I’m off on a trip back to blighty to see my family. Geordiebiker gan back to Geordieland! In my absence the blog will post some prearranged entries for your viewing delight. Biker Gals galore! The fairer sex seen with two-wheeled wonders, mostly Triumphs! Here’s an Hourglass birds-eye vantage of a Triumph T100 Bonneville…
M.M. – An hourglass in the sands…
a.k.a. Chopper, Twenty Second Century, graffiti scrawlin’ sky sufin’ dude from Mega City One. Or as we know this these days and splay framed, long forked, do-dad added, straight line only, peanut-tank’d moto from the hazy days of the sixties.
Marlon…
My nephew Dan turned 14 today, so I had to give him some worldly advice… well, all I felt suitable for the early teen was this thought. He might look as though he knows what he’d doing, being a dab hand at wrenching by all appearances, but ask for some references… or see how clean his workshop is and organized his tools look. Sea Otters are the same, give them something bolted down and they’ll have it apart in a snap, or at least cracked open with a rock!
Take a moment today to remember the fallen from past conflicts who served with absolute conviction of their comrades, family and country.
This Harley is heading into a ravaged Germany a day after the end of the horrific hostilities of trench warfare with passing horses and soldiers. One horse meets another.
After my post a week ago with the small Meccano model motorcycle; this image cropped up on the WideWebbedWorld… If you couldn’t buy one, then make one! Probably a bit rattly, and a trail of nut’s and bolts will be left in its wake. Just like an old British bike!
There are few more satisfying things than sitting astride your rebuilt moto, kicking the engine to life and roaring down the road. Our chum Sanjay is seen here with his Speed Twin on a jaunt along the coast road near Chennai, India. Worldwide people like to see and hear the distinctive lines and grump of an old motorcycle. It is kind of a reminder of days when things were somewhat simpler and people managed with the world at that speed; these days we’re all too rushed with the blitzing pace of a world connected. Getting aboard these old gals and haring along a quiet winding country lane calms the spirit and breathes a fresh lease into your life. Batteries charged? Yup!
It all comes together: wheels are laced and new tyres shod onto the spruced up rims. Let’s not talk about the blueness… it’s somewhat bright, like an ice cream van from my youth… … but I’m sure in the right company and setting it looks perfect.
Nevertheless, bolting the chassis together with the ‘new’ tins, triple-tree’d forks and various brakeing, oiling, wiring appendages and fixin’s.
The headlight nacelle is a gorgeous unified design element of these twins, it’s a shame they didn’t keep this going through to later models, or even bring this back to the modern classics… … the Smiths Clocks look potent too – put’s the speed in Speed Twin.
Shoehorn the engine in, pop on the wheels and a motorcycles rebirth is imminent. Love the wall mounted tool rack, specialist pullers, keys, and Whitworth spangles are touched by the patina of oily hands.
The penultimate throes of the project always throw up hidden gremlins: tolerances between refinished and new parts, Lucasian electrical imps, and the other item that always takes patience: the paperwork. Every country, state, municipality, hamlet, whatever needs the bike registered, licensed , titled, taxed etc. A wad of document nearly as thick as the receipts for parts, machine work, painting, and the miscellaneous nut, bolts and washers renewed sith stainless steel replacements to allay future rot from damp Bengal Bay breezes…
oh, and the ice cream van? Mr Softee, Wall’s, ours was Coxon’s Ices of Seahouses.
Organisation is the Key to Success! Accumulating parts needs diligence especially when there is a lot of aftermarket bike parts not quite up to spec… i bought a clutch cable that lasted a hundred miles… you need to pay appropriately for some critical components. Can you clean up an original oily part off Ebay? Or cough up the dough for a new component from one of the small fabricators still making items for these old moto-madams? Don’t scamp on Far East parts though… it ain’t worth it!
Clean components, smooth swingin’ con-rods, sharp toothed gears, flat faced joints, new seals and assembly continues. I left my engine to an Brit Iron specialist, Ed Zender at Morries Place, with decades of experience, to get my ‘gin back into shape.
Once reassembled these twins are truly a work of art. Used in worldwide selling models by the Coventry company for nigh on half a century. You could display it in a gallery; though I’d rather see it ensconced in a rolling chassis, oil fed and petrol fired to romp you down the road…
(Heading is Bill Shakespeare)
Knowledge is Power! When embarking on the restoration odyssey gleaning as much information as possible about your particular moto is one of the most pleasurable. Well before bloodied knuckles, cursing screams and emptying coffers turn ‘The Project’ into a seemingly unendurable rout, amassing the history, details, period test articles, manuals is a great way to start learning about your machine.
