Length Is Important !!!!

Seein' as Eric is working his magic on the head, thought it's best to be reading up on a bit of tuning. Also got some really helpful insights  from the blokes on The BritBike Forum. there is a rake of real, been there and done it experience on there.

So, anyway, I was looking at inlet tract calculations, and to get the benefit of the tuned length between 3,500 and 5,000 revs, the inlet needs to be 12 1/4" from the center of the inlet valve to the lip of the velocity stack. 

As ya can see, it will make for an interesting oil tank!

Rubber Suspenders

Had an idea to make up some rubber mounts for a while, and this is as good a time as any.

The holes in the rear mudguard were drilled 8.2 mm as it was known they were going to be pilotting the 1/2" Q Max hole punch. Punching the hole gives a lot cleaner edge to the hole, not like the hexagon a regular drill can give through thin shit.

The grommets are straight forward 1/2" (12.5 mm) wiring grommets, the top hats have been turned to match the bore diameter and thickness less 0.5 mm, just to snug up the fit.

Punching through......

..................... knocked out..................

................bushed in.

The guard weighs less than the bracketry, so it's difficult to see it not being alright.

I like this shot.

Bonneville T120 TT

Chris, the builder of that sweet but strangely unsold ( shame on y'all) has just finished his T120 TT rep at least I think it is, it may be pukkah. There's no style suits the big unit motor better that the flat track/desert racer format,

all bollocks and in yer face attitude, a proper British Bruiser!

Rep or not, you may depend Chris scoured the deepest depths of the darkest cellars over the pond to find the original bits.

Nice bike...............Cheers Chris.

AMAL Home Of The Good And The Free

There's not much available nowadays that is free and still worth having. 

This catalogue is just that though, not exactly free as you've got to pay postage, but the book itself is gratis. Containing details on all ranges of post war carbs right up to the Mk II concentric, there's also the standard settings for just about every AMAL equipped bike since 1940. It's just got to be worth owning for the price.

CHECK IT OUT

Got Those Ol' Heiwa Blues Again .....................

This almost slid by, the pictures on the HEIWA are dated December last year.

Not a lot to say really, that ain't been said before about the state of play over in Japan.

Frame looks standard to me, all the gaps look right.

Work this out!

Plumbing looks ............... interesting.

Martin's Tiger Ton Forty

Martin's build looks to be on schedule, almost ready for the three days of unbroken dry weather that we all may bask in sometime this year.

It was on here some weeks ago, have a close look at the pictures, all is not as it seems.

Rear Guard Taking Up A Position

Skankweasel went out for a little trip to Martin's shop yesterday to get a little bit of TIG action going on the rear mudguard mounts. Had these bits water jet cut, nice finish, cleaner than Laser but worth the extra? I'm not so sure.

The brackets were cut with a 10 degree angle to allow for the curve of the guard. The tabs were welded on to the bracket after being bolted to the guard, to get the angle.

The bottom mount bolts to two 3/4" long bosses welded to the frame cross member. Not a thing I'm normally down with, but this rear section has had so much abuse over the years that it's not really heresy to weld extras to it.

The top mount is the same bracketry but picks up on the standard rear guard tapped holes.

There's still the rear loop/stay to sort out, and as it's aluminium a bit of rubber mounting will help.

Bobby Sir Kegian's Baby Mine

The story of young Bob still amazes me.

His daughter Ava has started a site in his honour. Check it out

HERE

Here's a taster, nice bike and nice guitar.

Tiger 100 Race Kit Manifolds Part Deux

Decided on the Hal Hall Route, good price and flat and all ya need, barring the thin wall steel tubes that were slotted down the bores of the manifold to seal the potential gaps. On the original factory Tufnol spacers, the nut recesses break through.

Definitely looks the part.

Some say that's Triumph's prettiest ever motor right there, easy to see why.

Meanwhile Bill slipped a pic in the mail.

Notice the tubes.....................................

JoMo Rep Tiger 100 For Sale !!!!!

Call me old Old Fashioned, but I can't really see what more a bloke wants out of a bike than this here. So much fun ya gotta grin to get it in, you've seen it and heard it running a couple of posts down, and as luck may have it, it's up FOR SALE

If you're in the market for a pre-unit Triumph and have got the readies NOW, then in my humble opinion it's worth pursuing to the end.

CHECK IT OUT HERE

Enough of the hard sell already, rather than me retype what's Chris has already written here's the description from The Bay of Doom.

Triumph T100R Special.

Pre-unit tiger 100 engine fitted into a ex WD 1944 3HW Triumph frame. A good flattrack frame giving good ground clearance and a short wheel base. Also a good steering head angle that makes the steering very sharp.

Also notice I angled the engine forwards slightly in new alloy engine plates.

Complete engine rebuild just completed under 100 miles ago, so still running in. Fitted with new standard size liners and 7.5:1 pistons.

Brand new cams and followers fitted. New shells fitted to a standard large journal crankshaft. New rods were also fitted. New ball main bearings fitted. New Morgo oil pump and a new lip type oil seal timing cover conversion.

