Rewheeled #5
By Ross Sharp - 12 Aug 14
Sometimes you've just got to say, "screw it" and put your balls in a wheel barrow and march forward towards your dreams, leaving sense and reason behind. In the summer of 2011, Andreas Norum quit his CEO position at the Tourism Authority for Dalsland in Sweden and wheeled his barrow into the workshop.
Rewheeled was born with the vision of customising 1990's machinery and giving owners a bike that they could ride everyday, with the practicality and reliability reserved for modern, plastic clad boremobiles. Andreas proved his vision was fully in focus when he collected the award for "Best Streetbike" at the 2012 Oslo Motorshow with Rewheeled #1, and to disprove any beginners luck, achieved a 3rd in class at the 2014 Bilsport Performance & Custom Show with Rewheeled #4. Since then Andreas has been a busy guy and here we have #5, a mint condition, 2006 Triumph Scrambler.
To wind back the clock and help achieve a 60s look, the fork legs, triple clamps, bar risers, throttle and fuel tank were acid dipped to removed paint and anodising before being lightly sanded and polished. Not to a high sheen, just enough of a reminder that steel and alloy look great naked. The fuel tank wears marks from mass production presses and rollers, which have been sealed with 3 coats of clear. Mudguards are polished ally and naked to the elements while the brackets that hold them, and the chainguard are powder coated with a metallic chrome finish.
Twin pipes, up high just screams Desert Sled and on the Scrambler they're pretty lengthy so the exhaust wrap serves to break up the expanse of chrome and add further to the period feel. Although designed to keep temps down, or hide rotten welding, we're pretty sure Andreas wrapped the headers for aesthetic purposes. We won't argue, in this instance it looks spot on leading to custom made 1 3/4" stainless tubes with internal baffles. Apparently the motor sings rather than roars, with rejetted carbs and K&Ns.
The subframe was cut about 30 cm and a new ally box fabricated for the Li-Ion battery and electrics. A new seatbase was made in fiberglass padded with 20 mm neoprene and topped with brown leather.
The straight bars are by German outfit, Fehling but cut down about 25 mm on each side. A set of Norman Hyde rear sets, and a 20 mm lowering of the front it gives a sportier riding position, and improves the stance. Bar-end indicators and the mini instrument are from Motogadget, keeping the cockpit efficient and Germanic.
A small CNC machined housing takes care of the indicator, horn and light controls on the left side and the right is kept clear by relocating the starter to a neat side panel below the seat. The rectifier was moved from its original position under the headlight to the frame above the oilcooler and the ignitionlock to the right side under the fuel tank. Small rear indicators set into the ends of the frametubes are only 18 mm diameter but still e-approved. Rear and brakelight is an LED unit grafted into the rear of the seat.
Fork, rear shocks and wheels are stock and the tyres are the Heidenau K60 Scout that work on both paved roads and the abundant gravel forest trails that wind through rural Sweden.
This is the second bike commissioned by the owner of Rewheeled #1 and he is so happy could there be a third? We certainly hope so as workmanship of this quality is welcome in The Shed anytime. Keep an eye on Andreas' Facebook page
Photos by neighbour and photographer Mattias Hallgren.