Triumph Trident 955 Café Racer - Hinckley Howler: Trident 955 from Chris Forward…  In 1991, the Triumph brand reemerged into the global motorcycle market, offering a stable of new machines developed in their new Hinckley factory. The Trident 900 would be […]
Triumph Daytona 900 Cafe Racer “R” Treatment: Triumph Daytona 900 Café Racer - Hinckley Hero: Joe Pitman’s Triumph 900 Triple “CR2″…  At the 1990 Cologne Motorcycle Show, Triumph Motorcycles returned with a bang, revealing a six-strong range of modern multi-cylinder machines built out of a new state-of-the-art factory […]
Triumph 1050 Speed Triple Cafe Racer Gulf RS: Triumph 1050 Café Racer - Speed Triple Café Racer from ETTO Motorcycles…  Back in 2005, Triumph introduced the Speed Triple 1050, a factory streetfighter that packed a 128-bhp, three-cylinder gobsmacker of an engine. Here was a hooligan’s dream, just as […]
Triumph Thruxton RS Custom High-Power Roadster: Triumph Thruxton RS - Thruxton 1200 RS “Classic Roadster” from FCR Original…   Introduced in 2020, the Thruxton RS pushed the performance envelope of Triumph’s production café racer even farther, boasting 104 horsepower from the 1200cc “High Power” parallel-twin […]
Tumulte Bike: Triumph Speed Triple “RC30” - A Speed Triple 1050 inspired by 90s sportbikes…  The Triumph Speed Triple was one of the first and most formidable production streetfighters, a bug-eyed brute with a high-powered three-cylinder triple and scant bodywork. With the […]
Triumph Speed Triple Custom A Hotter Triumph: Speed Triple 955i “Chilaca” - Ludwig Tekne spices up an aging Speed Triple…  Introduced in 1997, the Triumph Speed Triple 955i was essentially a naked streetfighter version of the Daytona superbike, featuring a 120-bhp triple-cylinder engine and bug-eye headlights straight […]
Triumph Thruxton Cafe Racer Lean, Mean, Green: “Dr. Banner” Triumph Thruxton 900 - A Hulk-inspired Thruxton from Tamarit Motorcycles…  Produced from 2003 to 2018, the Triumph Thruxton 900 was a café racer version of the air-cooled Bonneville, featuring a hotter engine, firmer suspension, drop bars, rear sets, solo […]
Triumph Thruxton 900 Cafe Racer All Metal Monocoque: Triumph Thruxton “Lithium” - Race-inspired Thruxton from iT ROCKS!BIKES…  Introduced in 2004 to much fanfare, the Triumph Thruxton 900 was a more aggressive, sport-oriented version of the Bonneville with higher compression, hotter cam profiles, and the factory accoutrements of […]
Supercharged Triumph Thruxton Supercharged Triumph Thruxton 1200 R - Tamarit Motorcycles builds a 160-bhp Triumph Thruxton R…  In 2016, Triumph introduced the Thruxton 1200 R, the highest performance machine in the Bonneville lineup. Though it has the looks of a ’60s café racer, the […]
Triumph Thruxton Cafe Racer Air-Cooled R: 988cc Triumph Thruxton R - For Sale: Air-cooled Thruxton R from Trident Cycles…  Some of our very favorite builds start with a “What if?” question in the mind of the builder. In this case, Andrew Graham of Virginia’s Trident Cycles […]
Triumph Bobber Cafe Racer Lake Placid Blue: Triumph Bobber Cafe Racer by Hidemo - Japanese master Hideya Togashi turns the Triumph Bobber into a classic classic café racer… In 2016, Triumph introduced the Bonneville Bobber to great fanfare — a postwar-style factory bobber whose single shock absorber is nearly […]
Triumph T120 Bonneville Black Bonnie: Triumph T120 Bonneville by MJH Performance Bikes - In 1971, Triumph introduced a new oil-in-frame Bonneville, whose steel chassis held the bike’s oil in its 3-inch diameter backbone instead of a separate oil bag. These “Oilers” would also get a 5-speed gearbox, a […]
Triumph Thruxton Custom Tamarit Gullwing: 300 SL-Inspired Triumph Thruxton! - A custom Triumph Thruxton inspired by the Mercedes Gullwing… The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL is one of the most iconic automobiles of all time, offered as a gull-winged coupe from 1954-1957 and roadster from 1957-1963. It […]
