1967 TR6 650 Triumph from Hollywood Bobbers

I MET Shawn from Deus Ex Machina a few months ago and asked him to let me know if any bikes came his way that I might be interested in. Well, bless his heart, he let me know about this one. At the time of this photoshoot the bike was owner-less. It sat, for sale, on the Deus Ex Machina showroom floor. Someone with impeccable taste had bought the bike in California, brought it to Sydney, then sold it to Deus. I’m guessing there were other circumstances involved in the selling of the bike but I’m not privy to that information.

I had seen the bike before and used my powers of deduction to determine the bike was built by the good people at Hollywood Bobbers, a California-based bike builder. This bike was one of the company’s first bikes, built to showcase what they’re capable of. A special touch from the guys at Hollywood Bobbers was the HoBo Missile alloy oil tank in upright rocket configuration.

Shawn from Deus Ex Machina tells the story:

“Basically the guy fell in love with it, bought it and rode it around for a while. He brought it to Australia; got it registered. Unfortunately he decided to part with it—his loss, our gain. What can I say?

“You’ve got a ’67 TR6 650 Triumph engine in a stock front frame section with an aftermarket bolt-on hardtail. That’s a standard Triumph front fender on the rear with your struts. A 16-inch H-D rim is laced up to a standard hub drum.

“Cool, central-mounted oil tank from Hollywood Bobbers.

“Sprung solo seat, only about a half inch thick, but still pretty damn comfortable.

“Stock metal-flake copper petrol tank.

“It’s got a standard front-end. Standard front drum on a 19-inch rim. You’ve got your standard Avon front and rear tyres.

“Central mount headlight. Don’t need a speedo, just got a tacho.

“Pretty basic. I daresay the whole thing weighs about 150 kilos.

“It goes really well—oil tight. The engine’s been built up with ‘new, old stock’ parts. It’s got dual Amal carbies with velocity stacks.

“It’s kickstart only which is all you need.

“Straight header pipes out the right-hand side.

“It’s got side-mounted licence plate with side-mounted stop light.

“Mate, what else can I say? She’s all a dream.

“Oh, I almost forgot. The pin-striping is by Scratch who’s a very famous pinstriper in California. Obviously, you used to have Von Dutch, now you’ve got Von Franco, Dennis McPhail, and Scratch is the other guy.”

Hmm… that was a pretty good spiel. Although, of course, this guy is a salesman! But I wouldn’t disagree with what he said. The bike looks well-built. It kicked over easily too. I rode it up and down the street and it felt good—motor was responsive, smooth and sounded great.

Being rego’d as a ’67 model you don’t need mirrors or blinkers. It’s a simple useable classic, and someone with a basic knowledge of motorcycles could get some great use out of it. While these bikes are relatively simple to build, getting them looking this clean and classic requires some good taste, something the guys at Hollywood Bobbers obviously have.

words & pics by Wasko