Killer A10 from sunny California

Jordan sent these pics of his mate's killer A10, custom Beezers are getting thin on the ground nowadays but this beauty makes a pleasant change. 

Ya gotta love the detail especially the chromed frame castings, this bike nails it!

A7 Extras

A few more shots of the A7 to aid recovery for someone suffering Beezer withdrawal syndrome.

The A7 under guard.

Nice shot of the Beezer taken back in the Summer, guarded by geese, which is pretty cool as the Romans used geese for burglar alarms, apparently.

Special Hot Rod Bonnie From Japan

With good unmolested rigid frames becoming harder and harder to find, it looks like there may be an alternative, and it's been hiding in plain sight.

This is a 1942 Triumph 3HW that belonged to Jun over in Japan, a quick look at the frame reveals a few similarities to the later twin chassis that we know and love.

Pretty similar as you can see, although some of the tubing maybe of a slightly smaller diameter and gauge to later types. Interesting to see that it has the larger top steering bearing and possibly extra gusseting on the lower bearing, this is a feature seen on the rare post '54 rigid twin frames.

B type 6T cases set up in the 3HW frame, using only new engine plates, no cutting or modifying of the frame involved here. The gearbox is the same set-up as the later rigids so no drama there either.

It all makes for a sweet looking roller, and in this shot the tubes definitely look slimmer. 

The girders look right, which of course they are, and to my eye the stance is perfect.

Sweet as a nut! A big thank you to Jun for sending the pix and making my day!

Long Stroke A7 In The Works............Swiss Stylee

Switzerland................Watches, Toblerone and big mountains, well now kool bikes can be added to the list. Luke, who has been building for years has now gone public with this 47 Long Stroke A7.

Looking every bit the custom build rather than a radical unridable fashion statement, it ticks all the boxes here.

Check out his blog at Manion Frameworks

Texas Tiger

On the bay for the next week, for sale in Texas

CHECK IT OUT

but be sure to look at all pictures carefully, as all is not what it could be.

Mister Smug

Two trophies in less than a week..............not that I'm a slut or anything,.......................just mentioning it is all.

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.

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.

1952 Triumph Tiger 100C

Picture courtesy of BigD Cycle

Keith from Big D Cycle in Dallas has just finished this oh so sweet Tiger 100C. 

Picture courtesy of BigD Cycle

A sensitive and subtle reworking of standard parts rather than a full custom/Bobber approach makes for a lovely looking ride.

Picture courtesy of BigD Cycle

Check out the factory rearsets , later rev counter drive timing case and of course the all alloy motor sporting twin concentrics.

Picture courtesy of BigD Cycle

I'm hoping the '53 will capture some of this style when it's done.

The Fifty Three

Just to clear things up, and so you know where the exotica is going. This is the pride of the fleet, a mint uncut '53 frame, downside, it's got a keyhole back post, upside, it's never been molested in the slightest way.

So, the '54 Pie Crust wheel, the Delta Head, the nice bits and all the NOS knick knacks that are in hand and still to be sought out will be going on here. There will be occasional mentions as more bits are scored or fitted. 

Making A Mockery Of It (Pt I)

I scored the front legs from Steve at The Strathbran Speed Shop a couple of weeks ago. Although the sliders are correct for a '71 - '73 Conical Hub twin, the stanchions had been changed at some time to suit disc brake type yokes, the earlier type still retain a taper for the top yoke whereas the later ones are parallel. These were swapped out yesterday afternoon, so just had to be offered up to see what effect the non-raked yokes would have. They look OK to me, the front wheel is a 19" and is not the one that will be used but the size is right and there doesn't seem to be a clearance issue. There was some concern that without the in built 10 degrees of rake given by the standard rigid yokes the front end may sit too close to the frame down tube, that's not the case and the steering will be quicker as a result of this change. 

The wheel dropouts had been butchered at some point in time, using a hacksaw and file, not a pretty site. A local retired engineer managed to set the frame up on his mill and opened the slots up to 7/8" to bring them back to square and even, he also turned up two "top hat" collars to accommodate the 17mm rear spindle. The spindle itself is a modified XL500 Honda item, figuring the make up of the steel would be right to make a spindle out of. A bit of a Homer Simpson moment "They say it was made from a larger spindle"

At the moment I am thinking of making a plate up to pick up the two holes on the silencer/rear footrest lug with a slot to take the brake anchor bolt, above the bottom rail. That will set the brake arm in about the right position and not look overly shite.

