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.

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!

At Bloody Last................ 56 T100 Cases

Finally got some cases, easy you'd think, set of everyday pre-unit Tiger 100 cases, not the case at all. Martin dropped these off yesterday. 1956 Big Bearing, everything a fellah needs.

Ya can just see the bearing bulge hangin' it's bottom lip out in this pic, makes all the difference an eighth of an inch sometimes.

They all do that sir................................

A milling cutter will clean up what's left of that, shame but it really is a case of"Beggars can't be choosers" here. A few spots of weld on the inside where a couple of screws have broken through, and one or two heli-coils may well come in handy, but certainly a hell of good foundation to build from. Time to get the scrubbing brushes out first though.

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.

A Little More Shed In The Front

Scored this off of that well known auction site, only bid...........result.

A six inch conical hub from the 73/74 TR5T Adventurer, and B50 MX, it's a natural really matches the yokes and it's still Meriden. Odd that it's forty years old, only 20 years newer than the rigid frame yet it will still be damned as modern shit.

The pictures don't really show how compact it is.

3.711 kilos, which I reckon is around 8lb 2oz, is pretty light for a complete assembly I'd a thought. Haven't got a standard single sided hub set up to compare it against but a saving of 5lb can't be too optimistic.

Britax

Straight out of the old Pride & Clark advert in the back of the Motorcycle Mechanics,

can't say I'd ever heard of one let alone seen one.

Had to be done for a Tenner, looks more like it's been in a shed rather than pukka NOS,

gotta be late fifties, early sixties.

Now, where's that Goldie hiding.................................?

WIPAC S179

This bad boy arrived today, scored off of the bay (as if you hadn't guessed) for half the price of a Taiwanese imitation, although I don't think they do a knock off of this particular light...... yet!

Listed in the very brief description as for a C15, I don't reckon it is 250 AJS/Matchless seems to ring a distant bell but that's not a definite. If anybody knows for sure please let me know.

The description didn't say it was NOS but it's hard to believe it's spent much time fitted to a bike, this is how it arrived with no attempt to clean it up, no signs of rust on the back plate and not a hint of fading in the lens.

Easy to imagine that it was designed by the same guy that did the WIPAC Sabrina posted on here a little while ago, all fifties starship dreaming style. They seemed to be far more adventurous in their designs over at Wico-Pacy than their compatriots over at Lucas.

Cockroaches and Commando Calipers

Yep, come the great nuclear apocalypse that'll be the only recognisable things left on the husk of a planet. The time is getting close to let the old A7 see the light of day and there's still a couple of things to sort before the MOT ( annual government inspection ) The front brake, that of undeniable Norton-Lockheed uselessness has been living up to it's infamy especially with the neat but in effective little 125 master cylinder that was trying to coax it into action. So had to get help from the Big H! yep got hold of a bit of Sochiro's finest off of the bay, a master cylinder for a VFR 750!!!! Well they got loads of front brake action going on, and used to moving far more square inches of piston than the Commando caliper has got to offer.

So here it is, a bit bulkier than the cute little number from Spain but it does what it says on the tin! Could piss about and remove all of the incriminating writing on it, but it is what it is so let it stand I say.

There's a new set of bars in the works as well, hopefully more in keeping with the overall feel of the bike.

WIPAC Sabrina

Picked this up yesterday, always on the look out for the cooler alternative when it comes to rear lights, much like everybody else in this game I suppose. These ex-Bantam and other lightweight lamps have been hiding in plain sight, with their mix of Art Deco and Flash Gordon design features they scream fifties.

Generally overlooked as just a Bantam back light and of no use, they are disregarded. Taken in isolation and looked at for what it is, I reckon it's a winner and certainly ranks alongside the Miller/Vincent STOP, Spartos and 32 Ford lights that crop up over and over again.

Officially designated the WIPAC SO088 it was generally called the Sabrina after the young lady below, I'll let you figure out the reason why.

Only the first bloody kick...........................

Had to drop the A7 down off of the ramp yesterday as the bloke who actually owned the ramp has got a use for it. Not such a big deal as it spurred us on to getting it finally sorted out, and it's the first time it's been on Terra Firma with the paint and pipes on.

