Spain’s Tamarit Motorcycles has been crowned the winner of Triumph Originals 2026, Triumph’s global custom competition, after securing 33% of the public vote and earning the highest combined score from the international judging panel.
Its Scrambler 400 XC impressed both judges and voters with its original interpretation of the competition’s Time Capsule brief and exceptional build quality.
Bringing together custom builders from Canada, China, France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA, Triumph Originals 2026 challenged each team to create a one-off ‘Time Capsule’ Scrambler inspired by a defining era from the model’s rich history.
Thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world cast their votes to help decide this year’s winner, celebrating the creativity, craftsmanship and engineering skill of the global custom motorcycle community. The public vote was combined with scores from an international judging panel made up of leading figures from the worlds of motorcycle design, custom building, journalism and heritage, ensuring every entry was assessed on its originality, technical execution and interpretation of the Time Capsule brief.
Steve Sargent, Chief Product Officer at Triumph Motorcycles, led the panel of judges and was joined by Chase McQueen, the grandson of Steve McQueen and the son of Chad McQueen; bestselling author and journalist Eric Hendricx; Rolf Henniges, one of Germany’s leading motorcycle journalists and founder of FUEL magazine; and Satoshi, the co-founder and lead mechanic of the legendary Fonk Motorcycles in Japan.
Steve Sargent commented: “We have seen thousands of riders and motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world take the time to explore these builds and cast their votes, helping us celebrate not only the heritage of the Scrambler, but also the creativity, craftsmanship and talent within the global custom motorcycle community.”
“For more than 60 years, the Scrambler has inspired riders to take a Triumph and make it their own. From the original desert sleds of the 1960s to today’s 400cc, 900cc and 1200cc models, it remains one of motorcycling’s most versatile and adaptable platforms. Every builder in this competition created motorcycles that honoured the Scrambler’s heritage, while showcasing high levels of craftsmanship and engineering capability.”
“Quique Berna and the Tamarit team created a motorcycle that impressed both the public and our judging panel. Their Scrambler 400 XC captures the spirit of the Time Capsule brief in a really original way, while delivering an exceptionally high standard of design, engineering and execution. It is a worthy winner of Triumph Originals 2026.”
Eric Hendricx said: “The Tamarit entry shows real depth to the work. The engineering and fabrication support the visual idea, and the bike feels lighter, sharper and more purposeful than the base platform. The proportions are strong and Triumph DNA survives despite the scale of the transformation.”
Chase McQueen commented: “Berna’s creation has guts. It looks light, tall, and ready — more race bike than custom. The white, the red number, the Spanish details all hang together, and it has that old desert-racer attitude, which I respect.”
Satoshi added: “To achieve such a highly refined motorcycle while successfully balancing both design and functionality from the initial concept stage through to final execution shows a wealth of experience and a very high level of technical skill.”
Tamarit Motorcycles team leader Quique Berna said: “We have been building time capsules right from the very beginning. By focusing on elegance and exclusivity, we aim to create heritage bikes whose essence gets frozen, then reawakened years later, untouched by time. Like a white T-shirt, the Scrambler is timeless now and will still be in twenty years’ time.”
“We started out ‘just’ customising motorcycles, and we’ve ended up demonstrating that a small idea, when backed by teamwork, can go around the world. Thank you to Triumph, to everyone who competed, and to everyone who believed in Tamarit before the world even knew how to pronounce our name.”
TRIUMPH ORIGINALS 2026 WINNER
Custom Workshop: Tamarit Motorcycles, Alicante, Spain
Model: Scrambler 400 XC
Team Leader: Quique Berna
“True perfection lies not only in looks, but in impeccable technical execution.”
What began in 2010 with two friends turning passion into profession has crossed continents. Quique Berna and Matías Canales now lead Tamarit Motorcycles from their headquarters in Alicante, Spain – a workshop that’s delivered over 210 one-of-a-kind bikes across the globe and become the world’s leading specialist in transforming Triumph’s Bonneville engines.
Fuelled by gasoline and coffee, Tamarit’s approach is “100% specialized and Triumph-focused”. By weaving classic British heritage through a laid-back Mediterranean lifestyle, their methods blend old-school craftsmanship with a custom accessory system. Never ones for trends, they enhance what’s already there, honouring Triumph’s timeless DNA and building for the long haul.
In last year’s competition, co-founder Quique served as a judge – an experience that sharpened the team’s eye for flawless finishes and strong storytelling and left them determined to channel that high standard into a bike of their own.
THE ENTRIES (images can be found here)
Canada
Custom Workshop: Motos Illimitées
Model: Scrambler 1200 XE
Team Leader: Pascal Lauzon
“The goal was to take this icon to another level where no one expected it to go.”
Inspired by a lifelong passion for motocross and off-road riding, this custom Scrambler reimagines the platform as a modern big-displacement supermoto rather than a traditional adventure motorcycle.
China
Custom Workshop: BVL Garage
Model: Scrambler 900
Team Leader: JOMO
“We want to share China’s custom motorcycle culture with the world.”
The BVL-VMX-900 is built on the new Scrambler 900 platform, inspired by the 1981 TR7T Tiger Trail. BVL reinterprets the spirit of the 1980s, an era of freedom, optimism and adventure through a VMX-inspired design language.
France
Team Leader: Sebastien Guillemot
Custom Workshop: FCR Original
Model: Scrambler 1200 XE
“For us, the word Scrambler, above all, evokes freedom.”
The name Triumph Scrambler has always evoked images of adventure, dust, action and rugged capability, combined with the timeless style of the 1960s. Bringing these elements together, Triumph France partnered with renowned custom builder FCR Original to create the Scrambler 1200 XE ‘Red Dust’.
