1970 Triumph Tiger 650

o1marc

o1marc

Over 1,000 Posts
I took a trip last week to Calif. to pick up my Triumph and Norton/Kawasaki to start the build process. The Norton/Kawasaki will be made roadworthy and then flipped, the Triumph will be my daily driver. First order of business is to swap on a set of dual disc Kimtabs front and single disc rear to replace the stock drums. I've never seen an early Triumph with this set up and think it will look awesome not to mention the added braking ability. The rest of the bike will all be original with the exception of the chrome bits will be powder coated Matte Black.
Gonna flip this 1957 Norton Domi with a 1974 Kawasaki H2 750 motor in it, The fastest motor in the best handling chassis back when it was built in 1980. The owner was killed soon after completing this build when he was making a U-turn on Mulholland on his Ducati and got hit by a car. My brother bought this bike and the Kawasaki frame and some wheel and repair manuals from the estate for $433. My friend bought the Ducati and rebuilt it and flipped it back in 80-81. This bike has been hidden away from human eyes for 35 years.

Then the Triumph that my brother bought the same time I bought my T100 Daytona in 1972.


The Kimtab/dual disc mock up:
 
I got the correct replacement lower legs for the swap and the mismatched springs were coated in a chrome powder that i threw them in with another batch of customer parts.


Got the calipers i'm going to use (ZX1100 Ninja)
 
That Norton/Kawasaki is amazing. I would make that my daily driver. The Triumph is cool too, just saying.
 
Dropped the lower legs off at the machine shop today to have the "flats" milled into the ends of the legs to give the spacers a place to rest and also have the spacers made. I fit the calipers from the Ninja ZX1100 and they will work nicely. Important part is they clear the spokes. I wish I could have a fixed opposed piston 6 pot caliper, but it is what it is.


Mockup with a wood broom handle for an axle, hey it works for mock up.
 
Got the lower legs back from the machine shop today, got lucky and they knocked it out over night. Had the flat machined on the inside surface and a couple of wheel spacers to center the wheel:


Caliper mount brackets cut and ready to weld on and that should complete the swap at the wheel.




Just need to fab a sheetmetal bracket for the proportioning valve/splitter under the lower tree.
 
Wow! Absolute vintage set of SpecII pipes on that triple! I wonder if that was an off the shelf item back then or if Gary built them especially for this project, given the high mounting positions? I bet they work very well. That is a really neat old special you have there.
Geoff
 
Have you weighed that front end all put together? Looks cool, but heavy as hell.
 
Shoeman said:
Wow! Absolute vintage set of SpecII pipes on that triple! I wonder if that was an off the shelf item back then or if Gary built them especially for this project, given the high mounting positions? I bet they work very well. That is a really neat old special you have there.
Geoff
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Nope, these were a one off set, no one makes a on the shelf set of pipes for an H2 in Featherbed frame. I have spoken to Gary and talked to him about this set he made 35 years ago. They are a nicely engineered set of pipes.



 
deviant said:
Have you weighed that front end all put together? Looks cool, but heavy as hell.
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What do you see that makes it look heavy? Heavy compared to what? Considering the stock wheel and drum weigh over 25lbs and the 8lb Kimtab assembled is less than half that I would say I'm going to end up with a much lighter package than stock.
 
Lighter than lead isn't light. The discs look heavy as hell with no alloy center. Maybe I'm not seeing that clearly in the pics. They look like they'll get hot as hell too. And 8lb alloy mags are not necessarily light. It doesn't look like you shaved and ounce with that setup. No criticism- I was just observing and asking a question.
 
deviant said:
Lighter than lead isn't light. The discs look heavy as hell with no alloy center. Maybe I'm not seeing that clearly in the pics. They look like they'll get hot as hell too. And 8lb alloy mags are not necessarily light. It doesn't look like you shaved and ounce with that setup. No criticism- I was just observing and asking a question.
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A stock CB750 rotor is approx. 274mm x 6.5mm and weighs 6.5lbs. My rotors are 305mm x only 3mm thick and weigh 3.4lbs each. They do have alloy center carriers. rest assured all parts will be weighed before and after. I guarantee the wheel package will be lighter with dual discs than with the stock drum set up. My rotors on my XR are the same rotors only they have been drilled. I ran them for 2 years and never had any over heating issues with them.
 
surffly said:
Thought you had an offer on the KawaTon already?
I still love that bike!
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I had someone offer $4-$5K for it as is. He wants to pull the motor and put an 850 motor in it. I just don't get this at all. You can surely find another featherbed frame to work with for less than what he wants to give to destroy this bike. I am really hesitant to sell it before I attempt to get it running. I think the increase in value as a runner will be far greater than what it costs to get it there.
 
Finished the clear coat on the wheels to complete them.

Went to mock up the M/C only to find the 23" drag bars are way too narrow and the hose connection hits the gauges about 1" early. I'll replace them with Superbike bars.
 
This swap is coming along nicely, it's everything I pictured in my mind. Better looks, less weight, less unsprung weight, better braking. Fresh paint on the fenders and this thing will look sweet.



 
looks great mark ;)
welding on a slider can be perilous ,i have had to go inside and grind away where the weld got enough penetration to cause high spots the stanchion tube would not go past
you also may end up with a bent slider if large welds are done full length each side,its enough material once cooled and shrunk back it'll bow the slider,
it would be wise to skip weld it
the good news is that is low enough to not be a problem if it has to be ground out it can be a little over the stanchion has plenty of bearing overlap
 
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