~ December, 2002 ~
The bike was purchased in Vermont in the condition seen here. When I first saw the bike it was in the owner’s shed and had been sitting for about a year and a half. There were no lights or electricity in the shed so it was kind of hard to see what shape it was in, but as soon as I laid eyes on it I knew that this bike had to be saved! It was covered in dust and dirt, it had no battery in it, and it hadn’t been started since it was “ridden hard and put away wet” some time in 2000. Many of the original parts were missing or had been replaced with parts that weren’t correct for the bike. Thank goodness for Ebay! I was amazed at how many NOS and replacement parts were available. I had some great finds – in fact, half the fun of restoring this bike was the Ebay hunting!
~ February, 2004 ~
Here it is after many long hours, much blood, and many tears. I didn’t strip the bike completely down to bare frame, but with the exception of getting into the engine internals I went through pretty much the entire bike cleaning, repairing, adjusting, and polishing.When I first brought it home, I put in fresh gas and kicked and kicked and kicked until I thought my legs would fall off – but there was no way I could start it. The carbs were completely trashed so I replaced them with rebuilt units. That did the trick – I was able to get it started and hear it run – and it actually ran well. After gingerly riding it around the block I had a much better sense of what I was dealing with and felt pretty confident that I hadn’t completely wasted my money on a total piece of garbage!I decided I wanted the bike to be exactly as it was when it left the factory – I wanted to make it look as original as possible. The chrome fenders and the seat were replaced, gauges and turn signals were installed, the wiring was redone properly with original bullet connectors, the brakes were rebuilt, NOS Dunlop rims were relaced with stainless steel spokes, new Avon tires were put on, and the list goes on. If it had not been for Ebay I probably could not have put this bike back together. The sheer numbers of parts for old Triumphs is amazing and there are still pretty good deals to be found.I had the tank and fenders painted by an old motorcycle and hot rod painter who did a great job matching the original color scheme. He did a computer color match from the NOS rear fender that I was lucky enough to find – it was a thirty year old factory painted spare part still wrapped in the original plastic. I also gave him lots of photos of original ’71 Bonneville paint schemes so he could recreate the black tank scallops, the front fender stripe, and the white pinstriping (which he did by hand – just like it was done at the Meriden factory).
This motorcycle is a true joy to ride. Aside from the fact that there is nothing like the sound of a British twin, this bike is the perfect size and weight for me, is very solid in the curves, and handles very predictably. I can easily lay the bike over and scrape the footpegs on the asphalt with no fears of losing control. And with the classic lines of a Triumph, it turns a lot of heads and gets a lot of compliments!
Skip's random musings and other wastes of time 