Italy
Custom Workshop: South Garage Motor Co
Model: Scrambler 400 XC
Team Leader: Giuseppe Carucci
“I’m relentlessly in search of the perfect balance between aesthetics, functionality, comfort, and performance.”
Born from the renewed collaboration between South Garage Milano and Triumph Italy, Dune 400 is a custom build based on the Triumph Scrambler 400 XC platform, reinterpreting the authentic spirit of the original Scramblers while blending it with the aesthetics and charm of the legendary desert racing motorcycles of the 1980s and 1990s.
UK
Custom Workshop: Stockwell Design
Model: Scrambler 900
Team Leader: Charlie Stockwell
“It’s a balance of design, engineering, and storytelling.”
For three decades, Stockwell Design, in collaboration with the LIND Group & Triumph London, has been an epicentre for meticulously crafting custom motorcycles. Lathe at the ready, Stockwell defines the studio’s approach in three words: Refined, functional and purposeful. It’s a standard that last year’s competition only sharpened, pushing the team to balance storytelling with execution in every detail.
US
Custom Workshop: Triumph Columbia River
Model: Scrambler 1200 X
Team Leader: Liz Rubin
“The Scrambler doesn’t pretend. It’s built to get dirty, take a wrong turn, and keep exploring. Its heritage design and instant cool factor make it a perfect canvas for customization.”
A Tribute to PNW Adventure, built by Liz Rubin and the team at Triumph Columbia River in Portland, Oregon, is a custom Scrambler inspired by the landscapes, roads, and adventurous spirit of the Pacific Northwest. Designed as a motorcycle that could be ridden and enjoyed every day, the build draws on the region’s strong connection to the outdoors, where the journey is often more important than the destination.
THE JUDGES
Steve Sargent
Triumph Motorcycles’ Chief Product Officer lead the judges and selected the Time Capsule builds he believes truly showcase original and innovative design and build techniques. His focus will be on assessing the technical creativity of the build.
Chase McQueen
The grandson of Steve McQueen and the son of Chad McQueen, Chase works with his sister Madison to steward his grandfather’s legacy, through authentic partnerships and events honouring Steve’s life. These include the Boys Republic, the non-profit school and treatment community where Steve McQueen spent time as a youth, and Steve McQueen’s Festival of Speed, a gathering of the most notable and eclectic vehicles in the world.
Eric Hendricx
Bestselling author and journalist, Eric writes about motorcycles, adventure, culture, human performance, travel, and modern masculinity. He’s written for Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal, Robb Report and Revolver, and his latest book Motorcycle Life: Stories, Wisdom, and Obsession from Riders Around the World features more than 100 riders from around the world.
Satoshi
Co-founder and lead mechanic of the legendary Fonk Motorcycles in Kobe, Japan, Satoshi possesses a deep understanding and passion for vintage Triumphs. The revered custom builder describes Fonk as distinctly Japanese in spirit, but with the heart of pure Triumph.
Rolf Henniges
Rolf Henniges is one of Germany’s leading motorcycle journalists and writers, and the founder of FUEL magazine, which focuses on motorcycle culture, custom machines and their builders. Having covered more than a million kilometres on hundreds of motorbikes, Rolf brings a combination of technical knowledge, riding experience and editorial judgement to the panel.
TRIUMPH SCRAMBLER: BUILT FROM CUSTOM CULTURE
The Scrambler was born from the custom culture scene, making it a fitting platform for Triumph Originals 2026. In the 1960s, riders with a thirst for freedom would adapt the leading performance bikes of the day, kitting them out with knobbly tyres, wide handlebars and high exhausts to create machines capable of tackling the desert and dirt. These were the ‘real’ desert sleds: the bikes that Steve McQueen and Bud Ekins raced and won in the sand of the International Six Days Trials and the legendary Big Bear and Baja 1000s. The Time Capsule brief has seen the teams select a chapter from this legendary history, and create a custom build that best encapsulates the style and attitude of that specific time.
In 2006 Triumph reintroduced the Scrambler, blending timeless style with genuine adventure capability. Now available in five variants, every model shares a confident riding position, easy handling and a rugged, go-anywhere character. Signature details like the high-level twin exhaust, stripped-back design and premium finishes give the bike its unmistakable look and timeless appeal.
Scrambler 400 X
The Scrambler 400 X combines accessible performance with authentic design cues, including its commanding riding position, wide handlebars and long-travel suspension. Its lightweight chassis and responsive single-cylinder 400cc engine deliver confidence on and off the road, making it a versatile entry point into the Scrambler range.
Scrambler 400 XC
The Scrambler 400 XC builds on the 400 platform with a specification focused on enhanced off-road capability. With a rugged stance and purposeful detailing, it is designed to deliver control and confidence across varied terrain while maintaining the core Scrambler character.
Bonneville Scrambler 900
With its distinctive high pipes, iconic silhouette and thrilling British twin bark, the Scrambler 900 is the first choice for urban classic style and all-road riding fun. Its high-torque 900cc Bonneville engine and ride-by-wire throttle delivers superb performance, rideability and control. Its 19” front and 17” rear wire-spoked wheels add to its stylish and confident stance.
Bonneville Scrambler 1200 X
The Scrambler 1200 X delivers authentic Scrambler style with thrilling, characterful performance, and effortless all-road agility. It is also remarkably accessible, with a seat height of 820mm, reducing to 795mm with the accessory low seat.
Bonneville Scrambler 1200 XE
The commanding presence of the Scrambler 1200 XE makes it capable of conquering the most rugged terrain, with an off-road ready 21” front wheel and Triumph’s premium quality and finish. The high-power, torque-rich 1200cc Bonneville engine has a dedicated Scrambler tune.
(original post on modernclassicbikes.co.uk)
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