Rugged knobbly tires lined up ready for a hare across the SoCal desert. Indeed it’s our old pal Steve McQueen gunning his Triumph sled for a hoof over the dust, sand and scrub if an arid Joshua tree’d scene.
Carry water, tools, tar irons, flares, water, goggles, inner tubes, water and some more water…
A photoshoot of the missus, moto and me! Taking the classic portrait of Charles & Ray Eames sitting atop a Velocette as inspiration.
No pipe though…
…fun stuff!
The sun shone, a blue sky glowed, and the air was perfect. Mid seventies and a light cool breeze off the lake. A jaunt up north to Zion let the wheels spin underneath and the flowering trees waft along the roadside in heady bloom.
After the carb clean running was good however a hiccup began towards the far north of the trip. We swapped out for new plugs at an Autozone which livened things up, evidence of richness on the left cylinder; however towards home loss of power was evident when twisting the throttle at mid rev range. So! A little more tuning is in order! However a good ride out!
The Cub was sold as a low cost transport for the post-war population who needed to get to their factory or office job, have a jaunt out with the gal across town or into the countryside, or want to tootle around on something more than a Lambaretta scooter but find the big Bonnevilles little too bike to handle.
This classic advert in grayscale with blue background has a nice active composition with a lithographical appearance. Lineweight is classic heavy edged shaped for depth which works to superb effect for this fabulously!
The hefty 60 tooth sprocket finally came free! I had been cajoling it with WD40, heat and careful spannerin’. However the last four bolts (of eight) defeated this softly softly catch ‘e method so I drilled ’em out and yanked the cog free then gripped the stud ends and brutishly twisted them oot…
There was also a spacer behind the sprocket which no doubt is used to keep the chain line away from the wide rim and tire. But it’s a good solid wheel ready to clart on wi’.
What better wee moto to have as your scooter in the paddock at a classic racing meet? A Triumph Tiger Cub that’s what! And who’s ride is it but none other than Bazza. Here he is, wide grinned aboard a finely restored T20 at a Goodwood Festival of Speed event in the early 2000’s.
His steed of speed at these race days was a ‘well sorted’ Norton Manx but when tootling about the crowds the small engined but big hearted ride was selected… A smashing photo!
A box arrived today, opening it revealed a head. Not some bloody severed variety but a cylinder head for my Tiger Cub. A clean, specimen with valves, covers, rockers and all. Just need to get the barrel fettled, can gear, a tappet and pair of lifter rods and the engine is ready for full breakdown, assessment and rebuild.
“Bring me da head of Alfredo Garcia!”
A real gem of a moto was presented on Chris Hunters sublime bikeexif website today. A modernization of the outstanding 30 year old Kawasaki GPz900. The deft mechanics at Sanctuary in Japan have created a perfect superbike from this still tractable engine with appropriate upgrades from suspension, brakes and careful frame strengthening.
I bet the throttle will make this beast go from zero to batshit in the blink of a eye. The Kawasaki color scheme works wonders too: “Out of my way youth! King green is coming’ through!”
Some folk don’t like the fairing lines from this period, but in the context of motorcycling history it was a refreshing design that still holds its line.
And the narrow water cooled powerplant can still chuff along with your ninjas, fireblades, R1’s and gixxers of today. I miss my ’85 900….
You can take apart an old Raleigh 3 speed with this spanner multi-tool. From the pedals, bottom bracket lock ring, brake cable adjusters to the handlebar stem nut. It came in handy for my Cub fork dust cap. It needed the backbone c-spanner to fit a notch. A clout wi’ the hammer and jobs a good un.
It’s simple, elegant and serves its purpose with no fuss or breakable plastic bits.
A couple if nice bikes sitting side by side. Here seen down at Motoworks last Saturday when that had an open house. The golden Bonnie in the foreground trying to eclipse the Thruxton behind it… Both are deserved if good homes but I’d make room for the green one… A real smasher and nae doot aboot it
Grunting, swearing, wrenching, hammering, gripping, sweating. That was me this evening dismantling the forks from the donor cub. Well, its finally down to its constituent parts: triple tree, stanchion, damping rods, springs, bushes, pinch bolts and dribblings of old stinky oil. To keep the goal in sight here’s a couple if Cub images. I need these visual mantras to keep me on task…
This Tiger may leave a few scratches and bites along the way but I’ll have ‘er purring by the end.
Warbirds of the past growled down on their enemies with snarling teeth. As well as the smilin’ gals back home giving leggy support to the airmen on their lengthy missions.
Bombs Away!
Uncle Sam’s newest member! I’m a citizen of the good ole U S of A. I know there’s the well know Captain America chopper used to wonderful effect in Easy Rider; well here’s the Brit equivalent. A gaudy Triumph Bonneville complete with spangled tank.
To fill out the story appropriately he’s the Capt’n himself…
Today the wheels were released from their tight hold in the frame. The front one was also stripped of its oxide adorned rim. I cut the 40 spokes so the hub was quickly freed allowing it to be subsequently serviced and eventually rebuilt it with a more appropriate 21″ alloy rim (its standard 19″ is small for trials geometry). There was some very stubborn bolts that needed plenty of grunt behind the spanner but eventually surrendered their rusty bite!
Looking forward to the lacing, truing and reshodding of the front wheel.
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