Two-Wheeled tiptoes… A perfectly balanced Triumph Tiger Cub in trials form; simple, purposeful, awaiting orders from a deft hand and a stance in sweet equilibrium. Inspirational for the project.
September 17, 2013
Cubby ‘gin
In the throes of engine component clean, inspect, degrease, polish, measure… I need these images of assembled engines for inspiration… They look like a neat little package in this condition.. A far cry for the boxes of baggies each zip-locked and sharpie noted.
…still on the lookout for a 40 over piston…
September 6, 2013
Chino’s Cycle
There was a brief mention yesterday of the Great Lee Marvin. We know him for some of the great ‘tough guy’ roles in movies: Frank Ballinger in the Chicago based M-Squad, Tully Crow in The man who shot Liberty Valance, Kid Sheleen/Tim Strawn in Cat Ballou (Oscar too!).
His somewhat pivotal role as Chico in The Wild One, leader of the Beetles, got him into riding when trying to be on par with Marlon Brando.
His past included serving as a US Marine in The Pacific during WWII chasing the counter attack across numerous islands seeing some of the fiercest fighting. No doubt this laid the foundation for many of his characters. He did take up motorcycle racing utilizing the Tiger Cub …
Here with fellow racer and character actor Keenan Wynn.
September 5, 2013
Don MacShane
Cutting a dapper figure whilst riding a scrambler sorted Triumph Cub over a Hudson River bridge is the talented racer Don MacShane.
#199 he utilized the wee 200cc single to much success in desert races, scrambles, trials. He was a member of the Manhattan Motorcycle Club… His club emblazoned tabard here at Davos Ski Resort in ’64. His cool demeanor with shades strike a appropriate pose for the track…
.. Being a longtime friend of Lee Marvin, both hailing from Woodstock NY, I’m sure he could have told a tale or two!
Mud on the face; yet a grimacing smile shows a passion for the race.
The New York NY lot were highlighted in a photoshoot for a Life magazine special highlighting the Manhattan motorcyclists haring around the island; Don, is of course at the front!
September 3, 2013
The Bricks of a Building
The Cub project is currently in an ever increasing number of individual parts. Each to be cleaned, inspected reused or replaced. I have several boxes of zip-lock bags with these components in this mid-restoration filing system. It’s kinda neat knowing each item goes through your fingers.
These aren’t my project but the photos remind me of the excitement of opening Airfix model kits and unfolding the instructions readying the plastic kit for subsequent assembly.
The whiff of polystyrene cement has now been replaced by the hydrocarbon oils and machine cleaners and lubricants. I have a mind to photograph the Cub parts laid out on the floor…
…or a lawn.
…here’s another one!
…brick by brick.
August 27, 2013
Best Foot Forward
An interesting magazine advert with the outline of a shoe framing a couple of collegiate fellas looking at a Triumph Tiger Cub. “It’ll be a hoot to thump around on; the gals will surely be impressed; sweet independence!”
The ideal starter bike, nimble, smart appearance (it was the Baby Bonnie) and fuel efficient. Here’s the real deal a fifteen year old Tom Foote on his ’59 Cub in ’63 with his friend Jim. Happy Campers both.
Half a century later they recreate their youth. Same bike too!
August 21, 2013
30 thou over and lookin’ good
A barrel arrived today for the Triumph Cub project. In terrific shape with a clean bore, nearly complete fins and a piston too!
Eye spy with my beady eye a hole of 63.75mm. Hopefully minimal hone and top deck milled then she’ll be good un for the job at hand…
…some assembly required of course!
August 20, 2013
An Avengers chase
Our favorite 60’s TV duo john Steed and Emma Peel managed to get into all sorts of scrapes and escapades. It usually involved a fight or chase scene with our action gal Diana Rigg. Here we have a hunting redcoat clad Triumph Cub rider chasing her over field and moor. This is the nimble Mountain Tiger Cub model.
They always managed to catch their guy, and conclude the episode with some quippy remarks.
…and let’s not forget Cathy Gale, the original feminist sidekick …
August 6, 2013
A Pedigree
The diminutive nature of our wee 200cc Cub makes for a smart shooting stick to thump around the estate on. The hound will need willing legs to keep up though… And a shotgun holster is required to tote the Purdey DB 12 bore.
A Barber jacket isn’t just for an ISDT!
August 6, 2013
A Pedigree
The diminutive nature of our wee 200cc Cub makes for a smart shooting stick to thump around the estate on. The hound will need willing legs to keep up though… And a shotgun holster is required to tote the Purdey DB 12 bore.
A Barber jacket isn’t just for an ISDT!
July 29, 2013
International Tiger Day
Even though the tiger is revered as one of the most fabulous beasts it is also extremely endangered. A worldwide population of 100,000 wild tiger at the turn of the 20th Century saw it decimated to just over 3,000 today. Lost of habitat and poaching being the main reasons.
As petroleum giant Esso said “Put a Tiger in your tank!”
And here’s a French poster for two and four stroke oil: at turns of the track, protecting all makes of motorcycle ..
