TEST
P74
SOUTH BAY TRIUMPH STREET TRACKER
The bored and
stroked Bonneville is
pumped up to 988cc
and produces 106
horsepower at 7500
rpm. And it looks
good as well.
- the BMW tuning house that set
several speed records with Capri-concocted turbocharged and
normally-aspirated Boxers.
Founding South Bay Triumph
in 1995 saw Capri switch his allegiance back to the British marque
at the outset of its John Bloor-era
ride down the comeback trail in
the U.S - though he'd already had
history with Triumph back in his
college days in the 1960s.
With a proven track record for
performance tuning, it was inevitable Capri would turn his attention to Triumph's new-generation
Bonneville after it was launched
in 2000. His customers have a
full choice of tune-ups, from a
light makeover with bolt-on flat-
slide carburetors and a modified
airbox, up to a big-bore motor
with lots more performance than
a stock Bonneville.
One of his British customers
who went to California to obtain
his dream Brit bike is Londonbased Triumph enthusiast Dave
Martin, who made his first trip
to the Bonneville Salt Flats in
2007 with the South Bay Triumph
team, and achieved his ambition of racing on the salt aboard
a moderately tuned stock Thruxton. That lit the fuse, and after
carefully saving up the necessary
funds, he ordered the first South
Bay Triumph Street Tracker to be
built using the new competition
flat track chassis that Capri had
commissioned, and powered by
a stock Bonneville motor tuned to
the same level of performance as
the FIM World Record-breaking
Thruxton.
"I wanted a proper Triumph
with the kind of performance the
Bonneville was famous for back
in the 1960s," says Martin. "But I
also wanted a one-of-a-kind motorcycle that's really unique, and
that's what Matt's delivered. I live
a couple of miles from the Ace
Café in London, and when I ride
up there on a Friday night on the
Tracker, I don't reckon there'll be
too many others exactly like it!"
Indeed not, Dave – especially
with that somewhat flamboyant
paint scheme courtesy of Bob
