Kevin....LOVE IT !
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
Kevin, I've got an uncle that lives southwest that spent most of his life building/dismantling/rebuilding Triumph and Norton's from that vintage. He never once mentioned any of the oddball hardware that you've described. I have much greater appreciation today. Oh, and if you need bits that aren't in your stash, I can put you in touch.
Illegitemi non carborundum est!
yo thane
its vastly worse than what i described. your uncle is probably just used to it. the thing about triumphs twins is that things changed slowly, so some parts interchange for decades, but there are lots of one-year only experiments that didnt work out, but require experience to unravel.
the parts books are all available, and have beautiful artwork, but are full of typoes and errors. the manuals are all incomplete, because when the factory changed its mind about something, they just issued a service bulletin, and most of those get lost. plus, the bikes were all made with worn-out machine tools from before the war that only the oldest farts in the factory could run, so assembly required fitters who sat with a box of parts and trial-fitted pieces to get the best combination of gears or shafts . . .
but they are immensely accessible, and if you know a little bit you can make them work pretty well. theyll always leak oil from somewhere and need a valve job every 15 000 miles whether you like it or not, but they are a blast to ride and have excellent handling.
but i want to accellerate this if i can and get the watsonian out before the snow flies, so i am making haste slowly.
update!
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the 1966 triumph bonneville tug is a complete roller now. needs a motor, paint, a wiring harness, but i have all that in the schedule. doesnt look like a lot of progress, but ive got all the parts finally, either installed or waiting. headlamp shell with associated switch gear, complete forks and steering damper, 1960's front and rear mudguards, rear grabrail and tailight assembly, a seat in really good shape, handlebar switches and controls, footpegs and motor mounts, correct tank badges, centre stand, and so on. complete roller, even though lots of parts are still in boxes.
and the motor is still in progress
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this set of 1970 cases came with the two-year only internal leaf spring as the gearbox camplate detent mechanism, and i didnt have a gearbox casting set up for the spring, so i had to drill out the gearbox bottom for a plunger mechanism
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theres a kit circulating in north america with jigs, taps, and reamers to do just this, so it made it easy, and cost me less than finding a leaf-spring gearbox casting
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but the best thing is that i managed to score a morgo 750cc kit for it.
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these were the high-performance modification for triumph 650s in the 1970s, and added a significant amount of bottom and midrange to the motor. theres a waiting list for them now, as production is way down. the last machines to use them were made in 1972, so its pretty much a niche market. but a guy i know in new mexico bought one for his hot rod bonneville, and then decided to go another way, so he offered it to me and i snapped it up. the only old cylinders i currently have are already 0.040 over, and going to 0.060 makes the liners pretty thin. so with a standard small valve head and a stock camshaft, im hoping i might be able to hit 50mph. maybe i can do something with cam timing to get 55.
i was originally going to build this by using up the pile of spare parts sitting in the floor on my shop, but as it goes on i find original bits for sale that would make it just a bit better . . . so the pile of parts doesnt look like its getting any smaller.
so im not going to get this on the road this season, but im going to put the motor together over the winter and see about breaking it in before i bolt it to the sidecar.
Great progress!
Hope you bought a lotto ticket after coming up with both the big bore kit, and the tooling kit to update the gear box. 😎
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Interesting isn't it.
Once you commit to going after a project.... then things have a way of falling into place.
My friend Dennis proves that anually.
Set himself a goal of restoring a pre 1931 bike a year for 10 years.
Year now?
For one bike that is now the oldest registered motorcycle in Western Australia, the 1903 Minerva Romania.
He bought a kerosene headlamp then sent a message to a fellow restorer.
Got the headlight, just need the rest of it!!!
Next came the ignition unit.
A trembler coil. (And they work well)
Then the engine and it was on for young and old (me to)
Great progress!
Hope you bought a lotto ticket after coming up with both the big bore kit, and the tooling kit to update the gear box. 😎
yes. i buy a lotto ticket every week, whether i need one or not.
the big bore kit mostly just adds bottom and midrange, unless you also update the primitive triumph cylinder head. if you do some head work and put in longer cams, you can make the old motor breathe well enough to use the extra capacity higher up in the rpm range, but im not interested in that. i need something that thumps around at 35 mph.
i have an old four-speed gearbox internals to put in. its got gears that are thicker than the later five-speed units, and theyre pretty tough. the main issue on lugging the thing is that i was going to use a magneto ignition, because i have one. buts its a race-designed unit that has no advance mechanism. since this bike is destined to be underpowered from the start, it will spend a lot of time at low rpm and open throttle, and these old pigs will punch holes in their pistons from detonation if you do that without a bit of caution. so while the gearbox is . . . probably . . . okay, im thinking ill have to put an electronic ignition of some sort in.
that gearbox tooling kit is one that people use and then mail on to the next person that wants it. rental is fifty bucks, and the thing has been all over the world at least once. i used it about ten years ago on my commuter, and was pleased to see that it was still in circulation.
then just today i bought a 1966-style high pipe exhaust system that solves the lower front sidecar mount interference issues. so that is done without much trouble. so slow and steady wins the race, and if i can ever get the machine up on the lift ill make some better progress.
heavens
thats way out of my league.
are there any brakes on that? im not seeing anything, unless theres a coaster brake in the rear hub
maybe it doesnt need brakes, like you just drag your feet?
i do that on my race bike, because i pry the pads away from the disc after the safety people look the machine over. then the brakes dont work well, but i dont use em anyway.
heavens
that minerva is way out of my league.
are there any brakes on that? im not seeing anything, unless theres a coaster brake in the rear hub
maybe it doesnt need brakes, like you just drag your feet?
i do that on my race bike, because i pry the pads away from the disc after the safety people look the machine over. then the brakes dont work well, but i dont use em anyway.
how come i cant post the picture of that cool minerva?
heavens
that minerva is way out of my league.
are there any brakes on that? im not seeing anything, unless theres a coaster brake in the rear hub
maybe it doesnt need brakes, like you just drag your feet?
i do that on my race bike, because i pry the pads away from the disc after the safety people look the machine over. then the brakes dont work well, but i dont use em anyway.
heavens
that minerva is way out of my league.
are there any brakes on that? im not seeing anything, unless theres a coaster brake in the rear hub
maybe it doesnt need brakes, like you just drag your feet?
i do that on my race bike, because i pry the pads away from the disc after the safety people look the machine over. then the brakes dont work well, but i dont use em anyway.
Is there an ECHO in here ?
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
I that is such an amazing thing to be able to use the same specialised tools from a decade or more ago.
Maybe with the magneto you could go really old school.
Fit a manual advance and retard lever....
The Minerva got a simple bicycle front brake after this picture.
It has a back pedal brake from the period.
Dragging the feet works best from 30kph or so cruising speed.
Maybe with the magneto you could go really old school.
Fit a manual advance and retard lever....
Bruce, would a person be able to utilize the manual advance/retard grip assy from an old Indian Motocycle ? (yes, spelled correctly)
There were several models in the olde days that had an advance/retard grip on one side of the handlebars, and the throttle grip on the other side of the handlebars, and that worked pretty well.
Two Million Mile Rider...All 7 Continents
Exploring the World in Comfort
I dare say so Miles.
How is a another matter.
It's one of the jobs waiting on the 1925 Fiat.
It's missing a couple of lovely brass linkages to connect the lever on the steering column thru to the magneto.
The how on a motor bike can be a bit simpler.
Like a shift lever beside the tank.
Or as you say on the handle bars.
Never actually driven a motor that way.
Though Dennis has offered a ride on his Minerva or the 1914 triumph.
I did make the spring loaded lever mechanism for the tank of the Minerva.
Fairly simple thing.
