1978 Triumph Bonneville

TR7RVXX03550

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Up for sale is my Triumph rat chopper. I bought this bike looking for a chopper to ride with my Harley friends, but this bike is just way too hardcore for me. I'll stick with my Ducs and Hondas thank you. I bought the bike a little over a year ago. The bike had clearly been built with no expense spared, but had then clearly been neglected for a while. Here's a few highlights of the components to give you a feel for the bike: Sugar Bear rocker front end (~$3350) Performance Machine front & rear alloy wheels (~$2400) Performance Machine front disc (~$600) Exile integrated rear disc/sprocket ($749) Dual Mikuni carbs (~$900) Accel coil conversion One of the main reasons I bought the bike was that the bike is from 1978, which means you get the benefits of both the larger (750cc) engine and also get the 5-speed (instead of 4-speed) tranny. I have the bike titled as a Bonneville, however it is worth noting that the VIN on the engine (and on the title) is for a Tiger - I'm not sure whether this started out as a Bonneville or a Tiger, but it doesn't really matter at this point as it has dual carburetors and a dual-carb head, which was the major (only?) differentiator between the two models. When I bought the bike I immediately set to work and replaced anything that wasn't in perfect shape - lights, grips, foot rests, tires, etc. I then took the bike to Crossroads Cycle and told them to fix anything on the bike that wasn't perfect (and to please mount my new Avon Roadmasters!). They discovered a number of issues with the bike (such as improperly installed wheel bearings, hack-job of a seat install, chain kicking the oil bag at speed, etc.) and I gave them free reign to make things right. I spent about $1900 with Crossroads making the bike safe and road-worthy, and that’s in addition to probably the better part of another grand on the tires and the other minor parts I installed myself. But this bike is definitely not for me. I thought I would love riding a hardcore chopper, but the reality is that it’s pretty hard-core. It’s a lot more work to ride than the other bikes I’ve ridden/own – I love the bike in theory but recognize that I’ll never ride it. And this is definitely more of a show bike and less of a go-bike. For instance the rotors are chrome, which looks cool but doesn’t work as well when it actually comes to slowing the bike. And the integrated rear disc rotor and sprocket is cool as hell looking, but it also means that you regularly have to clean it to keep the chain oil from impeding your stopping power too much. I also thought it would be fun to have a super-loud bike, but although everyone stared at me it wasn’t necessarily in an admiring way. And between the long front-end and the hard-tail rear-end potholes and bumps jar pretty hard. Morale of the story, I really want to love this bike it’s not for me. But for a hardcore biker looking to trailer it somewhere followed by some in-town riding, it might be pretty trick. It might even be a good short-hop ride for someone much more hard-core than me. It definitely makes a statement. As I’ve mentioned I’ve had a an open checkbook to fix anything the bike may have needed. That said, the bike’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It’s definitely a rat bike. Here’s the bad: One of the chrome caps to one of the pancake filters is missing. It must have rattled off the last time I rode it and the carb looks kind of doofy without it.The bike has a flat black rattlecan paint job. That’s definitely in keeping with the look, but there are also more than a number of spots where the paint has chipped off (see photos).There are two nicks in the chrome on the front forks (one on each in the same spot). I’m guessing these were caused by a tie-down at some point in transit, but who knows.Turn signals are mounted high on the shoulder. It’s a chopper after all.The bike has been tuned by folks that know what they’re doing, but it still seems to run a bit rough to me, but that might just be the big Mikunis.The right-hand (throttle) grip has split (Biltwell) and will need to be replaced.The mileage on the odo reads 20K. No way was anybody crazy enough to ride that far on this bike so maybe it’s just a joke, but either way that’s how it’s titled.The forward controls aren’t great and my guys say they should probably be replaced with something better.Bike sometimes leaks fuel from the left-side carb if left sitting and the fuel isn’t shut off though the switch. I’ve tried to upload a lot of pictures, but definitely hit me up if there’s any other pictures you’d like to see or any questions you have about the bike. This is an old bike and it’s by no means perfect, so pre-purchase inspections are welcome and highly encouraged. I’m happy to work with a shipper of your choice but arranging shipping is entirely your responsibility and at your cost if you don’t choose to pick the bike up in person. Happy bidding! Dave On May-21-15 at 16:43:58 PDT, seller added the following information: Howdy. I've had a few questions about the frame and seat so I wanted to address those here. Frame: I have literally no idea. Sorry! It definitely doesn't look big enough to be an Oil-In-Frame-type frame, so my guess is that the whole frame (and not just the rear section) is aftermarket, but I'm completely unqualified to weigh in on such matters. For bidding purposes please assume that it's completely homemade and assume that it's the worst. As I mentioned I really have no idea, but I'm happy to check anything or provide any further pictures if you can tell me what to look for or photographically capture. Seat: it's from Lowbrow, but I have no idea what seat it is. The seat, springs, and bungs are all new and freshly welded - the seat/mounting that was on this when I bought it wasn't very good and looked pretty amateur. The new one is nice though and definitely looks good on the frame. It's a hard-tail though, so your bum will definitely feel everything! Definitely hit me up with any more questions. Cheers! DaveOn May-23-15 at 10:24:15 PDT, seller added the following information: Hey someone just pointed out that the 'item description' mileage field lists the bike as 30K while I describe it as 20K in the description. Sorry about that! The actual mileage is unknown and but the odo reads 29,473 right now. Again, I'd guess that's a prior owner's joke because I can't see any way anybody rode this thing anywhere near that far. It may have a few more miles in the next day, however, as it's Rolling Thunder in DC this weekend! Cheers! Dave