As a motorbike fan for many years, Tim Schofield has owned a number of different models.

But the classic British Triumph is undoubtedly his favourite.

Tim, who lives in Christchurch, has lavished attention on the bike he bought in 2008, customising it not once, but twice, in completely different styles.

The second transformation is almost complete, but Tim admits to being a little disappointed.

“That’s the fun bit,” said the 45-year-old, who is head of pre-press at Emerge marketing, media and communications group in Bournemouth.

“I’m hoping to get the exhaust pipe done this year. Once that’s done it’s down to Poole Bike Night to show it off. Then I’ll sell it and do another one.”

Tim first customised the bike in a “flat track” style – an American track sport – but has now transformed it into a style similar to that of the 1960s desert bikes ridden by Steve McQueen.

He is also, incidentally, a collector of classic Steve McQueen movie posters.

“Steve McQueen used to do a lot of riding in the Mojave dessert in California, so the bike has got chunky tyres and I’ve stripped it down to the bare essentials,” explained Tim.

“That’s the style I’m going for now. When I do the next one it will be similar but I want to do it in half the time.”

Tim has set up a blog and Facebook page dedicated to modified Triumphs, through which he has not only shared his own tips, but picked up those from fellow fans.

He said he was amazed to find out how many like-minded Triumph lovers are out there.

“When I started customising the bike I did a little bit of research and wasn’t finding much, but wanted to share what I did find and what I was doing to my own bike,” he said.

“It took off and it’s become really popular. I’ve got more than 200 followers and 630,000 page views on the blog over the last few years and the Facebook page has had over 1,000 likes.”

So what is it about the Triumph that Tim – and thousands of others like him – find so special?

“I was always into motorbikes as a young lad, bombing around Bournemouth on my scooter,” Tim remembers.

“As I got older I liked the older bikes. The Triumph released in 2001 was a replica classic and I got hooked on that. The Triumph is a good, old-fashioned, British motorbike, it’s got a good history with classic reliability.”

  • To find Tim’s blog and Facebook page, search for “bonnefication”.