The Curtain Closes on the 2021 Riding Season

Squeezed in one after work ride last week before the curtain fell on this year's riding season (I hang 'em up when it takes me longer to clean the salt off the bike than the ride was).  We're looking at a weather warning tonight and snow all week.  Yay...

Over the weekend I got the end of year maintenance done.  Both bikes got a deep clean and an oil and filter change and can now hibernate with clean oil, ready for snows to recede in 2022.  Over the winter the Tiger's getting new chain and sprockets and the Concours is pretty much just ready to go, which is good because that's why I got it.

Meanwhile, the '71 Bonneville continues to be dismantled in an archeological manner and I'm waiting on my first order from British Cycle Supply Co..  They should get me to a point where I can actually start the motor for the first time!

1971 Triumph Bonneville Parts Research

Air Filter Pods for 1971 Triumph Bonneville:

https://www.classicbritishspares.com/products/amal-replacement-air-filters

https://www.ebay.com/itm/382380768469?chn=ps

https://www.speedandsport.com/product/air-filter-vokes-style-for-amal/

https://steadfastcycles.com/collections/amal-carbs?page=2

https://www.knfilters.com/air-filters/universal.html

Electronic Ignition Options

https://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/products/pazon-electronic-ignition-for-triumph-bsa-norton-twin-12v-motorcycles

https://www.motorcycleid.com/1971-triumph-bonneville-t120-ignition-system-parts/

https://meandthismotorcycle.blogspot.com/2010/03/installed-boyer-electronic-ignition.html

http://raskcycle.com/techtip/webdoc16a.html

https://wiringdiagram.2bitboer.com/1971-triumph-650-wiring-diagram/

https://www.classicbritishspares.com/blogs/news/why-you-should-upgrade-to-a-podtronics-regulator-rectifier

Seat:

https://www.classicmotorcyclespares.com/index.php/default/dual-seat-triumph-bonneville-t120-oif-1971-us-spec-suitcase-catch-71-3634.html

50 Year Old Triumph Bonneville Restoration: Amal Carbs and the Fuel Tank

A place where logic, precision and cause and
effect still matter in a world gone mad.

 After the random weirdness of work, time in the garage with the old Bonneville is remarkably
straightforward and logical.  I suspect the bike was in the middle of a Captain America Easy Rider customization in the early/mid eighties when it got parked and time left it behind.  I got it from Brian's storage shipping container where it was out of the weather and raised off the ground.  I don't know where Brian got it from but I suspect it was always stored inside.  I battled with a mid-nineties Kawasaki that had been left outside back in 2014 and this much older machine is nothing like as seized, rusted and difficult to get into.

Anything that doesn't immediately loosen gets a bit of heat and then comes free without any headaches.  Not being in a rush and leaning on the spannering skills I've refreshed over the past decade is making this an enjoyable and meditative process.

The surface rust came off the tank with a bit of sanding.  I'm going to see if I can knock out the dent and then strip it all back.  I used Metal Rescue on the Honda Fireblade tank in my last project and it did a fantastic job of cleaning that unused and rust tank out.  I'll let it sit overnight and then do the power wash tomorrow and hopefully the tank'll come back to me.

The Amal carburetors on the bike are remarkably simple compared to what I've been up against before.  Last time around it was a bank of four last-generation-before-fuel-injection carbs on a '97 Honda Fireblade.  Before that it was a bank-of-four on a '94 Kawasaki GTR1000 and then another complex bank of four on an '81 Yamaha XS1100.  The old Bonnie's single Amal carb per cylinder is a simpler design from a simpler time compared to those complex Japanese four-pot carbs.

Airbox sleeves off.

Carb clean up with a fine wire brush and wd40.

Some aluminum corrosion in the bottom of the carb bowls but it cleaned out nicely.

They've been sitting for a long while, but all the hard parts look to be in good shape.

After an initial cleanup I'm going to break down each carb and clean the hard parts in a ultrasonic cleaning bath before reassembling with new gasketry from British Cycle Supply Co..

Ultrasonic bath bringing the carbs back to clean and ready to breathe for the Bonnie again.

My plan is to get the bike operational mechanically and have it going next spring having cleaned up and rust painted the frame and body.  Once it's operational I'll ride it for a season rough and get to know it before looking to a complete engine rebuild and deeper restoration of frame and body panels at a later date.

In order to get it back to rideable, these are the parts I think I'll need:

• 
  carb gasket rebuild kit x 2
  
• exhaust pipes x2
• mufflers x2
• ignition cables (and possibly some other electrics)
• headlight
• indicators
• battery
• head and sump gaskets for the motor (I intend to go in and clean things out/have a look around before I run it)

1971 Triumph Bonneville T120 Online Resources

Searching the internet for parts and technical details for a 1971 T120 Triumph Bonneville 650cc air cooled twin.  Here's what I've found - hope it helps if you're looking for similarly vintage parts and details.

Technical Details

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0717/0717/files/1971_Oil_In_Frame_650_Unit_Twins_All_Models_EXPORT.pdf?2276925620862086622

https://www.tomcc.org/Triumph/FrameNumbers

https://www.fagengine.com/blogs/tech/triumph-engine-and-frame-numbers

https://triumph-tiger-90.com/dating-your-triumph/

https://www.baxtercyclebooks.com/FB/Triumph_1971_650cc_models/index.html

https://wiringdiagram.2bitboer.com/1971-triumph-bonneville-wiring-diagram/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sbSds50ChTpY_7q8SkhFVOQ5QoRAgc6y/view?usp=sharing

Love me some hand drawn drafting!

Parts

https://vintagetriumphparts.com/?model_filter_id=7

https://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/collections/vintage-triumph-parts

https://www.trojanclassics.com/header-pipes-triumph-tr6-t120-1971-balanced-pair-g

https://burtonbikebits.net/triumph-parts/

https://www.baxtercycle.com/product-category/vintage-triumph/

https://www.thebonnevilleshop.com/

https://kmjonesmotorsports.com/about

British Motorcycle Supply Co.  (with Canadian Contact info!  Thx Brian!)

http://www.britcycle.com/Catalogues/2014pdfCat.pdf

http://www.britcycle.com/default.htm

http://www.britcycle.com/help.htm

Triumph Tiger 955i on the edge of winter

 Single digit temperatures make for a brisk ride.  This one was down to Guelph Line before coming back home and warming up again.  All photos taken with a Ricoh Theta 360 camera set to fire automatically every 6 seconds, attached to the rear view mirror using a flexible tripod.  Here's a walkthrough if you want to try it yourself.

1971 Triumph Bonneville Motorcycle Restoration: the baseline

 Baseline photography for this 1971 Triumph Bonneville restoration project:

According to Low Brow Customs, this means I've got an A (January) E (October 1970 - July 1971) and was the 9125th 650 twin made that year (00100 is the starting number for each grouping so this was the 9225-100th motor made in the 1970-71 batch).

https://www.tomcc.org/Triumph/FrameNumbers

https://www.fagengine.com/blogs/tech/triumph-engine-and-frame-numbers

The frame was tricky to pick out - one of those sites mentions that the stampings are sometime very thin and this one's barely there - our best guess is AE07050, which would put it in the same month/year as the motor, which seems promising.

https://triumph-tiger-90.com/dating-your-triumph/

The chopper stuff has started to come off and the bike is up on a wooden base on the stand in the back of the shop.  

Next up will be taking the tank off and beginning the GREAT DISMANTLE OF 2021!