Triumphrat

Hal9000

Around 1964 in California I was racing a Triumph TR6 650 cc. at desert scrambles. At that time the 'Hotty" for desert racing, and oval, was the Triumph TT120 Special. It was all white, pipes up the side, huge knobbies and a big sprocket. I haven't been able to find out anything about these bikes on the net. Anyone remember these?

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Hal
Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.

DickBender

Hal,
The T120CTT '63-'65 and the T120TT '66-'67were built by Triumph at request of Johnson Motors solely for the US market. They had hotter cams, bigger carbs, all the unnecessary stuff ripped off and on the '64 model those awsome raised straight exhausts.

Source Triumph Racing Motorcycles in America by Lindsay Brooke

Darcy

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-Darcy-
BIR #174


"My eyes.....the goggles do nothing!"

Rainier Wolfcastle

TripleGuy

Hal,
I remember looking at a T120TT in Ken Heanes motorcycle shop in Fleet, Hampshire, Southern England.
He rode for Triumph in scrambles and brought the machine back from the states, he had a large collection of Triumph's. The bike was still there when they closed the shop down. I know he sold a lot of his collection off, but I don't know what happend to the T120TT.
This was a long time ago the shop closed in the late 70's early 80's.

Regards TripleGuy

Bhakti-rider

Now that Someone has ventured into the realm of nostalgia, "motorcycle-wise", does anyone out there remember Bob Cavez' motorcycle shop, the original one on Auzeria (sp?)...?

Perhaps that would qualify for consideration as a potential new thread?

I remember that the Bonnieville I rode in 1964 belonged to Bob Vice, a great guy, bless him or his memory, whichever it is, had its pipes at the mid livel. That was in the summer of 1964. TT120 Special sounds real familiar... did that have short headers, low, with no mufflers? (No, that would be a flat-track racer, not an off-road oriented model.)...

Oops, didn't mean to ramble...

[ This message was edited by: Bhakti-rider on 2006-09-16 18:11 ]

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James Dean drove fast. Albert Camus drove fast. Mario Andretti didn't drive fast enough.

TripleGuy

Bhakti-rider,
Now you've got me thinking, so I dug out some old photos and yes there was one of the T120TT.
I don't know if this is original it doe's match your description. It has an open exhaust, straight through and no muffler. The exhaust pipe ends just in front of the rear wheel and from the photo it looks like they both tucked under the rear of the frame.
Of course no lights are fitted and if memory serves me I'm sure Ken told me the ignition was by energy transfer.
I also remember Eric Cheney prepared some 500 Triumph's for Ken in 1970 for the ISDT Team when Triumph stopped supporting the event.
Don't know what these two guys are up to now-a-days but every now and then I did out the photos and reminisce.

Regards TripleGuy

WS

Hal, did you race the TR6C 650 Trophy, with the hibachi-style mufflers. I always thought that bike was just so cool. Have a few photos, but never saw one in real life.

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"Simplicity is more"

Mecchanica

The 63-65 TTs used the Trophy pipes, one up each side. 66-67s used the "TT" pipes, 1 3/4" diameter bent to the center of the bike, under the engine. Great for flattracking and TTs. ET ignition, ala the TR6Cs, 389/95 monoblocs ( the very last TTs in 67 had 30mm concentrics) 1 3/16" bore. 11.1 : 1 compression ratio. No lights or mufflers. Some with alloy fenders, some with stainless, some with painted steel, some with alloy Amal twistgrip. Bash plate. Folding pegs, no passenger pegs or plate, tach only. Nothing sounds like it.

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Triumph old, Triumph new, any Triumph will do.