With their odd, whirring rumble of an exhaust note and their sturdy engineering, Triumph’s first-generation triples are amazing pieces of machinery. We’ve been running a cool black 1996 Speed Triple since buying it new and, at 40,000 reliable miles, it continues to prove itself a capable, well-rounded mount, as comfortable at quick, backroads scratching as it is touring or commuting. We were quite surprised to find several customized Hinckely Triumph triples at last year’s Ace Cafe Reunion and were further stupefied when spotting this sleek, silver bullet, made from an ordinary 1995 Trident 900 on the Web. We’ve been busy formulating a customized Triumph 900 in the CRM garage with plenty of help from Britain’s Cafe Racer Kits (wwww.caferacerkits.co.uk) who have concocted a well-engineered kit that covers much of what we’ll need. Gathering parts from far and wide, the kit utilizes the stock frame, suspension and wheels, while a new subframe, bodywork and ancillaries are courtesy of CR Kits. Though heavy by today’s standards and bereft of all the latest electronic gadgetry, the 900 triple makes a fine-hndling, sharp-looking cafe custom as evidenced here. We’re doing a mock-up of what ours will look like come the August/September issue so stay tuned.
