[RetroRod]

The TR6 did not start on the 1st kick for the only time ever. I'll drain the float bowl today. Bob

Rode the '64 T120 when tis '66 of yours was on the showroom floor. I thought it the geratest bike on earth, still do. easy starter, never a problem, except one time when two up the seat shorted the battery. Not good.

That '66 still running the concentric? A good carby and not to be changed. RR

 

[RetroRod]

Oh yes, it is leaving its mark much more prominently these days. The oil spot on the drip pan leads me to investigating the rear Push Rod Tube seal. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

Great ride and totally without any brake downs or misfortunes. Superb day and a great handling machine!! Steve

What's a few oil drips really. leave in until winter to do.

Another happy old tart owner. Good to hear. RR

 

[RetroRod]

Hello brother classic owners. My commiserations to you all for owning an old TART Trumpy.

Whilst commenting here frequently enough, I have only rarely contributed. Today is to be the exception.

With a ride to the "Bike Smoke" State capital (4+hrs home to home) I thought a clean and lube of the chain might be in order (I have about 4 kms (2.5miles) of dirt road to my property, and so the chain looked a bit packed with crap.

Lazy by nature, there was never going to be a proper job done of this (remember when we took them off and boiled them in a tin of Duckham's chain grease), just a wash in petrol (gas) on the bike, then a lube with the best darn chain lube around, Motul of course.

Having some semblance of clean, Retro put the glasses on to apply the Motul and to his horror, those teeth looked markedly sharpened!! Yes sir, more money required RR, chain and sprocket required. Remember friends my comments about needing deep pockets for these old bitc*es.

Perhaps I should ignore the matter as I did when young and foolish with a fifties something T-Bird with sprocket teeth so sharp, they could have been put to good use in a sawmill. one by one they chipped and broke. No problem to young RR who rode on until the chain slipped over rounded teeth to finally fall off some place. Can you imagine it? Hard to believe I did that, but I was poor!

Anyway, new parts to be ordered and installed asap. So much for Sunday

 

[RetroRod]

Tuesday and my ride to the Big Smoke capital.

With a frosty morning, out came the thermal u/wear and appropriate riding gear. RR does not like discomfort.

A beautiful day for a ride nonetheless and an uneventful 2 hours to my first appointment (all highway riding gate to gate). The old tart purred, RR purred.

Next stop in the very bowels of town. All OK for awhile and then slowly the purring stopped. The old tart developes a misfire on the left cylinder. Tart does not like the stop and start business and lets RR know about it. RR just applies the spurs and says "get on with it you old B......" Tart reacts to this by increasing the misfires. Mmmmmm "Houston, we have a problem" says RR.

Arrived at the second destination, a classic Trumpy spare parts/repair shop. We buy old Tart a new headlight bulb. RR shows it to her. We start up, Tart is not appeased by the gift. We depart the Trumpy workshop/spares company in a blast of misfires (I guess the owner will expect me back any day to book her in).

Off for a few miles with tolerable misfiring, RR talking soothingly now (we are 130 miles from home) . Need to find a McDonald's for RR to have a cup of Mc tea to sooth his anxiety. Found one soon enough and orders a nice toasted tomato sandwich and English Breakfast Mc tea. RR forgets the the old B..... for a while.

The old B......... left sitting in the car park, ignored, is about to get revenge!! We start and leave the car park on mostly one cylinder with just an odd firing on the other thrown in. Things are getting bad and we're in heavy traffic. On one and/or one and a half cylinders RR coaxes the old Tart through several busy traffic intersections. Nerve racking!!

We get through the last of them and the freeway is near The old Tart suddenly quits on the left cylinder.

RR says, it has to be the plug (its new, with only 100 miles on it mind you). Being a good boy scout (always prepared) out comes an old plug from the tool pouch and is installed.

Start on two cylinders We take off in a blast of misfires

Oh well, thinks RR, if I can get the old B...... onto the freeway, she likes it up there and will give up being naughty. We misfire up the on ramp and into the traffic. RR threatens the old Tart that he'll insure her then burn her to death.

She understands this language and suddenly it's two cylinders firing, and all go. Yes!!

Apart from the odd spit, the old Tart gets RR home in good time. She will not be burnt this week........

RR will check the right hand coil where he will no doubt find the cause of the the old girl's illness.

So much for riding a old classic Trumpy today. RR

 

[rambo]

I had a short ride after a new oil change.Usual 30 mile race around the Common and then a slow traffic clogged journey home.Ran it up to 6500 rpm for a short burst which is very near an indicated 100 mph.Sounded really good,Got back home and checked around and nothing had fallen off or shattered.
I have found a 10/60 race oil i am trying out and will find out if it can make the clutch slip later on just for an experiment.The oil temperature is a little lower after this run.In fact it is luke warm and far too cool.
Not used the bike for over a month due to my short hospital stay and then a holiday in Italy area on a ship so it was a great little ride.

 

[RetroRod]

.......... and then a holiday in Italy area on a ship .........

Well! It's nice to some people.

 

[steved55]

As said by RR: "RR threatens the old Tart that he'll insure her then burn her to death.

She understands this language and suddenly it's two cylinders firing, and all go. Yes!!"

I'm sure your were an absoulute charmer in school too!! :wink2:

Steve

 

[RetroRod]

As said by RR: "RR threatens the old Tart that he'll insure her then burn her to death.

She understands this language and suddenly it's two cylinders firing, and all go. Yes!!"

