Seems Like My Bike Is Costing Me More Than Expected

[Paul in NZ]

It'd be pretty easy to slip of the ''seat'' you gave her! Nice,cast iron T'bird,52 maybe? No loop for the SU carb in the frame,could even be a Speed Twin frame,my wife had a chrome SU T'bird frame in her 51 T100.So,what's the front end off? Too much chrome,but there was no such thing as too much chrome back then eh?

Basically, it was a 52 5T...

I was about 16 when purchased it as a wreck from a chch bikie gang associate that had managed to collide head on with a car for $150 as a parts bike.

It had been a chopper for years and the frame was already chromed when I got it so there was no point in a restoration (hey these were just old munters then, not classics). I made an inch or 2 over front end using std Triumph parts and the original chopper wheel. The old extended forks where bent around to one side which saved it from damage and told me every thing I needed to know about extended forks.

The risers were genuine BSA girder fork ones. They were not chromed because I didn't like them. It went to semi westerns because they made the bike a lot more comfy.

I rode it all over the show for 2 summers. Mt Cook, Nelson, West Coast you name it. I had a lot of cast iron 5T's over the years and they were the best triumphs I ever owned. They really ran well and i never ever had any serious mechanical trouble from them at all even though some of them were in advanced stages of wear!

Eventually it was sold to an AMF Sporty owner that needed a reliable bike and I bought another wrecked chopper to build up for a girl friend that turned out really nice!! By the time I finished it we were no longer an item and I never kept it long which was dumb because I'd really love it now (the blue bike). if anything, it ran better and featured alloy / stailess and a bunch of trick stuff...

He are some piccies if you care...

[Motu]

I reckon it looks good.I knew what the forks were when I posted,axle mounts give them away.The cast iron 500s were the best of all Triumphs - my wife had a 57 Speedtwin,the duplex frame,but had a ridgid with sprung hub grafted on.Her bitsa Tiger 100 was a pain in the but,but then she replaced the alloy top end for cast iron and the bike was sweet.I built one with a 71 Tiger crank in it - wow,550cc.I must get a scanner going,find some old photos...that first pic looks all too familiar,not the people,judt the atmoshere....

[Paul in NZ]

I used to get some grief at wof time over the forks in the brown / maroon bike. I'd packed up the springs to stiffen up the sagging 39 year old originals and one dude failed me because they were too stiff???? On a rigid frame bike?? I mean???

The Blue one handled a lot better IMHO as i ditched the sprung hub and fitted a 500 x 16 alloy rim to a QD hub. Ran the tyre at lowish pressure and it was fine at everything except railway lines.. Front on the blue in is a 21" alloy rim laced to a std triumph hub with stainless spokes. I had to turn out the hub after chroming it which trued it up to the oversized brake shoes turned to fit the hub. It stopped amazingly well!

I wish I'd had a better camera then and had a better picture of it as i loved that thing!!



Oh well....

Paul N