Still got to throw a few wires at it, but that's pretty much it, reckon the pipes sit on there a treat as well. Definitely worth the money and the wait, all the lines follow the frame and the silencers welded to the pipe give an extra twist.

 Still not happy with the front brake though, it does pull up but with waaaaay too much travel at the lever. Not sure if the problem is in the caliper or the master cylinder, but it's definitely in there somewhere! And those bars ain't staying, going for something similar but not so high and wide.

So with it on the deck there was no real excuse not to put petrol in it and give it a go. Gave the exhaust a good wipe over with Brake Cleaner as instructed by Den up at Alldens when he made the system. Apparently if this isn't done on stainless exhausts all the hand prints that are on them get almost burnt into the surface of the metal the first time they get hot and then they're there for ever more! Checked the petrol unions and added the juice that the world goes to war over and tickled her up. Just started to stroke the kickstart through to get things ready, and I'll be damned, it started! Straight in on two 

There's a bit of an issue with the carb flooding when on the side stand, that will need to be sorted along with a few other minor issues, but all in all a great day.

1954 Triumph T110 Engine

This is the power plant destined to go into the rigid Triumph project, from the first year of the HOT 650 option, it's a '54 Tiggy Ton Ten. Stripped it yesterday for a clean and a look inside, no major shocks in there and a pleasant surprise that was a bonus. The crank and rods are all in good order as are the bores and pistons on +0.020", so all OK there, the result being that it is fitted with a E3134 cam on the inlet and "R" followers on both sides, all in fine fettle.

There is a snapped top fin on the barrels but luckily the broken off piece came with it, so it's over to Chip's this morning to have that brazed back into position.

Here is what the National Motorcycle Museum has to say about the '54 Ton Ten;

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About the 1954 650cc Triumph Tiger 110

Ton-plus Tiger

When released for 1954, Triumph’s Tiger 110 was among an elite of a few 100mph-plus vehicles available to the general public. But although the 110 was truly a snarling tiger when the throttle was opened, it could also be a docile kitten when riding around town with the ignition lever set to retard.

While derived from the 1950 Triumph Thunderbird, the fast and sleek T110 incorporated significant advances over Triumph’s first 650cc twin. Engine tuning included a revised cylinder head, bigger carburettor and an inlet camshaft developed for racing. It resulted in a healthy 42 horsepower, dealt with by strengthening of the crankshaft and its main bearings. The T110’s frame is Triumph’s new swinging arm type and an up rated front brake featured an air cooling scoop to help prevent’ fadeif the drum was applied repeatedly, as it would be when travelling fast over challenging roads. An attractive Shell Blue Sheen colour scheme was shared with the 1954 500cc Tiger 100. Following a Triumph tradition begun with pre-war Tigers, the 110 model code hinted at top speed, which was not far short of 110mph in standard trim. A startling 117.2mph was recorded in 1954 by the weekly Motor Cycling, but that was with a press test machine, tweaked, by factory staff.

SPECIFICATION

Engine 649cc (71 x 82mm) air-cooled overhead valve parallel twin, 8.5 :1 compression ratio, 1 1/8in Amal carburettor, magneto ignition

Transmission Chain primary drive, wet multi-plate clutch, four-speed gearbox, chain final drive.

Chassis Cradle frame, telescopic fork front suspension, swinging arm rear suspension, drum brakes.

Wheels: 19in.

Power 42bhp at 6,500rpm.

Dry weight 420lb (190kg).

Top speed 110mph.

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420lb, this build should be a ways inside that, this bike may have some get up and go about it!

Precious Metal, Meriden Stylee

Produced in 1957 only as a tuning part for dealers in the US, this is a Tiger 100 Delta head.

By all accounts as rare as the proverbial rockin' horse shit, it has recently found it's way here. 

The standard parallel inlet tracts are still part of the casting but never machined out, instead extra meat has been added to the side of the head to allow for the splayed ports similar to the Bonnie set up.

