Rough and strong Triumph

Drags & Racing is an Italian custom shop owned by the flamboyant Dino Romano, and he’s been putting out a steady stream of custom Triumphs and Harleys for twenty years now.

 Dino’s latest creation is this Bonneville, and he’s done a remarkable job in giving a modern Triumph an authentic vintage look. (So we’ll forgive him the ubiquitous Steve McQueen reference—the bike is called ‘La Grande Fuga’, meaning Great Escape.) 

There’s a suicide shift on the left, the exhaust has been cannibalized from an Iveco van, and the seat is a genuine 1939 Harley-Davidson item. 

The matte green military paint is equally authentic: it’s from a sixty-year-old cache discovered in a Czech warehouse. La Grande Fuga has attracted a lot of attention on the Italian custom scene, and Dino can build you one for around US$24,000. 

Given the level of customizing going on here—with virtually all bodywork and controls being hand-made—that sounds like a pretty good deal.