It was a long winter this year, made particularly difficult by grinding through a second year of COVID19. I find a great deal of satisfaction in spannering my own bikes, but that isn't an end in itself for me, riding is. With a few days off work and the weather finally breaking, I got over 300kms while I could. Both the nineteen year old Triumph Tiger and the twelve year old Kawasaki GTR1400 worked like a charm.
I'd initially planned to do a rolling restoration of the 1971 Triumph Bonneville project, but the state of the engine and my desire to get it back to a place where I can enjoy an updated, dependable but mechanically sympathetic restoration (I want the bike to retain its patina, but I also want it to be dependable) made a rolling restoration impractical. The engine is lined up for a new 750cc head and electronic ignition system, but before all of that I have to get the frame and wheels sorted out so that I can put the upgraded engine back into a sorted rolling chassis.
To that end, it was finally time to take it to pieces, which also gave me a lot of space back in the one car garage once the bike stand was stacked to the side:
The frame out means I don't need to fill half the garage with the bike stand.
Black rubber bands cover the frame to swingarm joints (to prevent water getting in?).
Way more space in the garage with the Bonnie in pieces.
With the bike in pieces, I'm restoring all parts that I can reuse. This usually involves some WD40, a toothbrush or wire brush depending on how filthy it is, and then a dip in a hot ultrasonic bath for small pieces to get them back to fresh.
The front wheel Smiths speedometer.
Into the rear brakes. Like everything else on this old bike they are much simpler than modern hydraulic brakes.
Bringing old parts back from the brink is very satisfying.
The entire rear brake system - the brake lever is so long because it is the only mechanical advantage you have when applying the rear brakes. Instead of using hydraulics to amplify your push on the pedal, the old Bonnie is a simple mechanical system. You press the brake lever which pulls that long metal bar which rotates the top of the drums, pressing them into outside of the drum. No hydraulics, and I bet you have to press that lever like you mean it to lock the rear wheel.
I was reading Classic Bike Magazine last month and one of the auctioneers in the back of the mag suggested getting my hands on a copy of The Rudge Book Of The Road if you are looking for an historical read that'll get you through a long winter and prime you for the coming springtime.
I had a look around and finally found a 1926 version of the book on Amazon for about thirty five bucks.
If you have a thing for art deco drawings, the Rudge Book of the Road will scratch that itch!
My copy was once owned by.. a W. Chapman?
Reading a book that's almost 100 years old gives you a perspective on motorcycling that you might not have considered before. At one point the author talks about how much Rudge has learned from building motor-bikes over the past 17 years. I found myself becoming conscious decades of development that since went into my current 1971 Triumph Bonneville project and then continued on for decades more as found in my modern Triumph Tiger and Kawasaki Concours. A bit of historical perspective is a powerful thing when you're hands on with the engineering found in modern motorbikes. With nearly a century of continuous development, reading about motorcycling from the dawn of the sport is good mental exercise.
The Rudge Book of the Road takes me back to a time when my grandparents were children and, as a modern reader, I'm left struggling to find a frame of reference in our overcrowded and mechanized world. There were a quarter as many people on the planet when this book was written and internal combustion engines were in an early phase of rapid development as they revolutionized and democratized travel for more than just the wealthy. This book makes a point of recognizing this exciting period in history:
Traffic jams and the expectation that everyone be commuting in motor vehicles in an increasingly crowded and polluted world makes this perspective feel particularly alien in 2022. Can you imagine thinking about motorbike travel like this? If anyone could do it, it's motorcyclists - we may be one of the last vehicular subcultures that clings this kind of romance, even as the vast majority drive their appliances without a second thought for how they work or experiencing any inherent joy in the activity.
Having lived with rough 'colonials' for most of my life, some of the language in this very British book made me smile. It was written for Rudge Whitworth as a sales tool but it leans toward the romance of riding as a theme throughout. Rudge themselves lasted until 1946 before they stopped production, so you're reading a book by a company that hasn't existed in over seventy years, which further makes reading this feel like an echo from a distant and unknown past:
The state of the art in terms of motorcycle engineering was making major steps in the 1920s. Earlier bikes had you oiling the motor as you rode it. Too much and it would clog the spark plugs and leave you on the side of the road having to clean your plugs, a job most modern vehicle operators would have no idea how to do. Too little oil and the engine would seize, possibly tossing you down the road. This degree of involvement in motor vehicle operation was being phased out in the mid-nineteen-twenties bringing more people into the moto-fold.
The idea of sitting down with your new machine and understanding what it needs and how it works is a foreign one in 2022, but Rudge makes this process seem almost meditative. The idea of lighting your pipe and comprehending your new machine in your shed still appeals to a few of us. Perhaps this is another of those colonial distinctions. I have no trouble finding programs on industrial history and engineering when I watch British television, but Canadians seem more focused on resource extraction and office work than they are with understanding how things work and then manufacturing them. This sort of mechanical sympathy will sound particularly foreign to Canadian ears:
Sit on a can of gasoline and light your pipe! Those were the days...
