PRE-UNIT TRIUMPH CASES......ON STEROIDS!

The world's strongest Triumph crankcases are being manufactured by Donny Coveney in Australia.

 CNC machined from aircraft grade "6 series" aluminum alloy, rather than cast like others, ensures accuracy and consistency of every pair. These cases are the ideal foundation if you fancy a Triumph that puts out double the power of any Twin that came out of Meriden. Capable of handling the horsepower from big bore cylinders, hot cams, nitro fuel, stroker cranks, and superchargers without coming apart at the seams.

Supplied with a timing cover set up for RH crank seal and RH ignition as used on unit Triumphs, but maintaining the ability to run the original rear mounted ignition, these cases have got most every option covered when putting a motor together.

Designer Donny, has used these cases in roadracers and dragracers that produce 90 plus horsepower, and are capable of taking much more. 

They come Complete with hardware, these cases incorporate many improvements over stock Triumph cases, and are definitely the way to go if building a Triumph to be reckoned with.

Allen bolts are stainless, base stud inserts are 4140 chromoly, and cases are supplied ready to accept 72mm Superblend crank bearings for the ultimate in reliability.

Pre Unit Triumph Finned Timing Cover (Pt 1)

Missing Link Fink, a good friend of this site has recently obtained this piece of custom gold.

The problem being that nobody seems to have seen anything like it before!

Consensus of opinion has it that it was made here in England rather than over the pond in The Land Of The Free.

There is no method of fixing it to the timing cover, other than Duct Tape which is what's defying gravity at the moment, but that's not the final solution of course.

Personally I think I would dress the back side until the contour matches that of the timing cover and weld the two together. With a good weld and patient blending it should be a cool and rare head scratcher.

If anybody does recognise this part please get in contact or post in the comments.

Ed Fisher's 40A Bike

I've been studying this picture of a young Mr Fisher for longer than is probably good for me. I've always wanted to piece together something that pays tribute to the bike, but never had a frame suitable.

The frame is now here, James Holland has taken the two odd halves of a frame that I sent to him and jigged them into a mating pair. This will now be the foundation of the tribute Tiger 100.

A Fine Pair of Double Ds

A few posts below this one shows a Parilla Tacho that I confessed my lust over. In the year or so since that post moves have been afoot. I have had a pair of Bantam Speedos reworked and am now the proud of owner of this fine pair. Both are calibrated for use on Triumph Twins, the Speedo to a pre unit gearbox drive, and the Tacho has been modified for a timing case drive.

I think, just maybe, that this is the only pair like this in existence. 

Smiths Chronometric Tacho

Long time readers of this drivel may recall my love of the D shaped Smiths Chronometric speedo. Here's a tacho in the same body, never knew such a thing existed! Damn I want one so bad it hurts!

Todd Asin, Small City Cycles

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Like one of the master chefs seen on the idiot's lantern Todd Asin can take the simplest of ingredients, available to everybody, yet somehow blend it into something very special. The frame has had a small stretch in the lower rails to straighten out the neck to rear axle line, other than that the running gear is pretty much stock other than the springer front end.

Tiger 100 Bronze Head

Saw this 1939 Tiger 100 at a show in the Summer. 

Absolutely brimming with desirable bits, period McCandless swinging arm rear end, 1 gallon oil tank, original 4" removable end cap megaphones......and the rarest of rarities in the Triumph world the fabled bronze head. This was the first time I had seen one on the road and being used,and being used with some vigour I should add.

My plan was to write a post about this piece of cylinder topping exotica, but searching the web reveals information on them is as thin on the ground as the heads themselves.

Produced as an optional extra 1n 1939 and early 1940, up until the factory in Coventry was destroyed by the Luftwaffe.

It is believed that slightly fewer than 300 were produced during this period.

The last time I saw one for sale went for £3,200 on the bay of fools about 5 years ago.

If anybody can fill in any of the gaping holes in this description please get in touch.

Reproduction Girder Forks You Can Trust

Fashion is indeed a fickle thing, and no more so than in the custom bike game. I t seems that the Seventies long fork revival has run it's course, people are realising, that what didn't handle in 1974  still doesn't go 'round corners 40 years later. 

Keeping an eye on the blogs and forums shows a definite swing towards girders of manageable length. Up until a couple of years ago the options were severely limited, either use an original pair that were made prior to WWII , with all the risks with internal corrosion that comes with them, or try to get a set of period custom forks which would inevitably be too long.

Then in the last two or three years reproduction forks have started to appear from the sub-continent. They are cheap and certainly look the part, but what of the metallurgy behind them?, who actually made them? We'll never know, but I do know that a well respected bike builder from the Midlands had a set and found several discrepancies in the dimensions side to side.

Now, like a knight on a white charger, help is at hand.

Jake Robbins, a highly regarded restorer of both original girders and complete pre war bikes has started to make complete sets of forks for the discerning builder.

