Triumph (1972) know it all's attn :-)

[dangerous]

Ok a question was put to me today as to what a 1972 650 tiger is worth.... its tidy and has been stored for the last 10yrs.... any ideas you old timers :niceone:

[eliot-ness]

Original paint, matching numbers, good all round condition. $4500 to $5500

[Paul in NZ]

Depends...

71 model year is least popular and 72 not far behind. They were not well styled and the T140/TR7 came along in 73 which was a much more popular bike. As mentioned, key factors are... Originality, matching numbers and spec... I think in 72 the 5 speed was optional... So..

If it has a 5 speed add $700. (I assume if it is a Tiger it is US spec'd with small tank?)

If it has engine history add $$ if it's a non reg non runner in need of a possible engine rebuild you would want to pick it up for $2,500 or hopefully less. Sorry, even though they are getting rare they are not very desireable to the collector market.

Things that break are mudguard / headlight stays (horrid bent wire things) and switch gear (yuck).

A lot of these get wrecked just for the motors.

Post up a picture for a look see..

Cheers

[Sniper]

You claiming not to be old dangerous? PT

Anywhoo, one of my first posts was about a mate who was after a Norton Commando Gearbox. He is very much into his old bikes so I gave him a bell and he said that in good nick re-vinned ect you are looking at $3500 to $6000.

Good luck mate.

[Motu]

I got no idea of value,everything I buy is in the 3 figure bracket,but $4000 to $6000 is a good range,less if it's total crap,more if a total imaculate resto.

Having owned and worked on Triumphs from brand new to totaly worn out to restored - I will no longer go near a ''nice'' Triumph,they have been rebuilt a dozen times from a hundred bikes,the parts interchangability is fun,but spread across 30 yrs it becomes a nightmare of what the hell have we got here??? They have been worked upon by people with no knowledge of the bikes and how they work.I've been made to look a fool too many times as each repair uncovers another bodge up,which leads to another....after 4 hrs of work the bike ends up running worse than when you started and there is no end in sight.I love Triumphs,I have a fountain of knowledge and experiance,but I don't want to know about them anymore,I don't like telling people they've spent 6 grand on a heap of shit.

This not about your friends bike,just my observation over the years.

[Paul in NZ]

Aint that the truth....

Even the factory didn't seem to manage to get everything standardised on any particular year..

Funny thing is that some old triumphs just seem to go really well and some are utter dogs no matter what you do to them.. why? Lord knows but I guess sometimes the good bits all end up in one bike?

Cheers

PS - as a guide to value..

http://classiccarfair.com/1971triumphbonneville750morgo.htm

Been for sale for 18 months at that price.... Costs as much to restore one of these as it does a T140 and a good T140 will go for much more $$.. Ask yourself..

[Jackrat]

I got no idea of value,everything I buy is in the 3 figure bracket,but $4000 to $6000 is a good range,less if it's total crap,more if a total imaculate resto.

Having owned and worked on Triumphs from brand new to totaly worn out to restored - I will no longer go near a ''nice'' Triumph,they have been rebuilt a dozen times from a hundred bikes,the parts interchangability is fun,but spread across 30 yrs it becomes a nightmare of what the hell have we got here??? They have been worked upon by people with no knowledge of the bikes and how they work.I've been made to look a fool too many times as each repair uncovers another bodge up,which leads to another....after 4 hrs of work the bike ends up running worse than when you started and there is no end in sight.I love Triumphs,I have a fountain of knowledge and experiance,but I don't want to know about them anymore,I don't like telling people they've spent 6 grand on a heap of shit.
This not about your friends bike,just my observation over the years.

Wotcha on about mate,my TR6R with the bonnie head an cams in a frame from something else,with the front end off a ????? an the swing arm an shocks from a ??? went ok,,,,,,,,,,for the mug I sold it to.
Hell even my stock standard 73 T140 turned out to be not quite what I payed for:crybaby:

[Motu]

As an example of how much interchangability there is in Triumphs,check out this one.This is my wife,as a 20 something,with the 1951 T100 she built largely by herself,looks pretty original eh?

That's a Tiger 100 engine alright,and I think this was the test ride of the new cast iron top end she fitted - the alloy barrel and head had seen too much abuse,damaged threads and distorted surfaces,so this is a late 5T iron head,with ports bigger than the alloy Tiger,rebored with new plus 20 pistons.It's housed in a chromed 6T Thunderbird frame,has the large hole in the seat tube for the SU carb,and it has an SU carb too - one of the few things she let me do was fit an SU from a Mini to it,easy starting,good idle and 100mpg.Some sort of gearbox,they are all the same,good sprung hub,rear guard is a BSA Goldflash,sprung seats,leather covers by herself.The front forks are 1971 BSA Starfire,the front wheel 3TA and the front guard from a bathtub 21.Siamese pipes with a Sportster muffler.In the lounge was a Speedtwin I was building,58 motor with a 71 Tiger crank,E3134 cams,8.5:1 slipper pistons,twin carbs,in a 58 duplex frame with cut down seat tubes,it had raked yokes and I laced an 18in rim to a 7in Daytona twin leading shoe front brake.This bike was being built to pull a chair.

You could fit almost anything together...get it right,get it wrong - it was a shit load of fun.But whoever ended up with either bike would of had a puzzle trying to find out what was what.

[Brian d marge]

SU carb,and it has an SU carb too - one of the few things she let me do was fit an SU from a Mini to it,easy starting,good idle and 100mpg.

Did the same mod to my 3ta ..used sewing machine oil in the dashpot ,,but ended up not using oil ...or very little ...
A touch over carbed ,,,but hey I had a mini in the yard and I needed a carb,,,,,
I often wonder how it would go on me Enfield ....

Stephen

[Paul in NZ]

It's housed in a chromed 6T Thunderbird frame,.

Ah yes... I had a 5T chopper with a chrome frame... These bikes always seemed to have been owned by a guy that worked at a chrome shop at some stage...

Paul pulls on his triumph train spotters hat...

Actually..... All the preunit gearboxes are not the same.. The early (pre 47 or something) had a TE gearbox and while the design / cases / look is the same the contents are not... The mainshaft is a lot longer and the gears and layshaft are all different enough not to fit the later ones. Apparently these boxes are now really rare as I found out when I blew mine in the scrambler...

Feck!

Kudos to your wife Motu.. Thats a cool bike and it would still be cool today...

[Motu]

Yes,I know about that box,opened one up and WTF?? There are also different ratios,the 500 being ''close ratio''.But you never know until you have the wrong box - a standard 500 struggles with the 2 to 3rd jump with a 650 box,a 500 box with a 650 feels ''close''.I've only struck that a couple of times,maybe the close boxes were for the 350 single,because that's how it was with BSAs,a B31 box in an A10 was close,and if like me....an A10 box in a B31 was a struggle.

I was just pointing out the parts interchangability,and it was not only just between models in a brand,but across brands as well - My Triton was a 1961 T110 motor and gearbox in a wideline Norton Featherbed,and when I blew up the Triumph gearbox,I fitted a BSA gearbox,it was just mix and match.I found plenty of SU manifolds for the 650,but never a complete carb,I had lots of parts,but never enough to make up a carb.So I would adapt a Mini carb by slotting the flange and resetting the angle of the float chamber.I have a book of all SU needles,hundreds of them,and I think a Morris Oxford one worked pretty well - I could get 100 mpg out of them and performance close to twin carbs,but they would idle hot or cold.Like Brian,dash pot oil was the fine tuning and I would thin down with kero to get close.All good fun,I miss that sort of farting around with my bikes.

I fitted one to my 600SS Dommi too,but my homemade manifold was too restrictive and it lost too much top end,went back to tuning my concentrics every week.

[Paul in NZ]

I'm pretty sure that Triumph, like all the brit makers, made a variety of ratios for their boxes.... The GP's came with optional gearing (close) and the trials TR5 had a wide ration option. Probably there was a bunch of 3T, TRW and other stuff that ended up on the market as well..

I'd never thought about the difference detween the 500s and the 650 boxes though! Good point!

My TR6C has a wideish set and like most 4 speed 650's suffers from the gap between 2nd and 3rd (more like a chasm really) but it's nothing a 5 speed would not fix (gulp $$)

Cheers

[Jackrat]

So paul or Motu,just what did my 72 TR6R start out life as.
What ever it was,it wasn't by the time I owned it but it did perform really well,better than my T140 actualy.
The bottem end was TR6R but it had a bonnie head an cams.
I never did know what it really was.

[Motu]

Just to cheer you up - it was probably an ex gang bike (61,the bike theives) and the only legal part of the bike was the numbers,they stole a Bonny (someone you knew most likely) and put the parts into your TR6R.If they ever dredge the Manukau they could make a breakwater out of stolen bike frames.

[dangerous]

hey just want to pop in and say to you guys thanks for the help/info, but it looks like the guy missed out on it ta anyway. :drinkup:

[Motu]

hey just want to pop in and say to you guys thanks for the help/info, but it looks like the guy missed out on it ta anyway. :drinkup:

Don't interupt please,there is a discussion going on here....

[oldrider]

As an example of how much interchangability there is in Triumphs,check out this one.This is my wife,as a 20 something,with the 1951 T100 she built largely by herself,looks pretty original eh?

That's a Tiger 100 engine alright,and I think this was the test ride of the new cast iron top end she fitted - the alloy barrel and head had seen too much abuse,damaged threads and distorted surfaces,so this is a late 5T iron head,with ports bigger than the alloy Tiger,rebored with new plus 20 pistons.It's housed in a chromed 6T Thunderbird frame,has the large hole in the seat tube for the SU carb,and it has an SU carb too - one of the few things she let me do was fit an SU from a Mini to it,easy starting,good idle and 100mpg.Some sort of gearbox,they are all the same,good sprung hub,rear guard is a BSA Goldflash,sprung seats,leather covers by herself.The front forks are 1971 BSA Starfire,the front wheel 3TA and the front guard from a bathtub 21.Siamese pipes with a Sportster muffler.In the lounge was a Speedtwin I was building,58 motor with a 71 Tiger crank,E3134 cams,8.5:1 slipper pistons,twin carbs,in a 58 duplex frame with cut down seat tubes,it had raked yokes and I laced an 18in rim to a 7in Daytona twin leading shoe front brake.This bike was being built to pull a chair.

You could fit almost anything together...get it right,get it wrong - it was a shit load of fun.But whoever ended up with either bike would of had a puzzle trying to find out what was what.
Bugger the bike, nice missus Motu. Cheers John.

[Jackrat]

Just to cheer you up - it was probably an ex gang bike (61,the bike theives) and the only legal part of the bike was the numbers,they stole a Bonny (someone you knew most likely) and put the parts into your TR6R.If they ever dredge the Manukau they could make a breakwater out of stolen bike frames.

You would have to say that huh. :devil2:
Ahh well the 5T in the 3T frame wif the GT 250 front end had no such history,I know cause I done did it. :niceone: