Seems like way too much money for a put together bike in my opinion. It would have to be REALLY SWEET for me to even consider. For that kind of money you could get something original, matching numbers, running good, not something put together-could be a nightmare partswise. Mike

 

If it was done right, by a knowlegable mechanic, it has the right stuff. The 750 engine is a good starting place (five speed, triplex primary, better oil pump) and the 65 frame is a good one, too. It is deraked by 3 degrees compared to the later ones. Has the DLS brake. I'd put a 69-70 swingarm on it, stiffer. Other than that, sounds like a winner.

 

ad states engine is 1979 T120R

1979 engines were 750cc

Last T120R was 72 and was a 650cc 4speed

says bike is a 1970 yet has a 65 frame where did this 70 stuff come from?

ok so who has been doing what with what VIN number and what numbers are on the frame and engine.

Bike is a BITSA for 6 grand (dat be a lotta money to me)

(my pinion) you pay that much you gonna lose you asp.

 

Yeah, if yer buying it with an eye to resell.....but if you want to keep and ride it, this is a winner. All you need is someone with the same taste and an appreciation of a bike built from selected parts to accomplish a particular end.
This is a good looking, quick handling, torquey set up with the best gearbox and oil pump in the Triumph universe, if it's the original 79. Great looking fuel tank.
That "matching numbers" deal is a lot of hooey unless you are a "collector" with a museum or planning to speculate on the value of old bikes. If, instead, you are serious about building and riding a bike to suit your tastes, pick and choose, build what you want. Tritons rule. This bike is cool, and I suspect it would cost you a lot more to put one together if you paid someone to do it. I think it's a deal, from what I can see and infer.
Find out what happened to the Bonneville head, if you can. I'd like one of those parallel port numbers.

 

How do they get off calling it a 1970 model..??? From the description the only thing on it from 1970 are the forks..!! $6,000 for a bike that was pieced together from bike parts which cover a 14 year period is way too much money..!! The parts might be considered classic but this bike will never be. I'd pass that one up and find an original.

 

again the engine is Listed as a 79 T120R aint no such animal

 

opinion:

the ad's kinda proud that the bike was "built by paul ackerman." if paul does GREAT work and gets featured in whatever "Old Brit BITSA Magazine" is out there, you might be psyched. if paul is no better than me, don't pay much for it!

editorial mistrakes end up in ads all the time. anytime there's more than one person typing, you can count on a typo. dumb stuff in the ad might not mean anything about the bike.

a quick google search found a paul ackerman who's an "antique" brit guy in maine, looks like the same area code:

MAINE
Paul Ackerman Antiques
611 Port Clyde Road
Tenants Harbor, ME 04860
(207) 372-6204
sentinel@midcoast.com
Parts - Tools - Literature Mail order

do your research and kick the tires. if you got $6000 to spend on a bike, spend it well!


[ This message was edited by: johnnypence on 2006-10-08 10:38 ]

 

On 2006-10-08 00:59, bluesjeans wrote:
How do they get off calling it a 1970 model..??? From the description the only thing on it from 1970 are the forks..!! $6,000 for a bike that was pieced together from bike parts which cover a 14 year period is way too much money..!! The parts might be considered classic but this bike will never be. I'd pass that one up and......FIND AN ORIGINAL.

Why? The 79 chassis is ooooooogly and the 65 engine is not as developed, as durable, or as much fun to drive. 65 650s also were one-year wonders, with the crankshaft located by the drive side bearing, unlike the Triumphs before and after.
This is a bike built on the same philosophy that gave us those lovely Tritons. For each Triton, two stock bikes bit the dust. So what? Neither was as good a bike as the resultant "bitsa".
How many preunit Triumphs run unit top ends?.....every one I ever put on the road for myself, that I know. And they had late model alternators and gearsets with needle roller layshafts, too. Late cranks with the thicker rods. Roller drive side bearings. The occasional 750 kit. Morgo oil pumps. Bitsas??? I guess, by definition. But, then, just like with dogs, the mutts are the best.

 

The picture could have been taken a lot closer in order to see what's going on in better detail. It certainly LOOKS nifty from that distance.

I just posted a "For Sale" ad in the classifieds for a "bitsa" 67/70 that I just got running. About 1/2 the price and could be made similar to the one you are considering for a few bucks less...

Just an option.

 

It could be ok, but I think maybe this is a better buy

http://www.colourit.com/forsale.htm

but it does have the gearshift on the right side, so maybe not such a pup.... My personal preference is for a 1970 tr6

 

Sure does look nifty. Myself, I'd paint the oiltank and sidecover black. Install a new 932 with chrome slide and open up the inlet manifold flange to match. Install a 43T rear sprocket/drum brake.
I have always been leery of the tank parcel grid, as I had a friend die on a 67 TR. You shold have seen the top of that tank. I wonder how that felt when he slammed his naughty bits into the rack at 50 mph? I'm just sayin'......
Last time I priced a five speed, used, it was in the order of 600 bucks, wholesale for a pre-77 cluster. I would have gone another fifty for a later one. So, retail that would push it out to about 900 dollars just for that conversion. The stock gearset MIGHT fetch a hundred fifty on auction, IF it were cherry.
A seven fifty kit instead of a rebore with new 650 pistons would add about 300. Triplex clutch set up with a late alternator would add a few hun. AND, the engine uses US threads and fasteners. Easy to get SS parts.
The tight steering angle shortens the wheelbase and moves the center of mass slightly forward. Add those low, flat bars and you have a quick handling piece of equipment with a midrange monster powerplant, especially if the builder installed the 650 exhaust cam. The 68-70 forks are dual damping, compression and rebound, and are much better than the non-shuttle valve forks. Much better front brake. And we can hope that the builder installed the 69-70 swingarm, too.
Triumph never quite got it right.......the closest they came was in 69. If I had to ride a stocker, it would be a 69 TR6R or T120R. If I could change one thing, it would be to install a five speed. Two things, then I would put C model folding footpegs on it. Three.......then it would be a 750 kit. Fourth, 43T rear sprocket/drum. Fifth, aftermarket cams, or a short rod 750 inlet cam. Sixth, lightened valve train. Seventh, 750 oil pump. Eighth, 750 cam pinions. Ninth, alloy rims and stainless spokes. Tenth, alloy or stainless fenders. Somewhere in there I'd sneak in a halogen headlight conversion, a three phase alternator, Belden mil-spec. wire harness, capacitor...throw out the battery, etc. Aluminum and stainless bits.
And I am back to where I started, my 68 bitsa.

 

On 2006-10-08 11:34, panda wrote:
It could be ok, but I think maybe this is a better buy

http://www.colourit.com/forsale.htm

but it does have the gearshift on the right side, so maybe not such a pup.... My personal preference is for a 1970 tr6

At 3500 pounds sterling, that is the same price. Throw in the shipping and any duty from England to the US, and you are way over the cost and trouble.
And all you get is a slightly tarted up lump of OIF. Take a look, it isn't stock, either. Chrome swingarm, pegs, pedal, engine mounts, non-stock horn and plug caps/wires. A switch in the headlight, angled fore and aft (???). Handlebar clamps mounted wrong way round (no biggie).
I like the 69 TR more than the 70, better engine. Neither had a color I was fond of, but I figure I'd install stainless fenders and whatever color tank I choose. And folding footpegs..........and........

 

big fish
back to the originagl wonderful Kustom buit by the triumph motorcycle god and guru who ever he may be. Bike has a 65 frame I will conced engine is a 750 built as a 76 or later model year, as it has been converted to a right hand shift.
I dont know have Danno or McGarret do it in 5-O but where I live DMV requires VIN number on paper to match sumtin on the bike aint no 70 numbers on this scoot but she have a 70 title someone been F***in (foolin) with VIN numbers .
when I go back a few threads and see the nice STOCK 70
someone got for $4200/4300. this Kustom is not a good deal for what I consider legal reasons.

 

As long as you can put a plate on it, who gives a sheet what the paper says? Not me. If you plan to sell it for a BEEEG profit, if you are a speculator, then stay away. If you want to shred some corners, while grinning ear to ear, this could be the tool for the job.
Splish Splash Gurgle

 

biggie fish
jus for the record I have never tried nor do I intend to try to sell any of my Triumphs for a Biggie Profit and am not a speculator. Of all the Triumphs I have ever owned only two
have left my posession. One was a swap deal where i wound up with a basket 74 T120RV and the swapped bike (a black/silver 79 T140E was replaced before the swap bike was out of the garage). I dont buy a bike expecting to make a Biggie Profit but I am also not going to buy a bike where I feel I am goin to lose my asp. Something with funky paper aint a good deal regardless.
The 75 that Panda brought up is as you said is a little tarted up and as you said isnt entirely stock. you neglected to point out it has a 78/80 seat, a 78/80 front fender, chromed tripple trees and chromed head lite brackets(the piecec from the rubber to the headlite), and among other things missing
the grommets where the taillite housing wraps around the grab rail fender support.
At 3500pounds converted to dollars would I buy the bike?
I have noticed bikes in the UK tend ,at least lately ,to go for more than the same ones in the US.
but I will point out one thing the bike is relativly stock and can be changed back this bike is a 75. Do you realize how rare it is there were VERY FEW made probably rarer than the 59 Bonnie
think about it

 

The rarity doesn't matter a whit to a person who it riding it. It doesn't make it handle better, stop or accelerate quicker, make it more reliable or more fun to ride. Yeah, 75s are rare, and maybe this is actually a 75 or it could be a 74 model sold in 75. I would think that very few of the 75s would have been fitted out for export, as the strikers didn't have a lot of cash. More likely, this is a reimport from the 80s Brit. frenzy to get back all their exports, and is a 74 model.
If you are speculating that the value will increase as you stock it out, fine. But that IS speculation. If you figure that dechroming it and putting all the "original" stuff on it will in some way make it qualitatively better, not just more valuable (to some people), then you are kidding yourself.
I have modded perhaps a half dozen late 70-72 leaf spring detent 650s to install a plunger detent. Would you plug the hole and put the leaf springs back in, for the sake of originality? If you opened up a 66 and found a T140 oil pump and cam pinions, would you change them? Or 69 nitrided cams? I wouldn't, and I wouldn't be disappointed. I'd grin.

 

To anyone who cares The oil pump was the same for T120 from 1969 through 1972 and T140 from 1973 through early 1979 .
Lutz

 

Bingo, and you can upgrade the T120s back to 63 with the T140 pump. And you can upgrade all the unit pumps with the four valve 80-on pump, too. Might take a little die grinding on the timing cover to get it in there.

 

big fish
bike was a 75 owner confirmed via email to me

 

Oh good, built duing the height of a labor dispute. Like the Caddies that came out with coke cans in the doors.

 

Sorry to dissapoint anyone who thinks it wasn't a 75 Bonnie - it was :-D okay, so what, if it wasn't a Rivet Counters idea of original! There was hardly an original part in the engine after I'd finished with it. But so what? it rode really well and the new owner is grinning from ear to ear. AND, he doesn't even know how rare it is because I didn't tell him :razz:

Jim

[ This message was edited by: T2TXN on 2006-10-12 12:44 ]

 

Sounds like my kinda engine.
I long ago got tired of bike shows with row after row of identical restorations. A few are nice. But I now just stroll by them looking for the interesting custom......tracker, chopper, bobber, just plain enhanced stocker. Much more fun.

 

you forgot about the Fleetwood Limo with the Coke bottle in the frame and the note "bet you had a H*** of a time finding this rattle didn't you."
by the way I never heard of the workers putting cigarette butts in the T140 oil lines like was done in the T150's

T2TNX again thank you for your time