Unveiled today at the Quail Motorcycle Gathering in California was this tasty limited-edition Triumph street-tracker from a famous car-building shop. Best known for its traditional hot-rods, the So-Cal Speed Shop is adding motorcycles to its considerable repertoire with the “Miler,” a stripped-down special based around a modern Triumph Bonneville twin.
Getting hot-rod guys to do a bike was the brainchild of Richard Varner, CEO of a small start-up bike shop called Streetmaster that specializes in new Bonnevilles. So-Cal principals Pete Chapouris and Jimmy Shine have been involved with every aspect of the project, from clay mockups to metal finishes to the final assembly of prototype #1. Just twenty Milers will ever be built, with the first ten offered to existing So-Cal car customers. Production is scheduled for September 2011; price has yet to be finalized.
The bikes will be constructed in conjunction with Streetmaster, which builds Triumph specials and sells performance parts for Bonneville motors. The Miler’s 865cc engine—tuned to pump out 78 horsepower—benefits from Streetmaster’s cylinder-head porting, lightened flywheel, remapped ignition system, 39mm Keihin flatslide carbs and stepped, mid-level exhausts. Streetmaster also provided its lightweight, purpose-built frame and swingarm, while So-Cal was responsible for the aluminum fuel tank, tailsection, front numberplate/headlights and sidepanels, finished in the Speed Shop’s signature red paint with bare-aluminum accents.
“So-Cal Speed Shop started in 1946, catering to the hot-rod and dry-lakes crowd, and we’ve built hundreds of cars since then. But this is the first time we’ve put our name on a Triumph motorcycle,” said Chapouris. “The bare-bones street-tracker style made sense to us, but we really think of the Miler as a Deuce Hiboy Roadster with two fewer wheels.”
Stay tuned over the next few days, when we’ll be showing more exclusive images of bikes launched at The Quail.
