Born Again Bikes completed Triumph projects

grandpaul

Author, "Old Bikes"
DTT SUPPORTER
DTT BOTM WINNER
In no particular order, I'll be posting photos and some details of custom builds, restorations, and refurb projects I've completed, both for myself, and for clients.

1969 Triumph TR6R Trophy 650 - Carl S., Florida
Total restoration to OEM specs (except as noted) from rolling basket case
.020" oversize pistons, rings, and rebore
Sparx electronic ignition
Spark solid state regulator/rectifier

BEFORE
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AFTER
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Re: Born Again Bikes completed projects

Oooh nicely done brother keep em coming


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Re: Born Again Bikes completed projects

Shifting gears, this is a 1965 Triumph T120R Bonneville 650 custom chopper that I built up but sold before detailing it out and getting it running. It was a bombed-out old chopper in pieces out in the weeds (literally, all over the ground) when I found it in a "twofer" deal. My son Kevin and I loaded them up, tore them down, and started building them together, side-by-side in my shop. He only got as far as building up the bottom end of the engine and helping me install the freshly rechromed forks in the powdercoated frame, with the top end partially mocked up.

BEFORE

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Kevin, tearing down the donor bike, just a few months before joining the Army

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Kevin's last involvement with the bike, having joined the Army and moved away (and getting married, etc). Forks just installed-

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AFTER - unfinished, but close...

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I would have like to complete it, but the buyer made me an offer I couldn't refuse!
 
1967 Triumph T120R Bonneville 650

This was my first Britbike, purchased well-used and non-running in 1987. It smoked, made rattling sounds, and was really scruffy (I still kick myself for not taking "BEFORE" photos). I tore it apart and took the engine back to my friend Keith who overhauled it for me. Then, I sent out the frame parts to the painter, and sent a couple of rusty parts to the chrome shop.

Keith was REALLY slow with the overhaul, and even slower with the bike's re-assembly (including sourcing parts without the benefit of the internet). Engine sat like this for WEEKS...

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Then, to top it off, he fell off a trailer and broke his back!

So, I picked up the semi-complete engine and rolling chassis, in order to complete the rest of the work myself.

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By that time, I had acquired another Bonneville, a 1970 with top end problems, and successfully overhauled the top end and got it running nicely, which gave me confidence to push on with the '67.

On start-up, the bike had issues with "soft seizing". Keith had bored the cylinders too tight. I had them re-bored, re-assembled it, and have been riding it ever since 1989 with no issues at all!

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I didn't know whether to post this one under "Triumph", or "Norton"...

1966 TriTon 750 T120R/SS

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I had been wanting to build a TriTon for over 30 years since I first saw a few in bike magazines. Finally, in 2001, I managaed to snag a Slimline Featherbed frame from my friend, Mark. I already had a spare Boneville engine and a bunch of parts on the shelves, so i go buy and built it. I have right at 175 hours into it, and have since acquired a Lyta alloy sprint style gas tank to trick it out one more step.

SPECS:
1966 Triumph T120R Bonneville 650 engine
1966 Norton 650SS slimline featherbed chassis
Suzuki GT550 Indy front end (complete) with 4LS front brake
Born Again Bikes unit engine mounting plate kit
Born Again Bikes featherbed swingarm spindle replacement kit
MAP 750 big bore kit with polished alloy cylinders and forged 10:1 pistons
Kibblewhite valves & guides, MAP valve springs & alloy collets
MAP Belt drive primary kit
MAP clutch stack kit
5-speed transmission upgrade
Excel shouldered alloy wheels laced by Buchanan's
Avon Roadrunner tires
Hagon adjustable rear shocks
Clip-on handlebars, Tarozzi rearset footpegs & controls, Thomaselli throttle
Tri-Spark digital ignition w/ dual lead coil
Sparx alternator & regulator/rectifier
Amal MkII carbs w/ K&N air filters
Lockhart oil cooler & cartridge oil filter kits
Manx style "bum stop" seat
Lyta composite fuel tank
Early Commando central mount oil tank
Retro style lighting
Powdercoated chassis & cycle parts
All alloy parts highly polished
All fasteners new stainless steel and/or cadminum plated original fasteners
 
1970 Triumph "TrophyVille" 650

I bought this scruffy old Bonnie as a non-runner with no pipes or seat. I managed to dig up a set of TR6C Trophy upswept scrambler pipes with beat up mufflers and a rusty old "chips basket" heat shield, and installed them after rebuilding the top end and carbs. The old beater fired up on the first kick!

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Back then, the Gregory family were "big time" flat track racers and they built a 1/4 mile dirt track with a hill/jump in the middle, and nicely bermed & banked turns on both ends. They started having dirt track races there a couple of times a year, so I decided maybe I'd fix up the bike and take a stab at entering a race.

I did a really good tune-up on the bike, removed the mufflers and lighting, and took it out for a test ride the day before the races. Out here on my family's property, we have a private road that has about 1/8 mile straight, then makes a bit of a right kink and meanders down a slight hill; at the bottom, it makes a sharp left onto a dam along a pond. At the far side of the pond, the road drops off to the left, crosses the high water spillway crossing, then makes a right and meanders another 1/8 mile to the back gate. I fired up the bike and set up at the entrance of the ranch and took off down the road, hammering it up through the gears with those straight pipes howling!

As I got to the right kink, I eased off the throttle and noticed it wasn't dropping revs... I made the kink and flew down the hill stomping and grabbing brakes with not much effect; I dropped it down into second gear SCREAMING, then realized I'd better prepare for a serious hard left onto the dam (dirt and gravel at that time). In my best Dave Aldana / Gene Romero impersonation ever, I powerslid that sucker onto the dam and kept trying to whoa the bike down; up until that point, I never really had much use for kill buttons before... The spillway was coming up fast and I knew it was all gravel and soft dirt, so I figured I could probably do another slide job, then just aim for the brush and take my chances with a get-off.

Well, as I entered the left-hander, it slid in beautifully, then I just lost it on a titch and off we went into the prickly pear cactus and mesquite thicket. The bike was laying on it's side screaming bloody murder, and I stupidly grabbed one of the spark plug wires to pull it off. About that time, I did my best Nikola Tesla impersonation! That son of a gun shocked the living daylights out of me. It must have starved out of fuel, because it died a second later.

I didn't get to race the next day, or ever.

Over the next few months, I ordered a bunch of parts, had the tank painted, found some better pipes for it, and did a general refurbishing from front to back. For this bike's entire life in my collection, it never had a battery, just the stout 2MC capacitor which never failed me.

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Very recently, I sold this bike on ebay in order to buy a much nicer fully restored '70 Bonneville from my friend Mark. Before putting it on ebay, I installed original style pipes on it and cleaned it up.

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The buyer got new tires and had me put the scrambler pipes back on it, along with a battery. The bike shipped back home, to England.
 
1979 Triumph T140D Bonneville 750 Special

This is a factory "Special" that included cast wheels and a 2-into-1 header as the most distinguishing features, as well as a stark Black paint job with Gold outlined scallops on the tank.

I bought this bike in 2000 from a fellow bike show exhibitor after he mentioned it in passing as one of the projects he didn't have time for. It had NOT ONE SINGLE WIRE on it, the wiring harness has shorted and he removed every last wire on it. It was rather rough, as it had been in the Corpus Christi (Texas gulf coast) area all it's life.

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I removed the bodywork, cleaned everything up, did a lot of touchup with Rust-O-Leum gloss black spray paint, flushed the frame, engine, and gas tank, and did a total maintenance tune-up including overhauling the carbs, brakes and forks. Then I set to hand-wiring the bike from scratch (easier than I thought). The tires held air, so they stayed on the bike (I was on a budget).

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I eventually installed a Shoei quarter fairing on it, and traded it in a wild deal (long story, different post re: '53 Triumph chopper)

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