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Streetmaster "Brighton" Triumph Cafe Racer Bike by Richard Pollock / Mule Motorcyles Motorcycle enthusiast and former motorcycle dealer service manager, turned aerospace fabricator, Richard Pollock grew bored building rockets all day long, so when he get home at night and on the weekends he'd tinker with his own motorcycle projects in his home's garage in Poway, CA, a suburb of San Diego. "Aerospace metal working is different than everyday motorcycle repair and requires a different set of tools and skills as well as extremely strict quality requirements. In the rocket building business, mistakes are heavily frowned upon. One mistake is one too many.' While modifying bikes in most of my spare time back in the early '90s Richard eventually began doing complete bikes for other people. Orders grew and now he's built more than one hundred bikes and has shipped them to customers all over the world. Japan, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Holland, Switzerland and soon Australia. Even New York City! Soon building custom bikes became a full-time business under the name Mule Motorcycles / www.MuleMotorcycles.net Pollock likes to call his bikes Street Trackers, "The style is timeless and is appreciated by almost every type of motorcycle rider, no matter where they live. This style of bike is very popular now in Europe" One of Pollock's loyal clients is Triumph collector / enthusiast Richard Varner who recently commissioned Pollock to build two new generation Triumph Bonneville powered street bikes, one a dirt tracker style machine, and the other featured here is a cafe racer called "Brighton" after the popular British seaside resort town. I was very appreciative of the opportunity to shoot both of these incredible custom bikes for the FastDates.com Calendars. Varner has started his own company named Streetmaster with the intent of providing high end performance and styling components for new generation Triumph Bonnevilles and Thruxtons. Varner describes his beautiful classically styled aluminum bodied cafe bike named "Brighton" which is featured here as - "Very fast, very light and very expensive!"
The powerplant in the Brighton is Triumph's basic Bonneville air-cooled 865cc parallel-twin that has been hot rodded by a gentleman named Charlie Barners. Higher compression pistons are stuffed down in the cylinders. Valves are controlled by custom ground cams in a hand ported head. A Sudco Keihin FCR 39mm Carburetor Kit designed just for the new Bonneville handles the induction, breathing through K&N filters. Streetmaster products include an MSD Programmable Ignition sending the right signals to a Nology coil. And there is a beautifully machined Streetmaster Clutch Cover. The engine package is finished of with Mule Motorcycle's custom high flowing polished stainless steel dual exhaust pipes. Power is increased from a stock 68 horsepower to around 80hp, which in a light 340 pound bike is seriously quick. Pollock has also linked the bike's standard cable clutch to an easier pull hydraulic hand control, through a Brembo remote master cylinder, The hand throttle assembly is a Motion Pro 1/4 Quick Turn. Brighton's chassis is all new from the ground up starting with a Streetmaster Cromoly Frame and their Triple Clamps grabbing the stock Triumph front forks. At the end of those forks are the bike's piéce de résistanceé - a beautiful Grimeca 4 leading shoe front brake hub operated at the handlebars by a 1972 Suzuki GT750 dual front brake cable lever. Handlebar electrical switch gear is sourced from Yamaha. Electrical wiring is by Mike Irvin at Mule. Many of the Bonneville's stock parts were modified like the use of a Thruxton shift lever, modified Clubman bars, 0.50' shortened headlight brackets, and trimmed fenders. The rear wheel hub comes from a Yamaha XS650 with the rear brake converted to cable operation. The beautiful wheels are Excel alloy rims with Buchanan's stainless steel spokes laced up by Buchannans, and they roll with classic Dunlop K-81 sport tires. And what really makes Brighton a show show stopper is the classic British bodywork featuring a beautiful aluminum fuel tank, seat cowling and side panels hammered out by Don Bavmunk. All finished off with "Paint by Blake" and Triumph lettering by Dennis Wells. For additional information on Mule or Streetmaster Motorcycles visit them online at www.MuleMotorcycles.net / www.Streetmaster.com or phone 858-442-9536. Mule Motorcycles and more of the world's top custom and roadracing bikes are featured in the FastDates.com Calendars available at your favorite motorcycle dealer and online. Return to Iron & Lace Garage Index
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