I'm not much of a religious person but I seem to recall that the Lord's prayer says something about giving in to temptation. I couldn't remember if it was saying it was a good thing or a bad thing so I erred on the side of caution and gave in with very little effort. I also seem to remember that Moses came down the hill on his Triumph, so that was clearly a good thing too, although I don't think the bible says what model it was or whether it was modified. I didn't have time to read the whole thing anyway so I went with my gut instincts and succumbed big style.
Now this may seem like an odd purchase to those that don't worship at the alter of methanol or pray to the God of speed but it is actually a very special machine - it's a Triton drag bike with all the correct 1960's racing bits on it such as the large bearing crank, competition magneto, original numbered Bonneville carbs, Bantam front end and Norton box. I won't know he full spec until I take it all to bits but it looks like it was a methanol burner that had a fair old turn of speed about it.
This is yet another bike from the collection of the guys I bought the Stelvio, Motobecane and Maserati from, it should end up being a mighty fine piece of meanness.
At the moment the engine is seized, it has not been run for over 40 years so the first thing to do is to give it a good soak in diesel, which is absolutely brilliant at un-sticking things that are stuck, hopefully it's a less sticky situation than that time Sticky the stick insect got stuck to a sticky bun. It is a gamble as little is known of it's running history, if it was laid up due to locking up at speed it might take an awful lot to get it back up and running, if it's just locked up from sitting then it's less of an issue. My in built sub optimal scenario sensor sensed nothing suboptimal so I think it will be ok. All the internals are available, you can get rebuild kits for just about anything and everything so I think it will work out, if it doesn't my plea of insanity should have a ring of truth about it.
my thinking behind this one is that historical race events have become very popular in recent years so there should be a ready market for it once it's back to full health. Failing that it will be a super cool man cave ornament. If neither of those work out it will be a different sort of drag bike as Mrs will use it to drag me through the streets of Boston.
I have never stripped a Triumph engine before, nor have I delved in to a Norton gearbox, it is going to be a huge challenge to work it all out and to make sure I do no harm as I learn each and every little foible. I know some special tools are required, I shall get a full manual and read it before I do too much. At the end of the day it's only an engine / gearbox but these things always have their little quirks and gotchas that can turn a fun day in the workshop to a living nightmare.
I won't get to it for a while, I still have work to do on the Maserati and I need to wire up the Stelvio and make a chain guard for it. I also want to rig up a fairing for the Motobecane. There is an event near here next year that I would like to take all 4 bikes to and give them all a run in a semi competitive environment, I think that would be rather good fun and I haven't read anything in the bible that would suggest otherwise.
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Nicely written in an amusing style. Good luck with the rebuild.
Loved this bike when I saw it advertised the day after it was at the auto jumble. Iād just bought a sprint Bike with a Jawa engine which is going to get some attention in the next few weeks and hopefully be at the Elvington do in Feb. Would just like to call dibs on this when you do finally sell it running or not. Haha (seriously). Best of luck with it. šš¼