This has got to be a keeper, just got to find the rest of the parts to create a bike worthy of putting it on.

No spring action required!!!!!

Following an earlier post pointing out the mortal dangers of getting too deep and intimate with Edward Turner's attempt at a rudimentary rear suspension system, it is still possible and indeed necessary to get so far into it without risking life and limb. 

Getting the brake plate off was a bit of a puzzler, having the Triumph instructions on servicing a Mk. 2 Sprung Hub is not the best thing to have when you're stripping a Mk 1. No mention of the fact that the brake plate is actually screwed onto the center spring box, that's probably because it's not on the later improved version. More luck than judgement revealed the big thread in the middle as we were spinning the brake plate trying to figure what was holding it and realised the gap betwixt plate and drum was increasing. This is a lesson well learned as it's easy to imagine increasingly rare parts like this being destroyed by trying to lever the plate off in the assumption it was a normal floating set up.

This is the state of play beneath the brake plate, this picture was taken immediately after removal with no clean up whatsoever! This bike has not been on the road for half a century and  probably exposed to the elements for a large proportion of that time, check out the state of the spokes. A testimony to the build quality and engineering that originally went into this old British iron, and the fact that it had luckily escaped that attentions of the spotty faced youths in the sixties and seventies. As can be seen the main spring box and associated parts are still packed with grease , preserving the internals and bearings, so there is nothing more than a new sprocket, brake shoes and a bit of a cosmetic uplift and it'll be good to go. A definite result as the bearings are something like £400 each nowadays!!!!!!

A pleasant surprise

Johnny is still playing the patience game with the Speed Twin and it's getting results. The gearbox is out and now the head is off as well, no broken bolts, stripped threads or drama, result!

This is the state of the bores in the picture are as they appeared after the head was lifted, nothing has been done to clean anything down since. There is no wear lip around the top and it is easy to fool yourself that there are still visible honing marks.

Turning the head over revealed this!, again no extra cleaning has been carried out. After over half a century of laying about the inlet valves are still shiny! The speedo reads 4774, that can't be right............can it?

Pipes of Peace ya say?.................................

......... more like pieces of pipe!

Spent a long day up at Alldens in Lincolnshire on Friday getting the exhaust sorted out, and it was more than worth it! Truly an education watching the process as the pipes take shape.

Dennis, the bloke who did it, is both a bike freak and a perfectionist so there is little need to explain, he can grasp the idea quickly and develop it into reality, all the time checking that it matches the vision.

A drawing of the silencer design was sent up there about six weeks ago and they were made before arranging a time to get up there for the pipes. The governor, Mike, was a pleasure to deal with over the 'phone, always very honest about the state of play and good with his estimates on dates.

All brackets were fitted and the system bolted on before the welds were ground back and the whole lot polished. The silencers are welded directly to the pipe to give a smooth transition without clamps interrupting the flow.....

.... also to ensure that when the stainless goes that lovely Champagne colour it does not stop when it reaches a big thick cold clamp at the junction.
Happy.........that's a major understatement.

More Retardation Action

As there is a risk of the disc brake being somewhat incongruous hanging out the front, it was decided to stick with the standard hydraulic pipe work. This has worked out far better than the ubiquitous stainless braided line that graces 95% of custom disc brakes out there, the line is parallel to the stanchion and as tucked away as it can be. Far more in keeping with the old style we're after here, of course being a Commando brake it won't stop worth a shit whatever's done to it!

Built Well Seat

Got this back yesterday, don't normally talk about the Enfield project on here, but I'm so stoked I thought I'd best share it.
The regular Biltwell seats are certainly fine bits of kit and a good price whichever side of the pond they're being bought. The problem I have is that they are acaled to fit H-D's and come in at around 14 inches long, which is nearer to a seat and a half on the Bullet rather than a solo.

Toddy beat the base out about 6 months ago, and a fine job it was, full of curves and shape. I was worried that the upholstery would lose the contours of the base, but as you can see the form has pretty well held.

The upholsterer is a new bloke to me, although he's been doing car interiors for years. Not the cheapest, but good things generally ain't, contact details to follow.