Staying with the standard headlight mounting method, the holes are there already and it's rubber mounted. Only used by Triumph for about three years at the start of the seventies it's gotta be the most stripped down look for a side mount you're going to get, and it makes a change from the ubiquitous Batesalike bottom mount set up.

Mr Smith Goes To Tokyo

Managed to get hold of this for SUNAO over in Tokyo, to be used on his 650 project, already calibrated for a Triumph gearbox drive it should look sweet when mounted.

This was posted, normal parcel post, at noon on Friday and there was an e-mail saying it arrived Tuesday morning! I have waited two weeks for an envelope from the States on numerous occasions.

Q-Bikes

Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The basic ethos of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

That's what it says on Wikipedia any way, think about that when ya have a look at Martin's pre-waralike Trumpet.

There's a lot more to be said about this......................

Another Fine Job From The Croydon Mafia

Jimmy handles most of the paint down at The Baron's, and he's just put the finishing touches on his very tidy six and a half rigid.

Dick built up the drive train and gave direction and encouragement. The quality of the build these boys pull out of the bag is amazing. Bit like chefs I suppose, you can give 'em all the same ingredients but they all won't come up with the same flavour and taste.

Pics by Gary Margerum

Talkin' About Nortons

Norton twins are rarely seen on the custom side of the fence, other than Cafe Racers of course. Found this beauty on Norton George's site and reckon it's more than worthy of sharing with you good folks out there.

Class, just pure class.

The Waiting Is Over, Now The Weighting Begins.

Time to get moving along again with putting stuff together, now that Winter looks like it's releasing it's grip.

Reading up on the rigid 500 Trophys of  the early fifties showed a factory declared weight of 290 lbs. That's with all the road legal niceties fitted, and a lot of steel parts employed. I reckon that 

260 lbs is achievable with a little care, so Son of Skankweasel is going lightweight. Those that know me will detect a certain irony in this quest, but as CC Rob suggested, I can always train a monkey to ride it.

The yokes above are steel Trophy yokes and as you can see, weigh in at a lardy 2.334 kg or 

5.146 lbs in old money.

This is an alloy pair from a 1974 TR5T/Adventurer coming into the ring at a sprightly 1.389 kg or 3.06 lbs. A saving of nigh on a kilo, 2.1 lbs, needless to say that they are going on with the later forks with alloy sliders. 

There is no need to try and stay within the realms of standard kit on this build as the frame (which weighs in at 31.5 lbs by the way) has had too much work done on it to make it a contender for any sort of restoration.

A Frame Of Two Halves

Over the past year and a half or so a few unattached and, let's say "creatively modified" frame halves have ended up 'round here. No use to man nor beast it was decided to bring them back to the way big Ted Turner intended.

The front half had been raked in an enthusiastically amateur Blacksmith style. The top tubes had been cut and maybe an inch of tube removed prior to the front down tube being heated and bent back until the tube ends met again. The whole lot "strengthened" by sliding bits of gas pipe over the joints and welding up. 

The rear section had the old inch and three quarter slugs added behind the gearbox mounts to straighten the line down the back bone. It's also had some cutting and grinding done around the axle plates. 

They were taken to frame maestro Toddy for a little remedial work on his jig. Top tubes both replaced, down tube back in line and slugs removed, nice work mate. Whilst up there picking it up there was another bloke there who was looking it over and he said "what are you doing about the rear brake pedal pivot?" I've gotta 'fess up here, never even noticed it was missing! Then the Karma kicked in...............

  

............he says "I've had some of them cast up for a GP replica I'm building" and do I want one for 20 quid! You can see my answer above.

As this frame, which is marked up as a '51 by the way, has had so much work and so many irreversible detail modifications done to it, it will become the basis of The Skankweasel project, allowing a little more creativity in the design.

Cliff's a' crackin'.....................

.............on that is.

Latest undercover shots from our man on the scene.

Lookin' nice there mate.

Shortened Sporty front end tuffin' it out in front sits well with the TFMW frame.

Just hope the fat bloke in red's gotta camera in his sack when he nips 'round mate.

Triumph in Japan

We all know that there's some great work coming out of Japan, without a doubt some of the best Hot Rod Triumphs in the world are originating there. Ironic ? Maybe so, but undeniable all the same.  Came across Sunao's blog whilst trawling for Tiger 100 RR stuff , (again) and was more than impressed with the work he's doing.............................and he's got an RR frame.

Check it out for yourself HERE The Google auto translate struggles a bit but it doesn't detract.