Also fitted a reconditioned manual BTH magneto.

Twin carb conversion.

The lights are running total loss as there is no dynamo fitted, just using the brake light the battery will last forever on a charge. If you start using the headlight you will only get about 20 mins before blackout.

19" Dunlop rims fitted and shod with new old stock Dunlop and John Bull tyres. 8" piecrust front hub and scalloped front brake.

I built this bike over 2 years using top quality new old stock and hard to find period parts. No repro bits were used it's all genuine tackle. For example genuine Amal racing levers not those cheap and nasty monkey metal imitations hawked around by every autojumble Johnny. Also the extra long genuine Amal advance retard lever. The more you look the more you will see on this bike.

Also the entire primary drive is new. Including a full alloy competition clutch. Chains are all brand new Renolds.

New sealed front wheel bearings fitted.

Built in homage to the 1954 T100RR.

Take a look at this bike on You Tube. The film footage was taken on the first day of completion.

Rear Wheel.........................Sorted!

Notice the cut axle plate, more scars from a previous life.

About 10 days ago I posted the previous back wheel, showing the cracks down the centre of the Morad rim. I phoned the guy who supplied it and he said send it back, well I didn't send it, I took it back the other day. He was genuinely shocked when he saw it, his second in command took me aside and said "He will go ballistic after you leave" doesn't want his name attached to bad quality, even if it's not his fault.

It was a good job I went, rather than have a new rim fitted to the KTM hub and still have the inherent problems with the brake anchor, I came away with this hub and D.I.D. rim. Much better, this has got a flat brake plate and adaptable anchor setup, the great slab of boiler plate you can see hanging down was already on there, but it's eminently workable now.

This hub is aluminium rather than magnesium as the KTM one was, but it's smaller, neater and all around better looking.

1954 T100R JoMo Replica

If inspiration is needed listen to this.

The guy is on YouTube as Velowfellow13, don't know how to contact him though, that's the problem.

Skankweasel Loses His Head!

The head is being sent down to Eric at the Historic Engine Company for him to work his magic.

The inlet rocker box mating face has obviously been skimmed at some time, clipping the guides in the process.

Combustion chambers are in great shape, although one inlet seat is sitting deeper than the others.

This picture was meant to show the standard inlet ports but it hasn't quite worked out. In standard form the ports are very smooth and of even cross section down their length. Don't know if Eric will feel it can be improved upon, we'll have to wait for that answer.

Thinkin' Outside The (Gear) Box

Thinkin' that ol' Skankweasel will hopefully be putting out more grunt than yer average 

Speed Twin, thoughts have been centred around beefing up the standard rigid gearbox mounting and adjustment setup. Started looking through pics of fifties drag bikes, to see what they did to keep things on the straight and narrow in that department. Couldn't see much, the old reproduced photos don't really lend 'emselves to close scrutiny. 

This trick Trophy was in among the same file.

I know it's a Beezer box, but that's gotta be the way forward ain't it?

Barn Find.........................Read It And Weep

Pete Dalton over at Quality Custom Cycles has got himself a bit of a reputation for unearthing some pretty desirable stuff, only it looks like he's peaked this time.

Not wanting to steal his thunder or rewrite what he has posted, just have a read of THIS

..........................does it get any better? Hard to imagine it can do really.

Tiger 100 Race Kit Manifolds

The Delta Head is earmarked for the '53, and therefore not available for this build, but I still fancy putting twin carbs on the 51. Just wondering if anybody out there has got one of the original manifold kits as shown here in the bottom right corner. Not that I expect to buy one, but if you have one for sale I'd love to know about it, I'd just like to get hold of some decent pictures and measurements to see if it's possible to make one.

Usual addy if you can help.

JoMoCo 1947/ '48 ????

This enigmatic picture appears in Harry Woolridge's book on the history of the Speed Twin and Thunderbird range. It is in amongst pictures of 1947 and 1948 models, with a simple side note that reads " Two views of what Johnson Motors USA thought the Speed Twin should look like. Note the twin carburettor setup" and that's it, no other reference to it anywhere else!

Love to know more about this bike and a more definitive date would be a bonus.

1955 T100 Bottom End

This is much more like it, 1955 Tiger 100 big bearing!

Picked it up yesterday in a shifty looking Motorway service station car park deal.

The guy had it on the Bay with an iron 5T top end attached, it didn't raise a bid. In the description he said he would break it (part it out) if it didn't sell. I slid in with what I reckoned was a reasonable offer, and as luck may have it so did he.

It's meant to be rebuilt and it certainly looks that way, but when they're down to this stage it's a quick and easy job to check.

The Skankweasel now has a heart!

Not Good At All

Open 'em up for a better look.

Not best pleased with this.....................

Fitted a couple of spindle spacers the other night and happened to notice this. Now I ain't no wheel builder, but I'd say it was over tightened spokes. I have heard that Akront are sometimes not as round as they could be, but how far must a rim be out to warrant this?

Contacted the man and he's being reasonable about it, so no names and no pack drill.