Photo: Blacksheep Manila
Ever since the company was founded many years ago, we’ve seen a wealth of incredible masterpieces crafted by the custom bike artisans over at Benjie’s Cafe Racer. Besides tackling the fully-fledged projects we know and love, the company maintains a healthy cashflow with a nice bit of parts fabrication. Quality is always top-notch, and calling BCR’s catalog extensive would honestly be a gross understatement.
What we’re here to talk about are their striking one-off projects, though, more specifically a Triumph Thruxton cafe racer with steampunk influences. The shop started with a Thruxton 900 from the model-year 2008, deeming its air-cooled 865cc parallel-twin to be a solid basis for the makeover they had in mind. Upon arrival at Benjie’s headquarters, the motorcycle was quickly stripped of its bodywork, suspension, and exhaust, among other items.
The BCR crew kicked off the transformation process at the front end, where they installed a Harley-Davidson's wheel and the inverted forks of a Honda CBR1000RR. The CBR was also kind enough to donate its twin brake rotors, while the Harley hoop got rebuilt with stainless-steel spokes. As soon as their work on the bike’s footwear was complete, the guys turned their attention to the cockpit.
A fresh pair of clip-on handlebars were fitted in that area, along with a classy analog dial transplanted from another Harley model. The speedometer is neatly encased in a tailor-made housing, which is also home to a set of LED warning lights. In terms of powertrain-related mods, the BCR squad did away with the original clutch mechanism to make room for the hydraulic item of a Ducati 900SS.
At the air intake, you will find custom velocity stacks mated to Keihin FCR carburetors, measuring 39 mm (1.5 inches) in diameter. These goodies are accompanied by a one-off exhaust system on the other end of the combustion cycle, complete with drilled heat shields and reverse megaphone silencers. Now, these modifications are all pretty rad, but the new bodywork is what drew our attention to this creature in the first place.
The Thruxton’s factory outfit was eliminated in its entirety, leaving room for a bespoke aluminum attire that looks absolutely delicious from every angle. Up front, we notice a rad cafe racer fairing home to an offset, yellow-tinted headlight and a tiny plexiglass windshield. These bits and pieces are appropriately complemented by a voluptuous tail unit and a new leather seat at the rear, while a gorgeous, Norton Manx-style fuel chamber can be spotted in between.
To top it all off, the team at Benjie’s added a couple of fiberglass fenders for the sake of practicality. Stainless-steel foot pegs are present on the flanks, fitted far back to suit the cafe racer theme and ergonomic package. Lastly, they refrained from hiding their sublime metal handiwork beneath any paint, instead polishing all the bodywork components to a mirror finish.
The BCR crew kicked off the transformation process at the front end, where they installed a Harley-Davidson's wheel and the inverted forks of a Honda CBR1000RR. The CBR was also kind enough to donate its twin brake rotors, while the Harley hoop got rebuilt with stainless-steel spokes. As soon as their work on the bike’s footwear was complete, the guys turned their attention to the cockpit.
A fresh pair of clip-on handlebars were fitted in that area, along with a classy analog dial transplanted from another Harley model. The speedometer is neatly encased in a tailor-made housing, which is also home to a set of LED warning lights. In terms of powertrain-related mods, the BCR squad did away with the original clutch mechanism to make room for the hydraulic item of a Ducati 900SS.
At the air intake, you will find custom velocity stacks mated to Keihin FCR carburetors, measuring 39 mm (1.5 inches) in diameter. These goodies are accompanied by a one-off exhaust system on the other end of the combustion cycle, complete with drilled heat shields and reverse megaphone silencers. Now, these modifications are all pretty rad, but the new bodywork is what drew our attention to this creature in the first place.
The Thruxton’s factory outfit was eliminated in its entirety, leaving room for a bespoke aluminum attire that looks absolutely delicious from every angle. Up front, we notice a rad cafe racer fairing home to an offset, yellow-tinted headlight and a tiny plexiglass windshield. These bits and pieces are appropriately complemented by a voluptuous tail unit and a new leather seat at the rear, while a gorgeous, Norton Manx-style fuel chamber can be spotted in between.
To top it all off, the team at Benjie’s added a couple of fiberglass fenders for the sake of practicality. Stainless-steel foot pegs are present on the flanks, fitted far back to suit the cafe racer theme and ergonomic package. Lastly, they refrained from hiding their sublime metal handiwork beneath any paint, instead polishing all the bodywork components to a mirror finish.
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