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.

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!

Newgate's Knocker, as she stands.

I don't think I posted any pics of the Tiger Ton- Ten since the final alterations. There are more pictures but I can't transfer them between devices at the moment...........
Glad to report the spingers are working a treat out on the road, and the motor is as strong as an ox!
This picture is from Offley, the first time out on her, a successful foray as you can see!

Pedalling To A Standstill

For anywhere between 80 and 100 pounds you may be lucky enough to find a standard rigid Triumph brake pedal on the Bay Of Fools, chances are it won't be straight and it's almost guaranteed the foot pad will be worn down.

BIW tip of the week, buy a 350/500 Enfield Bullet pedal and pivot bolt for about twenty quid and massage it with the gas axe for a good close fit.

OK I know the return spring ain't the prettiest in the worls but it works oh so well and finding a regular coil type torsion spring to fit the rear brake plate has proved difficult up to now.

A Nice Pair............

A brace of new 626 Concentrics, jetted to what they call a "standard build" which is pretty close to the sizes given for the race kit carbs, and ya gotta start somewhere! Standard they said, still took nigh on 5 weeks to come! Too busy shipping 'em o'er The Pond I guess.

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.

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.

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?

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 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!

E3677 Tacho Timing Cover

 

Managed to get hold of this timing cover from Todd at Small City Cycles , it's a genuine piece and came off of a running bike so all should be cool with it. Have to change the patent plate but as this one has recently been fitted, the rivets should come out pretty easy.

Have to get Geoff to do the oil seal conversion to get rid of the crank end bush, but otherwise all good.

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. 

Pre Unit Triumph - Must Have Accessory

Never seen or heard of one of these, which ain't unusual, but neither had Geoff and that is. First spotted in the '57 Tri-Cor catalogue, it's an obvious improvement...........once you've seen it of course..........and good any any pre-unit. Anyways up, about a week later I'm sifting through the US Bay of Doom and lo and behold, there they are! Repro of course but really nicely made and polished, a satisfying thing to have in ya hand, so to speak.

The guy does not sell into England through the Bay, but it's OK through his web shop so get over there, but keep it on the QT and you'll be the envy of all your chums in the Summer.

Oh, ignore the buck 85 , that don't count any more!

Triumph Tiger 100 Or Not?

More like a Tiger 5T 

Scored this a few months ago, Tiger 100 on a set of alternator 5T cases, the numbers have been massaged so the crank cases are no good even if they are good. 

On the upside it's a big bearing motor, hence the ask for a set of mid/late fifties Tiger 100 cases a few posts ago. Externally the head and barrels look workable, but it may be on +0.060 and -0.040 won't know that 'til we have her to bits, but that's not until a new set o' cases are to hand

Looks like it's seen a bit of action in it's life.
Odd to see the distributor set up on there.

Big Bearing Tiger 100 cases still required folks.

Making A Mockery Of It (Part II)

Couldn't help but put the empty cases and gearbox in. Looking damn fine even if I do say so myself, and Micky looks happy in the back there. The frame was initially sprayed with a zinc galvanising treatment, the candy red was an afterthought and a bit of an experiment, it's growing on me, and will probably be along these lines at the finish.

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.

Austrian Lightweight Joins The Campaign

Got hold of this KTM rear hub to hold up the arse end on Skankweasel. The hub and brake plate are made of magnesium, the rim is a WM3 x 18" Akront "Green Label" the whole wheel as seen here minus the spindle comes in at 7.05 kg, or 

15 1/2  lbs in old money.

The brake anchor position may take some thinking about to get the operating pivot 'round to a more conventional position, but that ain't a show stopper.

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.

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.