Hi Bryant. It's your bike, your project and your choice but I have to say this ..... you have a GREAT - and, these days, rare - opportunity to resurrect a piece of Triumph history. Choices and taste are always individual, but opportunities like this are very special. If it was my choice I would use the 'spare' T100R motor to trade for any other missing parts, put the matching frame and engine numbers back together in standard trim and try to produce something like this :- or this These images are what the bike might have looked like when it emerged from Meriden almost sixty years ago and, IMHO, Triumph very definitely got it right! Amongst their contemporaries Triumph styling had no equals and was a major part of their global success - at the time! The T100 is a sweet motor (bit buzzy, but bearable!) and sounds wonderful through the standard pipes. Yep, I'm old. Yep, I'm a traditionalist. Yep, if I was cut in half I'd have "Triumph" written through the centre, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't stand entirely alone on this forum in saying that I'd rather build and own something more like the original than the one that came from the Bike Shed. In the final analysis it is, as I said, your bike and your choice but, realistically, you'll have only one chance if you do decide to chop and hardtail the frame - it'll never be original again. Good luck with whatever you do decide to do with it - I hope it turns out the way you want it to.
Adie P Yes I do agree. An original bike always attracts a crowd and questions. A hardtail chop just looks like something that has been crashed and thrown back together. But as you say its also someone else's bike and they must do as they want with it. Regards Joe
I'm with the two above , but I'd suggest , us the spare motor for your hard tail project , source or manufacture your own hard tail frame , you have a frame to copy ? Build two bikes , one (matching No#'s) original and one chopped/hard tail ? What you learn from doing to one you can use to help you with the other ... ?