This old book doesn't limit itself to motorcycling mechanics. If you've never camped before they offer advice for those new to sleeping on the ground. Rudge made sidecar outfits and even a trailer/caravan for people interested in taking everything with them.
When your trusty leather bound Rudge Book of the Road isn't teaching you how to moto-camp, it's explaining how the roads you're riding on might be built on top of old Roman roads or how to identify the architecture of the historical buildings you're touring past. This makes me wonder whether Rudge's target audience was perhaps a bit more educated than your typical rider, but it also makes me wonder if maybe people were just a bit smarter back then without a phone to immerse them in social media in all the time.
The book doesn't stop at camping or architecture and goes on to teach you how to forecast the weather, tell direction and even tells you where the biggest hills on the island are so you know what gear to tackle them with. It then provides charts on when the sun rises and sets so you know when to turn on your new-fangled electrical light. Rudges were one of the first to go electric. A few years earlier you were lighting a gas powered lamp on your motor-bike before proceeding into the dusk on mostly unfinished roads (while remembering to give the top and some oil). There are (many?) riders now who have never turned a wrench or put a wheel off pavement.
You'll learn more from doing things than you will from "all the books or professors in the world". Something we've forgotten in our screen-fueled information revolution?
There is another chapter written by F.A. Longman, Rudge's rider in the 1927 Isle of Man TT road race. He writes with a racer's urgency and puts you in the rider's seat as he talks you around the T.T. mountain course while it was still young and relatively new. It's amazing how little has changed in the racer's mindset even while they're using machines that have only just recently become mechanically self contained. They were seeing huge leaps in speed as technology improved and riders came to terms with what this new technology was capable of.
After teasing you with the Isle of Man TT, the RBotR then gives you some 1920s style advice on how to get ready to compete in trials and perhaps even go road racing with your motorbike:
Civilisation continues to makes fools of us all in 2022...
Give up the cigarettes and alcohol entirely, but do keep the pipe smoking! Can you imagine modern, liability-driven manufacturers encouraging riders to do this sort of thing on their new motorbike? It's difficult not to get swept up in the enthusiasm and possibility of riding at a time when it was still new to so many people, including the people who built the things! The lack of caution is exhilarating.
The book ends with a complete set of colour maps of the United Kingdom, but not before it talks you through buying your Rudge (this is a marketing piece, remember?). Your fifty pounds (about $1350CAD in today's dollars) gets you the base model of the Rudge Four - for ten pounds more you can get the sport model. New bikes were much more accessible back in the day!
The final gift this old book gives you is a list of future readings if you're interested in motorcycles and travelling on them:
Unknown Norfolk is on my shortlist. I wonder how many places I'll recognize from growing up there fifty years later.
The Rudge Book of the Road was such an interesting read that I'm going to keep digging for some of these other historical moto-reading options. The RbotR suggests slipping one of these in your (tweed?) jacket pocket to read when you get to your destination and finally put your feet up - with your pipe, of course - after another exhilarating day of riding in the dawn of motorcycling.
A more modern motorcyclist philosopher, Matt Crawford, described riding as "a beautiful war", the Rudge Book of the Road shows that it has always been thus. If you ride, you'll find this a familiar and enjoyable refrain.
No rear suspension other than springs on the seat and a tank that hangs under the frame: state of the art motorcycle engineering in 1927 seems archaic but these machines were a huge step forward in dependability and hint at the evolution motorcycles would take.
As GP from Hammy Hamster would say, 'the elephants are against us.' With the outside trying to kill us again, I'm focusing on doing a complete tear down of the 1971 Triumph Bonneville project. I was originally going to see if I could get the bike in motion as it is, but a combination of factors including 1971 Triumph build quality and the early 80s muppet who tried and failed to turn the bike into a chopper's spannering skills have me now approaching this as a frame up restoration.
I've been working around the edges which has been good for reconnaissance in determining what state the bike is in, but now that I'm committed to doing the bike from the frame up the first job was to remove the bottom end of the motor and clear the way for a frame restoration:
The bottom end was surprisingly light and easy to lift out of the frame and none of the frame to engine bolts caused any problems. Some were quite loose, so a frame up resto is making more and more sense as I don't trust anything the chopper muppet did to the bike circa 1983.
It was my first time into the rear drums and, like the fronts, they were age seized but otherwise not in terrible shape, though whenever I get into the dark places on this bike it looks like a scene out of Indiana Jones.
I've left the frame on the bench as I continue to strip it of accessories. The last time I did some coating work on a project bike it was with Fireball Coatings in Elora but seven years on they seem to have evaporated. I've been looking for alternate (and hopefully better) options and KC Coatings in Guelph looks promising. I intend to get in touch with them and see if we can shot blast and powder coat the Bonneville frame, I just have to make sure they can do it on a complicated oil-in-frame design like this one. Powder coating adds thickness and can cause problems with fasteners and fitting things back together so I need to find out if KC understands that and can can work with this one so that its mechanical pieces will still fit back together.
Following the frame I'll sort out both wheels (bearings, tires and inner tubes) before getting the rolling chassis back together and then rebuilding the motor with my swish new 750cc head.
Motor out and on a pop up workbench by the window. It's lighter than it looks.
I set up the Black & Decker WorkMate by the back door to the garage to give me somewhere to work on the bottom end of the motor. With the engine split and out of the frame, I can lift the parts off the bike around easily. I might put the bench away and make some space while the project is in pieces.
Revco is fantastic at shipping (even during a pandemic) and very transparent and communicative with delivery times. Everything I've gotten from them has been expertly packed, is new stock (no old/new tires). They know what they're doing with motorsport tires.
The '71 Triumph Bonneville came with 3.25 X 19″ front & 4.00 X 18″ rears and used Dunlop K70 tires as standard equipment.
It looks like there are modern Dunlop options for vintage SAE (non-metric) wheels at Revco where I've gotten my last two sets of tires. The handy chart below shows metric and imperial conversions but after some digging I was able to find SAE/pre-metric modern Dunlop K70s that are the exact fit for the bike. Using recent versions of original equipment that give me the benefit of modern rubber durability and grip while still keeping close to the originally engineering intent in Triumph's tire choice is fantastic. I'm not trying to recreate riding in 1971, I'm trying to start with that technology and update where prudent for 21st Century use.
Tire ChartsMotorcycle Street Tire Size Conversion Charts
Metric
80/90
90/90
100/90
110/90
120/90
130/90
140/90
Alphanumeric
- NA-
MH 90
MJ 90
ML 90
MN90/MP90/MR 90
MT 90
MU 90
Inch-(Series90)
2.75
3.00/3.25
3.25
3.50
4.00/4.25
5.0
- NA-
Inch-(Series82)
- NA-
- NA-
3.60
4.10
4.25/82/4.40
5.10
- NA-
Front Tires:
Metric
80/90
90/90
100/90
110/90
120/80
120/90
130/90
Alpha
MH90
MJ90
MM90
MN90
- NA-
MR90
MT90
Inch
2.50/2.75
2.75/3.00
3.25/3.50
3.75/4.00
4.25/4.50
4.25/4.50
5.00/5.10
Rear Tires:
Metric
110/90
120/90
130/80
130/90
140/80
140/90
150/80
150/90
160/80
180/55
200/60
230/50
Alpha
MP85
MR90
- NA-
MT90
- NA-
MU90
MV85
MV85
- NA-
- NA-
- NA-
- NA-
Inch
4.50/4.75
4.50/4.75
5.00/5.10
5.00/5.10
5.50/6.00
5.50/6.00
6.00/6.25
6.00/6.25
6.80/7.00
7.00/7.25
7.90/8.00
9.50
Size
120/80V16
130/90H16
130/90V16
500S16
MT90H16 3.00
130/90H16 3.00
140/90H16
140/80VB16
140/90H16
150/80V16
160/80H16
160/80H16
200/60VB16
120/80V18
120/90V18
120/90H16
130/80V18
130/70VB18
150/70VB18
140/70V18
170/60VB18
180/55VB18
230/50 X 15
Rim
2.75
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.50
3.50
3.50
3.50
4.00
4.00
5.50
2.75
2.75
2.75
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.00
4.50
5.50
7.00 to 8.00
Overall Width
4.7
5.00
5.2
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.8
5.9
6.0
6.2
6.4
6.8
7.9
4.8
4.8
4.9
5.2
5.4
5.9
6.1
6.9
7.0
9.5
Overall Diameter
23.8
25.4
25.0
26.4
25.3
25.6
25.6
24.8
25.8
25.4
26.1
26.1
25.9
25.9
26.4
26.3
26.3
25.4
26.2
25.7
26.0
26.3
25.3
Note: Measurements are based on the given rim widths. A rough rule of thumb: Each additional 1/2-inch of rim width will be approximately 1/4-inch more in each tire width.
The K70s at Revco are just over a hundred bucks a pop and Counteract Balance Beaded inner tubes are actually cheaper than name brand plain old rubber inner tubes. I've been using the Counteract beads for years to great effect so they'd be my first choice even if they weren't cheaper. All in I'm looking at about $320CAN ($250USD) for new rubber for this vintage restoration project, which considering the price of some of the other parts is pretty reasonable.
In order to rebuild the wheels I'll need to replace the bearings and clean up the brakes before putting new pads and hydraulic brake cylinders back in them. All that and getting the frame sorted out will get me back to a correct rolling chassis ready for the upgraded engine.
Somewhere at the end of all of this will be a road worthy '71 Triumph Bonneville, but it's a lot of parts to find and get in and then a lot time in the garage to get there. I'm hoping it'll be on the road for next year's riding season. As we thaw out here in Canada I'll be out on the Tiger and GTR and not spannering so much.
Meanwhile, here are some more motorcycle tire sizing reference charts found on the interwebs:
