Fowlers’ VE Day Bike Wins Public Vote In Triumph Bonneville Build-Off
Fowlers Triumph has scooped the Public Choice Award in this year’s Bonneville Build-Off Challenge with their striking entry, the VE Day Commemorative Bike.
In addition to the public vote, Triumph brought together four passionate and inspiring ambassadors to present their own distinctive awards, celebrating design, paint & custom work, inspiration and retail appeal.
All winners were announced by the panel of judges in a Facebook Premiere on 28 October.
Thousands of votes were cast via the new Bonneville Build-Off website over four weeks, as nine Triumph dealerships across the UK competed to create the best custom bike. Using a combination of stylish genuine Triumph accessories and exceptional in-house engineering skills, each team designed, crafted and built their own beautiful bespoke Bonneville.
Devron Boulton, General Manager, Triumph Motorcycles UK, commented: “The VE Commemorative bike is a stunning piece of design with a strong British Army theme running throughout the custom build. The bike has combined both modern and heritage elements that seamlessly combine and, what has really impressed me with this bike, is how good it looks from every angle. Congratulations Fowlers Triumph.”
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020, Fowlers’ winning bike featured girder forks, canvas bags and big bars with British Army heritage as the inspiration for its build. A blacked-out engine and exhaust and addition of commemorative badges on the cases and clocks with genuine WW2 accessories completed this glorious tribute to a time gone by.
But there was more than one prize available this year.
Architect, presenter and Tiger 900 rider, George Clarke, presented a Design Award to Norfolk Triumph and its Flat Bonnie, while Olympian, CBE and Street Scrambler rider Victoria Pendleton chose her favourite, Reggie’s Café Racer from Oxford Triumph, for the Inspiration Award.
Custom bike builder and Triumph rider, Jody Millhouse of Thornton Hundred gave the gong for best Paint & Custom, to Edinburgh Triumph’s Speed Racer, and Triumph UK’s own General Manager, Devron Boulton picked the Speed Twin JLC from Triumph West London as his Retail Choice.
George Clarke – Design Award
Norfolk Triumph & Flat Bonnie
George notes: “what is not to love about this bike, it is a stunning build in its entirety. When you get up close and start looking at the details you start to enjoy this bike even more. The beautiful 1970’s retro gold paint, the classic tail with the name, the wrapped custom exhausts and extended forks. I absolutely love the detail, great job to the team at Norfolk Triumph.”
Victoria Pendleton – Inspiration Award
Oxford Triumph & Reggie’s Café Racer
Victoria adds: “This bike is not only a beautiful nostalgic 1950’s style café racer, it has also been built to commemorate somebody very special, and that for me really stood out. I love the polished chrome and the tiny details such as the brake light and the fuel cap. Congratulations to the team at Oxford Triumph for this sentimental and inspiring build.”
Jody Millhouse – Paint & Custom Award
Edinburgh Triumph & Speed Racer
Jody mentions: “This bike just popped out at me, the colours and the iconic fairing. The paint scheme is an iconic nod-back to race bikes of the 70s, classic early Hinckley-inspired blue and white highlights, reminiscent of the paint work made famous on the Daytona 1200. The combination of modern running gear with a classic overall look is a fantastic combination and that is what I love about this bike.”
Devron Boulton – Retail Choice Award
Triumph West London & Speed Twin JLC
Devron comments: “This bike is a great fusion of two fantastic Triumph models, the Speed Twin combined with the Thruxton R and I think the two come together in perfect harmony. I can absolutely imagine a customer buying this particular bike, it looks beautiful and finished with a classic black paint scheme. A fantastic custom build from the team at Triumph West London.”
Details of the nine finalist Bonneville Build-Off entrants can be found on the Bonneville Build-Off website with access to images and the background of each build.
Devron Boulton, Triumph UK & Ireland General Manager said: “Thank you to all nine Triumph dealerships for crafting and assembling a range of bespoke and truly custom Bonneville’s. Each team has clearly displayed a lot of thought and creativity throughout the build. Thank you to the public and all those that voted, shared and supported the dealers and their builds and finally thank you to our great cast of judges for this year’s Bonneville Build-Off.”
The extensive range of Triumph accessories allow the freedom of customisation and personalisation on every motorcycle, ranging from styling elements to performance enhancements, adapting the bike to suit the ride. Built by riders for riders, the genuine quality parts and accessories are available at all Triumph dealerships.
