Tom's Born Free 11Triumph

 Tom was an Invited Builder at the year's Born Free Show and credit where credit is due, the folks in charge of handing out the invites were right on the money contacting Tom.

This 650 Trumpet oozes Sixties show bike style and panache all the way from the axle plates of the chromed frame, right through to the rockers of the original 1930 H-D Peashooter springer front end.

The frame is a '53 with the classic light stretch in the lower rear rails to straighten out the line from the head stock to the rear axle. The motor consists of a set of T110 cases, restraining a heavily massaged crank that saw action in a Hill Climber back in the day. This is topped off with a set of 8 stud barrels carrying an early T120 head.

Although it was declared a winner at BF11, in the valley of the V Twins, it rightly caught the attention of the head honchos at Mooneyes as Tom received an invite to attend Yokohama 2019 and that's a validation of quality in anybody's book.

Thanks Tom. 

1954 Triumph Tiger 110 (sort of)

Worked on this with Chris a couple of months ago, loosely based around a 1954 Ton Ten, there are parts that span the '54 to '59 production period. 

Complete overhaul of the front end along with a general tidy up and recommissioning. 

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!

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

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.

The Numbers Are In

The letter's back from the dating fellah, to allow the registration process on Newgate's Knocker to proceed. Frame's earlier than I thought, sure one of the interweb lists showed it as a number from 1951, ain't moaning though. The motor is early '54 which is excellent news as this clipping from the Jan '55 issue of the US mag Motorcyclist shows,

If they weren't released until March to the American press then early May is very early indeed.

Even Closer

Got the tank back from Otto, looking spot on as always, as is the oil tank. 

Not very much to do at all now, a few pipes, number plate set up, and get it registered.

The new brake arm in position.

Gettin' Oh Sooooo Close Now

Pipes and silencers are now bracketted and done,

pegs need a wee tweak,

handlebar furniture about complete,

just waitin' on the paint and a few last knockin's.

Speedo Finds A Home

Got the speedo bracket together and mounted, it just peeks out from the front of the tank. Nowhere else to put it really.

It's not good engineering practice to fix things with one bole, but a shakeproof washer either side of the frame and 4 Shredded wheat before tightening should keep it in place.

Having said that, it is a truism that anything that you have to convince yourself will be alright, will bite you in the arse. There may be more on this at a later date.

Tank On and Lookin' Bitchin'

Offered the tank up for the first time yesterday, still needs sealing before paint but it's looking just about right.

The bars are gonna get a reprieve as they seem to suit that fifties style, which was the plan in the first place. They're stock 1" Trophy bars which allow the fitting of the Triumph throttle, now that's always been a mystery to me, bars were/are normally 1" or 7/8" and that's pretty universal, yet Triumph elected to reduce the bars at the twistgrip end to 15/16" !!!! Just to keep the spares tied up? Dunno but that's all I can think of.

Silencer brackets STILL to be sorted but it's getting close now.

The Ton Ten Sees The Sun

With the forks in it was only natural to fit the front wheel and a few other bits. The next no-brainer was to get it down on the deck to have a lok at the stance and get an overall feel of how things are going to turn out.

Things always look better in the sun, and seeing as that rare commodity was available, outside it went.

Not the best of pics, but we'll call it moody and arty for now. Pipes look OK though, once they're bracketted on properly that is.

The jury's still out on the bars, want to stay with standard inch Triumph, more in keeping and the big stock twist grip looks nice, but this bend...............not sure.

Skinny little MOFO ain't it?

Happy? Ya can bet ya Ass!!!!

Got all the springer parts back in one place today and got 'em back together.

Looking good, even if I say so myself.

Back In Bitchin' Black

Otto worked his magic on the frame, and magic it certainly is. The finish is petrol tank quality and, "As black as Newgate's knocker" which was the brief.

A bit shakey this shot, but that's down to the excitement factor.

Happy with it ? What do you reckon?

Joe's plates fitted a treat, no levers or hammers!!!! The dimensions on these plates are spot on.

Arty Farty detail, a random I think they call 'em.

Torquing Point

Made a bracket for the torque arm on the front brake, it's been brazed onto the rear leg rather than welded to minimise the damage if it needs to be removed for any reason in the future. It is set at 2 inches above the centre of the rear rocker pivot bolt, this is the same dimension as the centre of the wheel spindle to the brake anchor stud on the brake plate.

The arm itself has been cut from 5mm thick stainless, with hole centres at 3 1/2 inches to match the  dimension of the rocker pivot centres. This maintains the parallelogram as described in an earlier post, and it should allow the suspension to operate during braking. The arm has been fitted with two spherical bearings, this will allow the the arm to move in operation and also to compensate for any misalignment. 

The wheel has been pushed over by 6mm to allow clearance for the arm to get through, the rim will now have to be tweaked back by 3mm to recentralise it in the forks, shouldn't be a problem.

Triumph T110 ..................... Wheels Back

As threatened yesterday, there's been a major step forward, and if you can't guess, the wheels are back from the builders.

Geoff was taking a pair of hubs down for a Bonnie he's doing so it made sense to send these down at the same time. Johnny thought like wise and sent the centres for his '49 Speed Twin as well. 

Took the frame up there to check the the rear was sitting centrally in the bike, good job really as the rim needs to come over 3/8" towards the Drive Side. I would have done it myself, as performing the same operation on the Beezer was easier than I ever thought, however, the builder had told Geoff that if it wasn't right he would come out and do it..................nice!

A better shot of the front, showing about as much spoke as possible, all the fun of a spool hub on this side and a totally useless brake on the other..........probably.

The sixteen on the rear, showing a rather strange spoke pattern, it's gotta be this way to match the dimpling on the rim but I don't think I've seen it before. Cool but odd!

The rubber is on order, so if the builder does the tweaks in the week they should be wearing boots by this time next week.

TFMW Springers

Picked these up last week from The Baron, a set of 3" under narrow springers from The Factory Metal Works. No flattened tube end nonsense here, properly engineered and an all 'round nice job.

There was a bit of confusion over the stem, and as it turned out none was sent, an e-mail to Lucas has resolved that and a standard one should be on it's way.

BLACK

Scored these off of the Bay a couple of months ago, got 'em for a good price but the quality of the alloy is crap, especially the outer. Looks like the metal was not at optimum pouring temperature or something, full of air pockets. One of those jobs where, as one imperfection is polished out another one opens up, so black 'em up with2K and all is good. 

Tiger 110 Motor Nailed

Got the motor pretty well finished today, still a few bits to get such as the external rocker oil drains and their bolts, there's also a few other fixings that need getting but they should all be available from Cliff at Ace Classics.

The mag looks the nuttz sitting on there, notice the Beezer extended nut/bolt in the lower position. Why Triumph never did this is a mystery, BSA owned Triumph since the early fifties but they seemed to go out of their way to ensure the two brands didn't cross fertilise.

This shot gives a better idea of what a bastard it is to get to the bottom nut, even more so if the motor is in the frame with the primary chaincases and rear engine plates in position.

These pictures were taken immediately after the top end went on so there's still a fair bit of cleaning up to do before it's ready to go in.

Triumph Tiger 110 Dynamo Hum

Picked up the dynamo for the T110 after Chip had worked his magic. This is the home of the Prince of Darkness' glow worm farm, they're all in there, locked up at the moment just waiting for the chance to get out and light up the world.................or not!

There's no doubting it will work as well as it did in '54 but they must have ate more carrots back then!

Chip can recondition or supply dynamos outright, give him a ring if you need life putting back in your Lucas.