I'm sure your were an absoulute charmer in school too!! :wink2:

Steve

I was a brat I think. But the teacher had an iron hand in those days and I was adequately kept under control.

With the old Tart, I generally have to be firm with her, but can coax and charm if needs be. After all, I did buy her a new headlamp bulb did I not? RR

 

[Paul Woods]

Think about a replacement exhaust header for my T140

Had a blast around the hills north of Melbourne yesterday to get a pair of Hagon shocks fitted on the back of my 1973 T140. Having ridden all the way I was told 'out of stock' (Darrell at Moose Racing Products in Euroa, Victoria, Australia). We changed over the springs on the what looked like, original Girling units to a softer spring to try to get more compliance out of the rear, but it made no difference to the ride - still bone shatteringly harsh on the rear. Maybe the full Hagon units will be better. Any suggestions for escaping the kidney punching experience on the rear suspension?
On the way home the bike started to roar, lo and behold the RH exhaust header has a big split in it running across 1/2 the pipe just below the stay. Sounded great! But will need replacing.
Thats about it for today

 

[RetroRod]

H Any suggestions for escaping the kidney punching experience on the rear suspension?

Hi Paul,

I cannot relate to the term "kidney punching" (I presume you to mean that you are "jarred" by the swing arm movement?) Nothing of this with respect to my '72 T120. Perhaps a better explanation than "kidney punching" could attract better answers than mine.

I had a RH Hagon lose oil 1300km from home and it was a wallowy old ride home into any corner on that side. :surprise: but no jarring! other than the odd bottoming out. New Hagon's sharpened up the handling no end.

I guess what depends here is your weight primarily and the spring tension setting. It's always a compromise between the harsh and and soft settings, ie, handling and comfort.

There have been volumes written about rear shocks on motorcycles, and riders all have their favourites, even here. I'd suspect, rather than know, most will recommend the Hagon

I assume there is little between our bikes either mechanically and weight. BTW I weigh in at 170lbs (78kg) with short legs :smile2: so if Hagon's work well on mine, why not yours? RR

 

[rambo]

Hagons on mine since 1999 and the same ones!.Mine are compliant with most surfaces and a lot more comfortable than my 67 Spitfire with non-Hagon units.A new seat sponge might help.

 

[Paul Woods]

Hi RetroRod, yeh what I meant was the failure of the shock to progressively absorb the shock. I'll let you now how the Hagon's turn out. Thanks for your experience. I had a Koni monoshock collapse - the central rod just turned banana shaped.

 

[RetroRod]

Hi RetroRod, yeh what I meant was the failure of the shock to progressively absorb the shock.

Yes Paul, those old shocks had given up on the hydraulic dampening.

I'll be surprised if you are not happy with the replacements. RR

 

[Caulky]

Thread oversubscribed?

I only replied to this thread once, a long time ago near the beginning.
I wont ever again.
There is probably oodles of valuable information contained in this thread but who is inclined to trawl through 2,612 posts?
Rathlindri who started this, disappeared almost at the same time.

I think this thread has become an easy option for posting, rather than starting a new thread.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Dave (Caulky)

 

[RetroRod]

There is probably oodles of valuable information contained in this thread but who is inclined to trawl through 2,612 posts?
Rathlindri who started this, disappeared almost at the same time.

I think this thread has become an easy option for posting, rather than starting a new thread.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Dave (Caulky)

Hi Dave, your probably right about the info contained here, and perhaps they've overhauled the search engine and some info might surface through this means.

I suspect owners do start specific threads for info required. Certainly owners will post in this thread technical stuff "they did on their Trumpy today" but it is usually in passing.

Given its durability, it's clearly popular with owners and unless there is some technical reason for despatching it, then let it be. There is likely a good case to be made for keeping just a calendar year's worth of info should someone make a referral.

My tuppence's worth. :smile2: RR

 

[Caulky]

Thanks Rod, point taken.:smile2:

 

[DaveDone]

This thread holds sentimentally for me. I occasionally run across some amusing dialog from some esteemed members (past and present) when a search points to a key word here.
The thread is or has become more of a chat related to what I did today.
What do ya think Rath old boy? ,wouldn't want him to stop by and find it locked down.
But then change can be a good thing, fer instance the site upgrade, external oil filters, ei and such.

 

[rambo]

I went for a short ride to a bike showroom to see how the new bikes look these days.On the return,accelerating in top gear at 50 mph,the exhaust note changed a little.Sounded like a head gasket leak.Looked down both sides of the bike and all was revealed.
I had to ride along a bit further as i was on a dual carriageway and doublebacked to see if i could find the exhaust.I did find it flattened out in the road,so,back home and fitted a pair of Campbells reverse cone megaphones which are quiet and have a better fixing system than the tulip one bolt fixing.Both of those fixings have broken away and i repaired the right side.The left is now another piece of junk at the roadside.

 

[DaveDone]

bought some parts today

I went to the "Battle of the Brits" bike show and swap meet today in Milford MI. Met up with my parts guy and checked out the bikes. There were many nice bikes, from the concourse to the customs.
I only seen four cafe bikes this year, hmmm, last year about a dozen.
One custom in particular had a home made girder, electric start and belt drive.
I just thought I would share a pic,

 

[triumpt120rv]

^That bike's clutch pressure plate looks sort of like an overly suntanned version of our new emojis::surprise:



Anyway...I'm struggling with the front end. Not the greatest of days.