Hi all,

Anyone know of anyone making a Triumph Bonneville in a scale kit? At this point I'm not fussy as to scale, although no smaller that 1/12 is preferable.

So far I've checked Hannants, LuckyModel and HobbyEasy and come up with didly bugger all.

TIA

Rudi

Rudi,
To my knowledge the Triumph Bonneville has never been kitted in injection moulded plastic by any manufacturer despite first hitting the streets in 1959, and having been perhaps THE iconic motorcycle of the last 50 years. This says something about how motorcycles are perceived by kit manufacturers, as you can buy any number of obscure Japanese bikes that aren't exported anywhere, but finding kits of British motorcycles is well nigh impossible. Perhaps they think we've got our work cut out keeping the real thing going, we won't have time to build models of them!
There was a few years ago a company that made metal models. They had a range of Triumphs, a BSA Gold Star & I think they did a Vincent too. Haven't heard much from them lately, they used to advertise in the Classic bike magazines. They are impressive when made up, having photo-etched spokes etc. Sorry, can't remember the name of the company. Revell have reissued the old Matchbox Vincent, which asn't a bad little model, & their own ancient Tiger 100 model (which dates back to the 50s, I know because my dad made one when I was a kid, he being a confirmed Triumph enthusiast - I followed my uncles route & plumped for Nortons I'm afraid). Other than that there is just the old Protar models, which Revell are re-issuing, of the British racers, Manx, 7R & G50. I hesitate to include the Airfix kits which were very basic, didn't even include chrome parts.

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the informative reply. That's really shocking, and a great pity, as most mature (and I use the word loosely, as how many ppl that play with bikes or plastic kits are really mature ) modellers and bikers probably relate more to the classic bikes than the Japanese motorcycles.

To be truthful I had the suspicion that I wouldn't find a kit of one. Furthermore, I'm a fan of the modern classics so was actually looking for a kit of the new one, or even the T100 (mind you, no real difference there over the stock bike ).

Oh well, will just have to keep trying to convince the missus we need a bike

Rudi

LOL...I've been wanting to do that for the last few years myself, but she keeps coming back with "the kids will get burned by the pipes...you know it will happen!" Still have my class M rating but will probably loose it next year due to no bike to take a test with. I want a hack for the kids!{3 and 6yrs old}

As for the bonnie, I'd love to find one like my father-in-laws old 67' 650{had 69' cross over pipes}. Try a google search for resin kits and keep checking ebay...you never know!

Ahhh, the Bonney. As pointed out before, nobody has kitted the old girl in plastic, which is a shame.

But Maisto does make a 1:18 scale replica of the '69 Bonneville. It's rather toylike, but could be an interesting place to start a rebuild & detailing project, if that's your cup of tea.

Maisto 1969 Triumph

HTH.

-YL

Thanks for the great idea, Yoni! Maybe if I do a mix and match between the Bonnie and the Thunderbird I can make up the modern classic. Dunno why I didn't think of that, as I'd been planning to do it to some figures I'd seen in toy and curio shops

I see MiniChamps is planning to release 1/12 scale 1959 Bonnie T120. But at $100 estimated retail I think I'd rather buy a pair of Triumph Highway gloves and walk around making Brrrrrrrrrrrr-Ba-Ba-Brrrrrrrr noises :-D

Bob, I'm trying a subversive approach.... starting by replacing all the PC desktop pictures with glossy pics of the bike, making sure we walk past the local dealer every time she drags me to the fresh food markets, and reminding her that at about $12k it's a great alternative to a second car, especially since we live in a city apartment and with the high price of fuel these days

Rudi

Try here
http://www.vincelewis.net/modeltriumph.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Die-cast-Model-Triumph-Bonneville-scale/dp/B00064SCE6

That's very true anywhere you are...at over $4 a gallon here ever a litre class bike can get good mileage{with alittle judicial use of the throttle..but who wants to do that!}. Nice weekend rides in the country are very relaxing so long as she has a "comfortable seat"...parking is easy, and insurance "with a passenger" is cheap enough.
I'm trying to convince the wife that my brother-in-laws 76' Kawi KZ900 needs to be saved from it's life of garage sitting, but she says my two Kawi sleds have to go 1st, then "we'll talk about it"....I could do that!.....

I just looked at the latest issue of my "model cars" mag and there it was....sort of. Page 3, "Replica & Miniatures" has a B-31 1962 triumph $35.00 3in1 kit{stock/race/custom}...they may have more cycles, but there's no web address{don't ya love that in this day and age}...here's they're snailmail address;
Replica & Miniatures of maryland
317 Roosevelt Ave SW
Glen Burnie, MD 21061 - USA

Phone- 1-410-768-3648

Norm Veber of R&MCoM is a good guy, he's been in the business for years, and has some great products. No website, but you can always give him a ring. I haven't ordered from him in a while, but the products I've bought in the past were top shelf.

Two thumbs up. Really.

-YL

Rudi,
I was just at the LHS and looked at the Minichamps 1/12 Triumph Bonneville T120 1959 - diecast - very nice model. Not sure if this would fit your requirements !.
Minichamps also do a 1939 Speed Twin, 'Great Escape' Steve McQueen, Rocket III, plus a couple of others.
HTH

Minichamps puts out some very nice replicas, but they tend to be on the $$$ pricey side. Nice stuff, if you can afford it.

-YL

True Yoni, but keep your eyes peeled; I bought the Minichamps MV Agusta 750S for my birthday (my missus always leaves my present to me to get, smart lass), cost me £60. Went back to the shop last week & the d***** thing was down to £40!

BTW just to make you all pig sick (& me), my brother-in-law was GIVEN a real Bonnie by a mate who was emigrating! 1967 bike with 1980 T140 engine converted to right foot change, needs a LOT of work, but what the hell!

Ineresting, my old H-2 Kawis{3cly 750cc} could be set up as right foot shift{shaft exited both sides of the case}, but there was no provisions for left foot brake, and you couldn't have both on that side together.

...just curious, do cycles run RH shift/LH brake over there?

Up to about 1975, all motorcycles had the gearchange on the right. This was partly because of the way bikes evolved, with a seperate gearbox, & originally a hand change on the right of the tank, with a simple linkage to the end cover of the gearbox. The left hand side of course had the primary (chain) drive on it, so it would be more difficult to fit the gearchange that side. When Velocette introduced positive stop foot change in the 1920s, they naturally carried on with the shift on the right side. Even Harleys fitted right foot changes to their Sportsters until the mid-70s (to fit in with the "sporting" image). On the other hand, it could be argued that it makes more sense, as humans & most animals find it easier to co-ordinate limbs on opposite sides of the body, so if the clutch is on the left handlebar, it makes sense to shift with the right foot.
An added complication on Nortons, AJS/Matchless, Royal Enfield, Vincents, Velocettes etc (but not Triumph/BSA), is that the change pattern is reversed, i.e. you move the lever down to change up. Sounds daft, but there is a logic here. Most UK circuits are mainly right hand bends, because we tend to race clockwise, so if you are in a bend, you may want to change up on the apex, when laid over, but you won't tend to want to change down in a corner, so down for up makes sense, you don't want your foot caught under the lever when cranked over.
All this changed due to the US insisting that all bikes should have the shift on the left, for no good reason that I could ever fathom, & being the largest market at the time, everyone had to conform (Indians had the throttle on the left handlebar, & the left foot "suicide" clutch, but then , they were always different). All my bikes have the change on the right, because they all predate 1975. The last production bikes to have the change on the right were the 1980-81 Laverdas.
Only REAL motorcycles have the change on the right!

Around these parts, old circle track racing was done counter clockwise{go fast/turn left}..car or cycles. It was just a matter of standardisation for all cycles I guess. Here we have "click up/shift up" on the left, but some of the old dirt racers had RH shift. 1 down 4 up....except Kawi H-1's and H-2's{standardisation didn't apply here I guess}...they had to be "neutral down/5 up"...can't remember how many times I tried to start that thing at a light in neutral thinking I was in 1st!{my regular ride was standard shift pattern}

Hey rudi...this is close, but still pretty cool!
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-8-Triumph-drag-bike-complete_W0QQitemZ190256033799QQihZ009QQcategoryZ2591QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem