Project Bikes

[Voltaire]

I spotted a 53 Triumph Thunderbird on Trade Me, non matching...incorrect.... blah blah blah, but running with WOF and Rego.
In my shed I had a 53 Thunderbird in boxes waiting for that ethereal spare time where I could spend hours playing with Whitworth taps and buying incorrect parts from now almost deceased swap meets. Used parts on Ebay have declined and now its mostly new Chinese bits.


I'd seen a project one on TM a couple of weeks earlier and it sold for 6K so I figured with a great description and good photos slightly less was achievable. Sold with Buy It Now within hours.

I rang the seller as opposed to being the tyre kicking Question asker who rarely in my experience ever buys and it sounded like a bit of me.
Over the years I've collected the poster of the 'Wild One" and all the Triumph period posters so just needed a running bike.
I did some number crunching and hit the buy it now.

It arrived on Thursday and in true British Bike fashion refused to start. It had no spark. The more I read about magnetos the more I suspected said device.
However having struck this before I found that the NOS box of Champion N4 plugs I bought some years ago were just the job and the bike roared into life.
I got my gear on, grabbed my phone and asked the Missus to be around for " the call".
First thing I noticed was that neutral was easy to find and the gearbox worked properly, the only saving grace of the Sprung Hub is that it has an 8" brake that works quite will, less so the front half width one...

Just the ticket what oh for VCC bike runs.

Now I can get back to the serious business of BMW R90s engine rebuild...

[Cosmik de Bris]

I spotted a 53 Triumph Thunderbird on Trade Me,

Nice find.

[Paul in NZ]

That looks like a very practical classic bike. I've always had a soft spot for them and they always seem to go way better than the paper stats imply.

You don't need me to point out the incorrect bits but the rude question is what does it owe you? I have had a hankering to get rid of the ST and purchase something similar.

[Voltaire]

Spend the day in the shed as it was raining and I don't like shopping.
I did a rewire of the PO's LED lights and got them all working, its total loss 12 off a 12V 7 AH battery so should go for a few hours between charges. I'll get around to checking out the Lucas E3L gen at some point and convert it back to 6 V as you can get the LED lamps.
Took the Amal apart, returned it to stock 650 settings and took it for a run. Plugs look a lot better now and also a lot easier to start.

Took it on the motorway and quite a of vibration at an indicated 60 MPH, squirted it up to 70 but mindful of the poor brakes relative to the cars on the mean streets of Auckland.

Its stand on the pegs going over speed humps with a sprung hub.

Next on the list is check out the front end, probably new bushes and look at the brakes.

Nobody asked " what you rebelling against Jonnie?"

[eelracing]

Nobody asked " what you rebelling against Jonnie?"

That's coz Lee Marvin was the real rebel.

[Kickaha]

Spend the day in the shed as it was raining and I don't like shopping.
I did a rewire of the PO's LED lights and got them all working, its total loss 12 off a 12V 7 AH battery so should go for a few hours between charges. I'll get around to checking out the Lucas E3L gen at some point and convert it back to 6 V as you can get the LED lamps.

Why not just change the regulator and run it at 12v, anything 12v is way easier to get

[Voltaire]

Why not just change the regulator and run it at 12v, anything 12v is way easier to get

I've looked into it and staying with 6V and not loading up the poor old gen is pretty much the standard on these old bikes, parts are readily available.

Lucas Smoke is available too.