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Ok,I'm stumped.My brother has a basket case TR6 (?) he's selling on Craigslist as a 1968.I took a quick look when I was over there,and told him I thought it was quite a bit older than that when I saw the old style SLS front brake.I told him I could figure out the year from the numbers,which match.When I saw them though,I was confused,because all my 650's have numbers that start with DU,but I'm not familiar with the numbers on the older ones.The numbers on the frame,and engine,on this beast are NM 50982.
So,I get home,and realise none of my books go new enough for this thing,since all mine stop in'69,and they're DU numbers.I figure,even though the frame and engine numbers match,the rest of the thing could easily be bitsa.Hence the SLS brakes on a newer bike.At that point,I'm figuring it's a 1970,with some anachronistic parts swaps.(However,the numbers didn't pan out for that scenario,unless I'm missing something.)
I mean,when I say basket case,I mean....Basket Case. The PO tore this bike down just about as far as he could,going as far as de-lacing the wheels,knocking the races out everywhere there are races,engine completely disassembled,etc.Someone had grandiose plans for this machine at one time,but those dreams ended in my brothers garage two decades ago,when he bought them cheap,and there they've been sitting.
But I digress.I did a web search,and all the sites agree. After mid-year 1969,the first two digits represent the month,and year. "N"would be Octobre,but what is "M"? All the listings say 1975 is "K",then 1976 is "N" skipping over "M".Besides,it's definitely a dry frame.
I didn't know this was going to be a problem,so I didn't pull everything out of the boxes and look too close,but it appears to be a 650 unit,dry frame,single carb,engine and frame numbers:NM 50982. No other numbers on the frame or engine.Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Bruce
PS; Just in case you get a sense of Deja Vu when you read this,I'm posting this question on BIRRA and britbike.com too,in the unlikely event that no one here knows the answer. ;D
So,I get home,and realise none of my books go new enough for this thing,since all mine stop in'69,and they're DU numbers.I figure,even though the frame and engine numbers match,the rest of the thing could easily be bitsa.Hence the SLS brakes on a newer bike.At that point,I'm figuring it's a 1970,with some anachronistic parts swaps.(However,the numbers didn't pan out for that scenario,unless I'm missing something.)
I mean,when I say basket case,I mean....Basket Case. The PO tore this bike down just about as far as he could,going as far as de-lacing the wheels,knocking the races out everywhere there are races,engine completely disassembled,etc.Someone had grandiose plans for this machine at one time,but those dreams ended in my brothers garage two decades ago,when he bought them cheap,and there they've been sitting.
But I digress.I did a web search,and all the sites agree. After mid-year 1969,the first two digits represent the month,and year. "N"would be Octobre,but what is "M"? All the listings say 1975 is "K",then 1976 is "N" skipping over "M".Besides,it's definitely a dry frame.
I didn't know this was going to be a problem,so I didn't pull everything out of the boxes and look too close,but it appears to be a 650 unit,dry frame,single carb,engine and frame numbers:NM 50982. No other numbers on the frame or engine.Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Bruce
PS; Just in case you get a sense of Deja Vu when you read this,I'm posting this question on BIRRA and britbike.com too,in the unlikely event that no one here knows the answer. ;D