Sat in M&S Motorcycles in Newcastle. Never seen one in the flesh before. Tissue to catch oil leak had me amused though....living up to the old British bike reputation.
Now we are talkin' bikes! Had a few Tritons, prefer the pre-unit engine, wideline featherbed frame heh heh love the tissues. was out last night doin the cafe race thing with BSA's, Velos and Sunbeam (Reliant engine version!) nice old Daytona etc etc. There's no better exhaust sound than those goldies on Mr Turners engine. (Look great, straight through no baffle and who cares..) Yep got the puddin' lid thats in my avatar. Who needs nostalgia when yer can still do it live eh? My modern tricked Bonnie's nice but I do yearn fer my old 65 Bonnie which is still out here somewhere CNW53C if anybody spots it/knows of it. i used to go to nightschool on it then out to Squires Cafe Sherburn -in- Elmet near Leeds with my T square stuck out of my rucksack! How did we survive on those square tyres, some of us didn't. Nice one Chris
A bit before my time Recycled Rocker, as I was born in "77" (though I did think the down tubes on the frame seemed closer than I'd imagined) My granddad was a biker (who's dream bike was a "Black Shadow") and my uncle was a biker (who would build his own performance bikes .. I believe his last was some form of Dominator 99) I just appreciated what this bike represented. A time when the British bike was king and the common man could make it better by swapping parts between marques. (should have taken a pic of the Norton combination and the Z1 too)
It is nice ... P.s. if you happened to flick through the other pics you had access to on photo bucket, I'm the kid in my Grandad's Kangol crash helmet (aged 2 ish) The girls are my daughters and the bikes and cars are my previous/current toys (except the blade which was a "very nearly bought it")
here's a question from the 1960's that I've always wondered about ... I can understand why someone with a Triumph motor would put it in a Norton featherbed frame, but why would anyone with a featherbed frame put a Triumph motor in it? In other words, what was it about the Triumph motor that was more attractive than the Norton motor?
I think the idea was to combine the best of both worlds - the Featherbed frame was regarded as the best handling item of the day and the Triumph parallel twin engine gave good performance and reliability and could be more easily tuned for greater power. I seem to remember that the Norton 650 and 750 vertical twin engines had a reliability problem.
I seem to recall a mate of mine - another Dave - had a Norton Commando Interstate 850, and there was nothing unreliable about that !!! Dave
Bonnie engine, Featherbed frame, (or Tiger110 engine tuned), splayed head twin carbs preferably, and get them bellmouths on. Tribsa, Tricati etc etc riders wanted the Triumph engine Bonneville had the street cred then.
Your right about the triumph engine being easier to tune. There were loads of kits produced to improve the engine. if you were flush Triumph produced race kits in a box don't know what the exact price was though
Out of curiosity, can any of you guys identify which models have been used to create this? such as frame/engine/tank etc would be interested to know what the creator had in mind when he put it together.
Triumph went from Pre-unit to Unit in 1963 and that's a unit engine, Bonneville (twin carbs) wideline featherbed frame usually on Norton Dominator range , alloy aftermarket tank, still available, (I prefer the sleek smaller Lyta tank). Still possible to buy all the parts to build one, even frames have been reproduced I believe. You would need an old engine though, not so hard to find. Possible to put a Bonnie head on any 650cc motor, and change pistons etc to high compression. Some people put 500cc engines in, as it was use what you could get hold of, very little spare cash around then I was on £3 summat a week and had to pay my board (live with Mum an Dad no freebies) out of that. I think RGM can just about supply all yer need fer a Triton.
My Triton (I got a right telling off from wife when I sold it!!) Pre Unit engine, featherbed frame, alloy rims etc etc, not quite as nice maybe as the other one, but I rode mine, a lot! Cup on seat 1st Prize at a Satan Slaves Show some years ago. Chap from Ride magazine judged mine the best on the day. You can see the difference in engines between Pre Unit and Unit, mine was a 1959 Tiger 110 engine tuned and modified to Bonnie spec if I remember right.
Love reading and looking at these old bikes makes you realise how times have changed and how tuning your own bike is all but impossible with a modern bike
Hi Jon, sorry to disagree with you, but for me tuning my bike is soooooooh much easier with ECU's and fuel injection etc.
Disagree away mate, but with the new generation ECU's most are locked 13+ that is thanks to new E U laws yet to bet introduced, work that one out lock something before your told you have to
Waint be long before someone can unlock 'em eh just like mobile phones we always get round these problems eventually. There are some good electronic guys amongst our ranks, me? just about can use txt
Bit late for me mate had to buy a power commander £300 and the lads at tune ECU been trying for 2 years and still stumped. Hope they do crack it then you can tune your bike how you want and not have to rely on add ons or use the dealer. Was told by one of the tuning place that Triumph are soon to block even Power commander and speedo healer it will just lock the Ecu as soon as you connect up and cost £1200 just to get it unblocked to work again, dunno how true but seems a step backwards to me..