Advertising is a good start: how did the team in the boardroom want to sell the ‘bikes? Fun, functionality? Or just those sleek, sweet lines of a steed of speed?
Remember this was modern design of it’s day! Features that put it above and beyond of the competition (bar a Vincent Black Lightning of course…). Love those illustrations, which were for the most part direct traced renderings of photographs.
“And Lo, it came to pass…”
Better get yerself a decent shelf-full of manuals which illustrate in line and photo how to both dismantle the machine and then put ‘er back together without leaving so much as a nut or bolt out. The Haynes book is legend as a well organised tome which presents a blow-by-blow account of the major sections of a motorcycle: engine, gearbox, chassis, suspension, wheels, and electrics.
A ‘Bible’ it seems, but more of a concise survey of the model; well worth a peruse to understand a bikes development. When did the rigid frame give up for a swing arm? What years have the smart nacelle headlight shroud? What colour was applied in what year?
Of course noting is a substitute for an Owners Instruction Manual, Workshop Manual and Replacement Parts Book. These are essential for the devoted restoree… … we hope you haven’t given up yet! Has the parts been delegated to a corner of the garage yet? Don’t lose heart, the fun hasn’t even started yet!
One of the most important things you DO need at this point in the game is an inspiration, a vision of your goal. Good photos of your model abound on the ‘Web for this. But one better thing would be to look at a bike ‘in the flesh’; look it over, take your own photos; if you could even ride it (if the devoted owner lets you) that’ll give you a faster pulse and the energy to forge ahead…
Unzipping an old moto, engine and chassis both, gives the restorer the first view of the road ahead. Will parts be useable with necessary cleaning and restoring or will a new replacement be needed? Our Speed Twin shows a veritable horror story when the internals are laid bare…
Primary and clutch are shot… though the aluminium cases look solid and serviceable. I bet it was a fun peek under the cylinder head and peering down the piston barrels into the heart of the twin. So remember kids if you ever want to abandon an old motorcycle distribute oil to the innards and cover the heck out of it with a protective layer of oil and put it away in a dark dry place away from prying eyes. Makes the discovery worthwhile…
The gas tank has seen better days and is past it’s useable life; probably only suitable as a wall ornament (in the garage or workshop of course). A nice included parcel rack could be cleaned, chromed and reused though.
After all of that discovery I think a cup of tea would be well deserved. The road ahead needs a bit of a head scratch before venturing onward…
A Rat bike reborn…
All over the world Triumph’s are still being unearthed from dusty sheds, oily tarpaulins, or aged cellars. Here is one such project from an Indian moto-forum where the owner, one Sanjay, based in Chennai, was gifted from a dear uncle. The photos show what 30-plus years in a basement off the monsoon airs of the Bay of Bengal can do. A complete looking bike but a LOT of work lies ahead. These were taken in 2009.
It’s got some rust issues. and may have some engine internals requiring a little more than basic machine work. However there is a worldwide network and supply chain of information available to these old gals’ restoration.
Ooh! To get my hands on something like this… It’s the Meccano builder in me; the lad who likes to take things apart; the biker who want to ride his very own machine… knowing every nut and bolt!
There’s a Speed Twin under there somewhere… a good soaking in oil, warm up the old Whitworth spanners and plenty of elbow grease… notebook, ziplock baggies, camera, and some helpful co-conspirators on the interweb or a local moto-group and the next several months or years are busied up!
…to be continued!
As a young lad when I wasn’t taking apart things to see how they were put together, my sister thinks I was just breaking them, I somehow absorbed construction of mechanical things that has given me enough ken of the built world – though some might declare a dangerous knowledge! I’m sure most with a mechanical tilt to the world did the same thing. There was of course another way of achieving the same thing: the Meccano Set.
Wheels, plates, ties, cogs, axles and of course the ubiquitous silver nuts and bolts and their screwdrivers and spanners. From cranes, and bridges to cars and trains; youthful engineers to be could envision a world of machinery about them.
two-Wheels? You bet! Here’s an old drawing of a motorcycle a young Ed Turner wannabe could bolt-up.
After figuring out a few structural and ‘gineerin’ rules, the world was yer oyster… or Ariel, or Norton…
A lively thumbnail doodle discovered on the interweb. Must be a Tiger with appropriate gearing. I couldn’t see my Bonnie being hoisted skyward…
A road beckons for some young couple. Wrapped up, packed up, and I’m sure mapped up. The onlooking pup seems interested in the proceedings.
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