1960 Triumph Tiger 100 Bobber by Oshe Design

Words by Mark Turner of Blacktop Media. Photos by Daisy Turner, Mark’s daughter, who’s only 13!

1960 was an important year for Triumph. They had introduced the new ‘unit’ 500cc engine with the engine and gearbox as a single unit. 1960 also meant the T100 was when the controversial bathtub-esque bodywork was released on the world. This was a semi-enclosed rear end that resembled an old upside down tin bath. This wasn’t well-received and only lasted 2 years.

This 1960 Triumph T100 bobber was built by David as a bit of fun in his downtime. David is the owner of Oshe & Workshop Seventy7, two sides of the same coin, located at Ordnance Depot, Weedon, Northamptonshire. Their business is bespoke restorations and builds of classic cars and motorcycles, tailored to the owner’s requirements. They will build you the car of your dreams, with every detail customised to your requirements.

David grew up in South Africa and has been a petrolhead as long as anyone can remember. He’s raced MX and even owned a motorcycle shop over there in 1996/7 that specialised in 2 strokes. His life changed when he met a South African girl in LA while he was traveling. She lived in the UK and David spent the next two years finding a way to move to the UK to be with her. That was 20 years ago and they now have 11 years of marriage under their belt and a beautiful young son. Quite the fairytale.

Front forks are a pair that he found lying around his mate’s garage and were modified and rebuilt by Pitted Forks in Luton, with uprated springs and shortened tubes to stiffen and lower the front end. There’s a bolt-on hardtail rear frame section and and traditional bobber style, vintage leather, sprung seat.

David’s bobber emits a mighty battle cry from the short, slash-cut, straight-through pipes. No electric starter here, just an MX style kickstarter ready to break your shin, with a right side gear change and left side foot brake to mess with your brain even more. This thing screams attitude.

Oshe’s nasty little murdered-out bobber has a cool, satin black, handmade fuel tank by Olliminium and is dripping with neat touches, like the machined down brass military tank shell, repurposed as the distributor cap, amber front light and cut down, satin black rear fender.

Chopper bars give it a badass stance and David raided his mate’s garage again for a set of wire wheels, which were of course painted black then wrapped in period style Avon rubber. Old Triumphs have crap electrics, so an upgraded ignition system was installed. Mirrors, grips and lots of subtle details have been added to create a simple, clean but rebellious ride.