Triumphrat

rmak · 12-26-2009, 03:07 PM

A 1965 Triumph motorcycle has been my dream bike for as long as I've been riding (some 40 years) I used to go to the next town over, Oberlin, Ohio when I was in high school to watch the rich college students from the east ride around on their beautiful English bikes. There were a few local guys who owned and rode Triumphs and BSAs through our little town as well. Graduating from high school in 65, I loved to look at that year Triumphs with the parcel racks and big garden gate tank badges. That was the ultimate bike to me. When I got out of the Army I got into the dirt bike scene due to another local guy, John Penton, and my riding experiences, and my life, took many twists and turns from that point on. When I began facing retirement age I knew it was now or never in getting and restoring my 65 Dream. One came up for sale not super far away. Not having the cash on hand to buy it, I made the ultimate sacrifice by selling my 74 Norton Commando for the funds. I paid heavily for a bike that was just OK, but needing much TLC.

Here's how it came to me. Doesn't look too bad, but the closer you get the shabbier it looked

Since I wanted this to be a keeper, it was off with the body parts. Every sheetmetal part was flawed. The tank was fixable, but all the treads were rusted and needed to be retapped. I bought the correct English treaded taps to do the job. I ordered the correct Burnished gold, Alaskan white and robin's egg blue from Huthinson for the new paintjob. The old paint was close, but poorly done, and had black pin striping tape instead of the robin's egg blue pinstripes on the original bike. Brent Budgor from the Vintage Vendor paint shop did another bike for me and is a great and reasonable painter. The paintable parts will go off to him this week.

Next, I took out the engine. The bike's speedo shows 11,000, but the speedo wasn't working, so I wanted the cases split and the bottom end checked. A local restorer is doing this since I don't have the space, tools or inclination to take on this task. He will be doing a mild hop up of the engine at the same time.

Just got the new fenders today and started to fit them to the frame.

Speedo and tach being sent back rebuilt from Don Hutchinson. Next step is to rebuild the forks and get new rims and spokes.
Thanks for looking. All and every suggestion or comment welcome!

texjj · 12-26-2009, 08:00 PM

Hi rmak - looks like a darned good bike to start with. It doesn't look very flawed to me. It does see odd that you are restoring to original except for the engine hopup. I can easily agree with you that the bottom end work is easier to farm out. I look forward to the final pics.

Jeff

rmak · 12-26-2009, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texjj

Hi rmak - looks like a darned good bike to start with. It doesn't look very flawed to me. It does see odd that you are restoring to original except for the engine hopup. I can easily agree with you that the bottom end work is easier to farm out. I look forward to the final pics.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!
Photos hide a lot of ills. Ask anyone who's bought a bike off ebay just from photographs. There are some very nice things about the bike. The frame is in tip-top shape and the engine looked clean. As I mentioned, the body parts were really dented and mis shapen. The tank badges were held on with sheet metal screws, all chrome was pitted, wheels were dented, etc.
Can't see your point about making the engine more powerful would be odd. It will look like a stock bike, but have a little more umph. I think that's the best of both worlds.
Thanks for support on farming out the bottom end. I thought some of the real mechanics here would give me a rough time.

texjj · 12-26-2009, 11:38 PM

On the bottom end - well I just think it is very challenging to do everything yourself. Mostly time constraints. And there is always some special knowledge involved - which is sometimes painful.

I did not see the dents on the sheet metal, but as you said a lot of stuff doesn't come out on photographs.

I am fortunate that I acquired a low mileage '68 in 1980. Almost nothing wrong with it except a little wear. It doesn't have a single dent in it. I do wish the PO had used a key off the keychain since the keychain marked up the gas tank and top fork covers a bit. Otherwise it is amazing that a paintjob can last this long.

rmak · 12-31-2009, 11:10 AM

Here's my Christmas present from my wife. Rebuilt instruments, lights and cables.

texjj · 12-31-2009, 11:47 AM

They look brand new! They will look great on the bike. Leave it up to the British to design a dial (tach) to go CCW.

rmak · 01-01-2010, 07:23 PM

Yeah, Tex. Those quirky Brits! I was told to insure the gages, especially the tach, when shipping because it would be hard/expensive to replace.

GrandPaulZ · 01-02-2010, 01:15 PM

Very nice project.

Many times, those "ten footers" end up costing WAY more than you expect!

Hang in there, it's only money!

rmak · 01-02-2010, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandPaulZ

Very nice project.

Many times, those "ten footers" end up costing WAY more than you expect!

Hang in there, it's only money!

Ha, ha. I guess you mean bikes that look good from 10 feet away, right? I couldn't go to look at the bike before I bought it because of a death in my family, so quite a few of these "issues" on closer inspection were a surprise to me. I've processed through being angry with the p/o and I'm just happy to have the bike I wanted for so long. I've never regreted the money I spent on motorcycles. Just hope I can afford to give this one the level of work it deserves.

texjj · 01-03-2010, 08:09 PM

I looked at the old threads but still want more info. RMak - where did you get your speedo/tach rebuilt? My speedo makes noise when I turn it with a drill. And my tach is frozen....which explains why it fried a new tach cable that I installed 30 years ago. thx