Reza Gohary, owner of Pro Fiberglass in Livermore, California, has always had a British bent when it comes to motorcycles and indulged himself with restoring old crocks from Blighty. “I grew up with a mindset of ‘Oh, they gotta look original, this is how they need to go.’ I wanted to do a bobber, but no one ever said just shutup and do it,” says Reza. That is, until neighbor Scott Hultquist, owner of Riff Raff Customs, saw the restored 1974 Triumph Trident Reza had just finished and told him to “just cut it up.” That’s all it took, now there’s one less restored original on the concours show circuit.

Reza gravitated towards Triumphs “just ‘cause I didn’t want to be with the mainstream crowd.” Taking another step outside the ring, he had chosen not a twin, but one of Triumph’s rare triples to chop. “I picked a three cylinder because it had a rich history and it’s a very different experience driving a triple,” says Reza. “I have a few British twins, but the triple is my favorite in how it runs, drives, and sounds.” He’d owned this bike for fifteen years and over 12,000 miles prior to lighting a torch, but it’s still his everyday rider. “Except when it rains, I have other bikes for that,” he says.

One problem Reza had with the stocker was its tall seat height, which led to the frame being extended and lowered with a bolt-on hard tail that he attached minus the bolt-on pieces. The welds were cleaned up throughout the frame, including the 6” stretched rear section, and powdercoated black with a clear coat giving Reza a bondo-free frame with a factory VIN. It’s got a bit of a hill climber look to me, but Reza disputes that and says, “It’s too long to be a hill climber. I like the look of ‘40s Triumphs, that’s what I was looking for.” Duly noted. The original forks still have their lovely rubber gaiters perched over a stock 19” wheel covered with Avon rubber and a floating disc “from some Japanese bike” grabbed by the original Lockheed caliper. The rear wheel has a 16” rim sporting another Avon, but this one is adorably fat in comparison and has very tall sidewalls for a more comfortable ride. A quaint ‘60s Triumph drum also carries the sprocket for the drive chain. Blimey! The English were actually ahead on the Sprotor thing; maybe they should call this a Sprum.

The 750cc triple, which was initially made by adding another cylinder to a Triumph 500cc twin, was totally rebuilt to stock specs as it had plenty of power to begin with. Velocity stacks on the 626 Amal triplets and a 3-into-1 exhaust enhances the triple’s unique wail at full chat. “It’s incredible on the highway, comes on about 4,000 RPM and screams,” says Reza. The magneto-fired mill is kick-only and has its trio of coils mounted underneath the simple cylindrical oil tank in a carbon fiber box Reza made which houses all the electrics.

That coil box is one of the many superbly made carbon fiber pieces Reza created for this bike. His main profession of high tech boat work makes this a natural task for him. The classically shaped fender is composed of this lightweight composite along with the beautiful sprung seat, headlight shell, and master cylinder cover. His expertise stands out in every strand of CF he hand lays. Reza also made the tank matching shift knob, which towers over the hand shifter on the pre-1975 regs right-side cog swapper.

Summing up English bikes, Reza says, “They’re graceful, good looking, and a blast to ride.”