Triumph Speed Triple Cafe Racer Triple Green: Triumph Speed Triple Café Racer - Vintage bikes are ideal platforms for café racer builds, but for some riders accustomed to the performance of modern sport machines, there’s the desire to have the best of both worlds: vintage style, modern performance. […]
Video: Dirty Thruxton R Woods Ride! -  Friend of the blog Sean White (@fast.for.fun) has a penchant for off-road antics on his 2016 Triumph Thruxton R. Last time we saw him, he was doing ice wheelies on a frozen lake near […]
Triumph Cafe Racer Sidecar Triumph Café Racer with Sidecar! - Purpose Built Moto is quickly gaining a name as one of the best custom shops in Australia. They consistently turn out high-quality machines in a wide array of styles, constantly challenging themselves, and were recently […]
Triple Speed Triple Cafe Racer Toro Urbano: Triumph Speed Triple by Sculpt Moto - Triple-Piston, 1050cc Urban Bull from Latvia! The Triumph Speed Triple is one of our favorite factory bikes. The 1050cc, 140-hp, triple-cylinder machine managed to capture the aggressive spirit of the streetfighter, while the Triumph name […]
Triumph Speed Triple Custom Triumph Speed Triple by Italian Dream Motorcycle - Track Weapon:  “Tripla Competizione” Sergio Giordano, the founder of Italian Dream Motorcycle, runs a team of professional racing mechanics uniquely qualified to build high-performance custom motorcycles. “Thanks to years of experience in the world of […]
Custom Triumph Speed Triple Cafe Racer Triumph Speed Triple Custom by Ludwig - “Float like a Dragonfly, Sting like a Ferrari…” The mid-2000s Triumph Speed Triple is one of our favorite machines, a 140-hp factory streetfighter with tri-spoke mag wheels and bug-eye double headlamps reminiscent of the streetfighters […]
Triumph Street Triple Cafe Racer “Tripla 0.0” Triumph Street Triple - Italian Dream Motorcycle + The Arsenale:  a modern yet timeless interpretation of the iconic Triple… Visionary Italian industrialist Carlo Talamo was one of the most successful Harley-Davidson importers in Europe and later became the first […]
Triumph Bonneville T120 Bobber Triumph Bonneville T120 Bobber by BAAK Motocyclettes - BAAK Motorcyclettes of France is creating some of the classiest customs in the world, mainly based on the modern Triumph platform.  They 3D design and print prototype components for their custom builds, using them as […]
Triumph Street Triple Cafe Racer Triumph Street Triple Cafe Racer by Jett Design - Whenever a race car fabricator turns their attention to custom bike-building, we pay attention. Racers have a special appreciation for light weight, solid geometry, and components that won’t fail under stress. Enter Andrew Jett of […]
Triumph Bonneville Street Dragster “Crazy Bonnie” Street Dragster by FCR Original - A lot of the customs we see look great, but are rarely put to the test on the road or track. Not so with “Crazy Bonnie” — a 2006 Triumph Bonneville street dragster that recently […]
Triumph Legend TT Cafe Racer Triumph Legend TT Cafe Racer by XTR Pepo - Pepo Rosell of XTR Pepo continues turning out incredible builds at a staggering rate, each of them with its own history, influences, and homages to racers and builders of both past and present. Now Pepo […]
Triumph Bonnevile T100 Cafe Racer Triumph T100 Cafe Racer by Stuntex - It’s tough to think of a more versatile modern platform than the Triumph Bonneville.  Nick Kazakov of Podolsk, Russia, and the team at Stuntex Club decided to create a modern cafe racer out of a […]
Triumph Thruxton Cafe Racer Triumph Thruxton Cafe Racer by DMOL - Death Machines of London (DMOL) has to have the best name in the business. Founded by designer James Hilton and engineer Ray Petty, their debut build was this incredible Moto Guzzi Le Mans “airtail” cafe […]
Contemporary Triton Cafe Racer Modern Triton Cafe Racer by Britalmoto - Recently, Ivo Tschumi of Switzerland’s Britalmoto blew us away with his “Robe Tracker,” a Triumph Thruxton Tracker he built while recovering from a high-side at the track. Now Ivo is back with a modern Triton […]