Triumph - Rocker Revival

Rocker boxes almost ready to go on, decided on a light buff job rather than the full show polish, looks more purposeful. The bolt and stud bosses have been spot faced for a flatter fit. New Old Stock rocker spindles of the later type, with "O" rings are now fitted.

Rockers lightened and polished to balance the weights between the components, it is recommended in some quarters to reduce the diameter of the arm ends much more than this but discretion won the day in this case. The Thackeray washers are out and have been replaced by 1/8" thick wood saw arbor spacers, kindly sent over by Bill "Boomer" Brown of Portland Oregon.

Rocker caps drilled and fitted with vented breather plugs, these came from a hydraulic fittings company and are used to vent small hydraulic tanks. The ones behind are sintered pneumatic exhaust breathers, second choice and plan B if the others don't flow enough air.

Some people say that this modification is a waste of time due to sucking as much air in as they allow out. Any pressure created by the bottom end by the pumping action will be above atmospheric pressure, any air that is drawn in cannot be above 14.7 p.s.i. (atmospheric pressure) so it's got to be good, I think! Anyway oil leaks are created by pressurised oil looking for a way out, this mod should help alleviate that problem.

The Epsom Salt

Pete, along with the Baron and his band o' trusty buddies are off to do battle at Bonneville at the BUB Speed Week.  They intend to have a crack at the A-PF and/or the A/PG 650 records ,A stands for special construction class i.e. purpose built frame, and P stands for pushrod, F for fuel and G for gas (petrol).  For gas class you have to use the fuels supplied on the salt by ERC, it comes in several octanes, outside that you are automatically in the fuel class whatever you use. 

Current records stand at 123.814mph and 126.976mph set by Keith Martin's  Big D Cycle.

Texas Tiger

On the bay for the next week, for sale in Texas

CHECK IT OUT

but be sure to look at all pictures carefully, as all is not what it could be.

Triumph Rigid Long Chain Cases

The search is over, if you're tired of having to look hard to find a usable pair of long cases only to get beaten in the last 10 seconds by an outlandish bid, Big D Cycles has come to the rescue.

These fine looking reproductions have just been released onto the market at USD 695 a pair, which is about GBP 450. In the current market that would be about right for a good pair of originals, but these are as perfect as a NOS pair and who knows what they would fetch.

Well worth it I'd of said.

Mister Smug

Two trophies in less than a week..............not that I'm a slut or anything,.......................just mentioning it is all.

Hinckley Triumph.....................CRIKEY!!!!!

Haven't really got to grips with the new bike that is Triumph yet, there are a lot about and by all accounts they are good at what they do, and they are British, but....well......you know.

Came across this and the specs are somewhat eye opening

Specifications:

Engine: 1200 cc 270 degree crank 101 mm bore 74.3 mm stroke

104 rear wheel HP 91 ft. lbs. torque @ 4700 rpm

Frame and swing arm 4130 Chrome molly

Gearing 520 chain 17 front 45 rear

Wheel base 55.5 inches - adjustable to 57.5 inches

Steering head angle 24.5 degrees

Front suspension modified (lengthened) Yamaha R6 43 mm 3 way adjustable cartridge forks Billet triple clamps with 1 mm to 7 mm offsets

Rear suspension Penske 3 way adjustable mono-shock

Ground clearance 10.5 inches

Seat height 31.5 inches

Front wheel Performance Machine forged aluminum 19 x 3.00 Maxxis DTR 130

Rear wheel Performance Machine forged aluminum 19 x 3.50 Maxxis DTR 150

Front brakes - 2 - Beringer 6 piston Aerotec calipers with Suzuki K4 298 mm rotors

Rear brake - Beringer 2 piston floating Caliper A&A Racing 10.5 inch rotor

Wet weight (2.4 gallons gas, oil and battery) 351 lbs.

As I said in the header Crikey! over 100 brake from any British twin however big is a rare beast.

1953 Tiger 100C For Sale

This matching numbers 1953 Tiger 100C appeared on here a couple of months ago, built by Keith and the boys at Big D in Dallas Tx, it is now up for sale on the bay.

CHECK IT OUT 

This is the real deal, and they ain't getting any easier to find. Shame it's half a planet away.

Strange Monobloc Float Cover

Just scored this off of the Bay, not sure what to make of it. The listing said it's from a chopped Monobloc, it was sitting at six quid, no bids and an hour to go, so it was a speculative bid, and now I own it.
Thinkin' about it, has a chopped carb got a tickler, or float ???? probably not, both fed from the same float needle and rely on Archimedes to do the rest.

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.

You Want Salt On That?

Think salt and you either think of Fish 'n' Chips or the great white wasteland that is Bonneville Utah USA. Well it ain't always the case, John sent over these pics of his rigid Thunderbird at Lake Gairdner in Oz, Those boys down there in The Great Southern Land have got their own horizon to shoot for.

I'll take the lazy option here and let John tell y'all what's been done.

As you can see its a rigid based bike and I call it a 54 as that was the last year of the rigid frame and first year of the big bearing alt cases for the Thunderbird. I've tried to use as many pre unit bits as possible, though there is certainly a mixture with the frame being a 49, rear wheel, oil tank, guard, gearbox and triple clamps being early fifties, fork sliders are 57, front wheel is duplex type 8" hub. Tank is mid 60's T100? and the tacho bracket is 70's. All other bits are aftermarket or home made.

Engine has big bearing alt cases with a unit crank fitted balanced to 85%. Ball timing side and roller drive side main bearings. R&R billet conrods, 3134 cams with R cam followers. 9.8:1 comp pistons. Standard 5 fin Thunderbird head (58-60 type) with standard thunderbird valves. Lightened and polished rocker gear. Single 30mm Mk1 Concentric, K2FC maggy with manual advance and 1 1/2" pipes with reverse cone meggas.

Managed a best speed of 108 mph at Lake Gairdner earlier this year which I was really pleased with for a first time out on the salt.

Well over the ton on a single carb 650 iron Trumpet, outstanding achievement John, can't wait for further reports on what the twin carb head does for the top end performance.

Nice pic this one.