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.

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!

Inspirational stuff.

Alan Richards' build for Born Free 5!

I don't know if it's the quality of the light in the States, or just the quality of the finish by painters and chromers but they all seem to sparkle more than they do here!

Start of The Trip Out Build Off Build

Going to be building a swinging arm bike for the Trip Out Biker Build Off. It'll make a change and there was a '56 Thunderbird frame looking to be turned into a bike.

Ain't really used to setting up rear muddies on these new fangled bikes with suspendies on the rear, all too bloody complicated when things can move around back there. How to mount it so things don't come together during that Great Escape moment jumping the hedge at Scald End Farm? 

The eye centers on the shocks are 330 mm, a quick phone call to Hagon's revealed that the max travel is 80mm, sooo the shortest the shocks will ever be is 250mm. Puck knocked up some temporary struts at 250mm and they were put on in place of the shocks.

The Enfield wheel in there is a 19" rather than the 18 that will go in, this means the muddie can be sat straight on top of the tyre and the mounts measured and fitted where it sits, giving the proper clearance when the shocks go back on. 

Sniped a lovely gearbox off of the Bay of broken dreams, got all the signs of being rebuilt, the seller reckons it was under his bench for 30 years.Slotted in a treat and shows the frame is pretty straight.

Slipped in a set of 10 degree raked yokes using taper roller bearings, far easier, but in some ways less satisfying than pissing about with greasy balls!

Trophy Bird

When Triumph introduced the 650 Trophy in 1956 it was called the Trophy- Bird, whether this was to cash in on the bikes that desert Racers had been putting together themselves while waiting for a 650 competition bike is unknown.

This is one of those bikes, an original conversion, shown here as bought by Bill in Oregon back in 1981. A 1950 6T Thunderbird motor fitted into a TR5 Trophy rigid frame. 

The early TR5 frame is noticeably smaller and lighter than the normal 500/650 rigid frame, constructed of smaller diameter tubing without some of the cast lugs at the frame joints. Notice the front engine plate arrangement with the dynamo sitting through where the normal front down tube extends to meet the front horns of the rear section.

Sadly Bill sold the bike on to make way for other exotica and it was disassembled, with the new owner restoring back to a normal TR5 Trophy, which is also a highly desirable and rare Triumph in it's own right but it would have been nice for this snippet of history to have survived.

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 

Get Ya Nuts Out........................

Don't know if I've posted this before but the pleasure of selecting new, clean Cycle Thread nuts and bolts out of a drawer when putting stuff together is a joy. After trying various suppliers, I now only use these people for plated stuff, their quality, speed of delivery and price can't be beaten.

NOOKYS NUTS

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.

TR5R On The Rack At Big D

Keith at Big D Dallas sent some progress shots of his 1957 TR5R restoration, with only 178 of these built in total across a 3 year span, and only 17 in '57 it is a rare beast indeed.

Produced by Triumph at the request of JoMo and TriCor, who wanted a bike that was race ready straight from the crate, without resorting to taking a Tiger 100 and adding the race kit.

Fitted with the legendary Delta Head they were the first splyed head models produced by Triumph, a year before the Bonneville.

Never seen forks assembled in this order before, but it makes sense saving all the messing about trying to get the stabchions up through the yokes when shrouds are fitted.

Another piece of unobtanium, a Lucas racing mag, all made up out of exotic stuff like platinum tipped points, stainless steel armature and maybe silver plated windings but that could well be myth. I've never met anyone who has had an original one to bits.

Sparks a' Flying......K2FC The Return.

Just got this back from Chip after he has worked his magic. A pukkah K2FC that came over from the States. Interesting to note, although competition mags were supplied on Trophies and the like going over the water, they were automatic advance and retard. The points end casting was the same as a regular comp mag, the casting for the cable and actuator were left undrilled and an ATU drive gear fitted in the timing case.

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 

Mystery Triumph Revealed

This is the bike that appears on page 37 of Harry Woolridge's Speed Twin and Thunderbird Bible. It looks like it was built in 1949 as they talk about "the new Triumph Spring Hubs",  and it's still got the iron top end, capable of an easy! 120, with a bit more tweaking the man says.

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.

Peter's Nostalgia Drag Trumpet Blows A Tune

Peter has finally added the last ingredient to the mix, and as anticipated, it sounds as good if not better (if that's possible) than it looks!

Hope you're taking it to the HayRide Peter.

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

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.

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