Atom Bomb 'Velvet Underground' Triumph Bonneville

Clay Rathburn of Atom Bomb Customs is an old-school craftsman, and the creator of one of my all-time favorite bikes, ‘Doctor Who’. When Clay builds a bike, very little work is farmed out—an admirable approach in this age of off-the-shelf parts. This lovely 1966 Triumph Bonneville T120 is Clay’s latest creation, and it reveals its charms slowly, eschewing glitz for a subtle, timeless style. “I built the frame in-house, using the original-numbers-matching neck, and reusing the cast rear engine mount,” he says. “I think the factory castings are beautiful when they’re cleaned up and reshaped a bit.” Clay then fabricated...