We now need to give back to the tiger.
July 28, 2013
“How fast ARE you gonna run?”
Here’s another go at speed records with a Cub. This time in ’59 when the wee Triumph was a fairly fresh model, a Triumph dealer in Burbank took the small moto, slipped it into a streamlined body and shit down the track at 139mph… What a missile-like body form can achieve.
Bill Martin stands proudly with his sons Dale and Lonnie. Promotion through press and advertising held the typical motorcycle tenet: ‘Race on Sunday – Sell on Monday”
“As fast as a Leopard!”
“Then let’s see you do it!”. – from Gallipoli 1981
July 27, 2013
Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Its not the biggest that go the fastest. On ‘The Salt’ some take smaller volume engines and see what velocity they can eke out of the lower horsepower motors. The team of Chuck Zeglin and Steve Moody’s steed of choice is the Triumph Cub. All 200cc’s worth… Their goal? To hit the Ton.
They began with a standard cam and carbed bike and managed 79mph; not to shabby at altitude and on salt! Chuck is pilot and builder, Steve backer and crew.
They currently run it in the APS-VBG (Special
Construction Partial Streamlining- Vintage Blown Fuel. Engine bore out to 250cc high compression from a 650 twin piston… That little Beastie must wail down the flats.
Great work on that engine too. A blower aiding respiration.
A stretched and lowered frame, skinny race tires, race cam. “the World’s Fastest Tiger Cub?” Nearly…
They even had a T-shirt to promote the bike and raise funds. I need to track on of those down.
July 25, 2013
Triumph Tiger Cub: which to choose?
From: Classic Bikers Club – Aug ’13
“The Triumph Tiger Cub was a funny machine in many ways, chiefly in that it (in conjunction with its smaller but very similar sibling, the Terrier) was Triumph’s only plunger-framed motorcycle and only single cylinder, too…
The first 150cc Terrier was delivered in 1953, the Tiger Cub coming the next year. The first year ones had a high-level exhaust pipe, interestingly, though that was short lived. What wasn’t short lived though was an obvious and explicit link between the Triumph ‘babies’ and the bigger models in the range; the Terrier was amaranth red, a la the Speed twin, with the Cub finish echoing Tigers 100 and 110.
Over the years, there were a dizzying amount of Cub variants, with French Army and Bermudan among the stranger ones, alongside the more expected ‘competition’ jobs; trials and scrambles were both listed, while in the States many were converted to long, short and dirt track spec. They were used for road racing too, and even record breaking.
The Cub has remained a model that’s well loved, its ‘cheeky charm’ undimmed by the passing of time. For whatever reason, they were a ‘cute’ model which always raised a smile – and still do today.
Model description and production years follow.
1955 Triumph Tiger Cub T20
One year on from launch, the high-level pipe has been replaced though there were still 19in rims front and rear. Essentially, the Cub was just a bored (63 from 57mm) and stroked (64, up from 58.5mm) Terrier, with different mudguards and paint finish.
1958 Triumph Tiger Cub T20
The swinging arm actually debuted in 1957, with the most notable 1958 differences the mouth organ tank badges and the deeply valanced rear mudguard. The 16in rims had come in 1956 on the plunger framed version.
1962 TS20 Cub Scrambler
The competition potential of the Cub was examined early on, with many finding favour with trials riders in particular, though others were used on the dirt tracks in the US and there was the rarest of all Cubs, the Scramblers – less than 400 were built.
1962 Triumph Tiger Cub T20SH (Sports Home)
Based on the SL (Scrambler Lights) and SS (Street Scrambler) versions the SH bowed to British sensibilities with low handlebars, and fitted with a 9:1 compression ratio piston, R cam and close ratio gears. A large Monobloc carb’ was fitted too.
1963 Triumph Tiger Cub T20
The side-points engine made its bow in August 1962, with the partial rear enclosure having been implemented for 1959. This was essentially the standard ‘whole’ Triumph Tiger Cub’s final incarnation, running through to 1965.
1966 Triumph T20B Super Cub
The Bantam and Super Cubs were parts bin specials – the Bantam Cub using a BSA Bantam D7 rolling chassis, the Super Cub a D10 later D14. Most Bantam Cubs were made 1966, ‘Supers’ 1967, with a few trickling out as late as 1969.”
July 18, 2013
North East connections
10 Tiger Cubs all wrapped up for an overseas flight aboard a BEA Vickers Vanguard to some foreign land. The aircraft was one of the last mid size turboprop passenger planes before the jets really took over. It eventually became a purely freight carrier well into the nineties. The engines are the powerful Rolls Royce 4000hp Tyne model. Apparently pilots could cruise at 10,000 ft with three engines feathered and a remaining outboard at max power – a feat unmatched by an early contemporary Lockheed C130.
The Tyne is of course the river that flows through the heart of Geordieland! And Vickers Armstrong was a major Tyneside engineering company in both shipbuilding and military manufacturing; with a workforce of Geordie’s all!
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