The type shown above and below are exact reproductions of the heavyweight forks fitted to the 5T and Tiger 100s immediately prior to the war. They feature the correct form of tapered tubing and cast lugs as per the originals. Initially these may appear expensive, but if you ever have six months to spare, try and find a set of genuine forks that are for sale and see what they are going for, on top of that price factor in the rebuilding expenses involved, and if you don't get them re-tubed by Jake you'll never know what effects internal corrosion of the tubes has had. All of a sudden the price is not that bad, and peace of mind is priceless.

The forks featured below are what is known as the custom fork and are substantially less money, although they feature the same tapered tube and geometry of the Triumph fork they do not mimic any original design. 

They are a great looking set of forks and have an authentic looking air about them that was never obtained by custom fork manufacturers in the States. Priced the same as a decent pair of custom springers they will light up any custom built around a British bike.

To see more of Jake's great work check out his web site HERE 

Indonesian Curves and Sensuality, Darizt Design

It's not often this blog wanders far from the British side of bikes but there's gotta be an exception every now and again, especially when it's as exceptional as this. There is, currently, some great work coming out of Indonesia where guys are turning their traditional skills to bike building, and coming up with results like the bike shown here.

Check out the blog HERE

Oooops!

Got a bit carried away gushing about that magazine yesterday. Too busy salivating over the pictures to fully read the article. There's a paragraph describing the 57 T100RR towards the end, the author staes that it was almost the same bike as the RS but with a bolt on hardtail. That is not the case at all, this is a genuine 57 RR frame, pretty much the same as any stock rigid Triumph frame. It's got the late Tiger 100 rear section with the rear set footrest mounts, the front section is interesting, it has the 6T type keyhole in the back post but check out the bigger top bearing and the lower stiffening on the headstock. 

I have sent a "Dear Sir, unaccustomed as I am in writing to motorcycling publications...........blah, blah" So we'll see what they say.

The Class Of 57

This month's CBG is worth picking up, for obvious reasons. Only thing missing is a T100RR  to make the full house of bikes that were produced when Triumph were on top of their game.

Are You Sitting Comfortably?

After a seat for Skankweasel, and have placed an order with Pedro of D H Customs  for one of his hand worked leather solos. He does some lovely work and at a great price for something hand made and unique, well worth considering if you're in the market this winter.

Rare Trophy motors on that well known auction site

This '53 TR5 motor is on the Bay Stateside with a Buy Now of USD 3200  looks loosely assembled in places.

The same seller has this HERE, far more interesting proposition at USD 3,800. Delta Head, Trophy tacho drive timing cover and a K2FC 

Greasy Kulture 35

Issue 35 of GKM has just dropped on the mat, as ever well worth the read.

A real bonus is the first real English article that I've seen on Mark Drews' legendary T110 show bike featured below;

It amazes me that in the article it says that it's a bit of a Marmite bike, that people either love it or hate it. Now I don't like Marmite, but I can't  honestly understand anyone not liking this.

If you don't know the bike, or you do and want to see quality pics of it, hit Guy up for a copy

HERE

1957 Triumph Tiger 100 RS

 In Triumph terms they don't get much rarer than this T100 RS. Produced from 57 thru 59 this was the factory road racer for the States, bearing in mind that Meriden showed very little interest in Britain and Europe regarding road racing.  132 were produced in 1957, with numbers unavailable for the other two production years, although almost definitely fewer were built during those years.

Shown here fitted with the Delta head, the forerunner to the Bonneville head in 1958, it came equipped with 1" GP carburettors and a bracketted remote float chamber on the gearbox post. A Lucas K2FR provides the ignition, while no dynamo is fitted as expected the drive is utillised for the Smith's RC126 tachometer.

E3134 cams and competition shop preparation resulted in 42 bhp out of the crate with a potential of 45 with even more tuning. 

The gearbox carried a close ratio set of cogs, and a reversed lever to suit the factory rearset footrests.

The front brake is the Mk2 8" single leader as fitted to the contemporary T110, the back is the normal 7" SLS unit found across the twin range for much of the post war production period. A one gallon oil tank fitted with a froth tower was also used, possibly unique to this model.

Any additional information or corrections to this post or any subsequent entries will be gratefully received.

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.....................................

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.

1955 Triumph Rigid Frame Details

Triumph went to the swinging arm frame in 1954, putting and end to production road going rigid bikes. Not so for competition stuff in the US, Dave's 1955 T100R shows a later headstock casting with a larger top bearing and a larger bottom gusset between the frame tube and the bottom bearing cup.

Also the extra foot rest lugs for the rear set pegs, this is common to the T100R and T100C and possibly the GP500 frames. Not sure how pukkah the extra brake pedal forging just in front of the rear brake stay is though, more research needed on that. 

If somebody offers you a frame with these features, don't think it's been messed around with, just buy it!

BSA Gold Star

Pic from Terry Weedy's site

Bet this'd make ya grin.