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

Dream Project Motorbikes

Some dream project bike builds...

Stock (before)

1970s Honda CB750 Cafe Racer Mod

I'd take the standard CB750, strip it down, refinish it and modify it into a cafe racer along the lines of this Dime City Cycle build.

I'd modernize the pieces that need modernizing.  This isn't a period remake, it's about creating something new with old bones.

A cafe racer build (after)

The CB750 that Dime City put together gives you an idea of what could be done in customizing an old CB750, but I'd do something different.

I'd hope to be able to pick up the bike for less than a couple of grand and then put at least that much into it again as I stripped it and put together a personally customized cafe racer.  The CB is a big bike, which would turn into a bike cafe racer for a big guy.

Being Austin - build my own Mondo Enduro Machine

Austin on his mighty Suzuki DR350

Find a Suzuki DR-350 or DR-400, hopefully one that's been sleeping in a barn somewhere, clean off the straw and strip it down to nuts and bolts.  

In rebuilding it I'll not only end up with a dependable long distance off roader, but I'll also have laid hands on the entire thing before it inevitably breaks somewhere far from anywhere, meaning I'll know how to get it going again.

Long distance and modernizing modifications would include a long range tank, updated suspension and an engine rebuild with performance carbs and a re-bored engine. 

Find a 1990s DR350 Suzuki dual sport
bike and prep it for long distance off
road work, Mondo Enduro-ize it!

The goal would be a minimalist go-anywhere machine that isn't all about branding.  So many adventure bikes are all about the BMW-ness or whatever.  This bike would be a capable, light-weight all rounder that isn't about advertising but all about going anywhere.

Anime Dreams: taking the bike I loved as a kid and building an anime custom

The bike that was on my wall when I was younger was the Honda Interceptor.  With a complex, powerful v-4 engine and the sharp edged eighties styling, this bike was the bomb.

I'd want to do a rebuilt / customization that keeps the feel of the bike but also feeds into the Japanese animation fixation I've had forever.

Influencing the build would be Akira and Robotech.  BBB-Bike has already done a Cyclone customization, which is a bit more comicon than I'd be aiming for.  

My Interceptor would still be an Interceptor, but with little tech-touches that bring out the anime in it.  LED lights, a customized, anime inspired seat/rear cowling and mirrors, that sort of thing.

Real Restoration: a Triumph Bonneville the same age I am

an new old Triumph Bonneville

Henry Cole did a restoration on a '70 Triumph Bonneville in the last season of The Motorbike Show on ITV (not sure why ITV isn't offering a webpage for that show, they should be).

What they started with

Henry and Peter Thorne (the restorer), of Aspire Restorations, take what can only be described as a complete wreck (a frame and fairly useless lump of engine) and completely rebuilt it.  It ends up pretty much being a new 1970 Triumph Bonneville.

I'd like to find a British bike built on the same day I was born (in the UK) and do a restoration on it, then we could both age gracefully together.

How Bespoke is Too Bespoke?

Owning a Fireblade checked a box, taught me
many things and was a zero cost experience!

I always try to balance out bike projects so that I land in the black on them.  I've gotten pretty good at this.  The Fireblade Project cost me about $2300 all in and then I got to ride it for a season before selling it for $2500, which I then put towards the Concours14.  Even with fancy seats, windshields and other gubbins, the Connie only owes me about $7000.  Older model, double the mileage bikes are going for eight grand, so I'm still ahead there too.

People who throw big money down on customization that they like seem to think other people will pay extra to adopt their choices and tastes, which never made a lot of sense to me.  This goes for houses or in vehicles - just because you're willing to pay a premium to get a certain look, doesn't mean anyone else is, and expecting them to shell out for your choices is a bit naive.

The Concours was a cagey purchase that
still has me well in the black.

What does always sell is functionality.  As much as I'd like to get all romantic and throw money at the old Triumph I'm restoring, I'm more interested in making it work, and then riding it.  To that end, I'm not interested in creating a perfect replica of a 1971 Triumph Bonneville to put in shows, so modern touches (especially when they're more cost effective than stock-at-all-cost options) are something I have no trouble with.  A bike that starts easily and runs sweetly sells itself much more quickly than a cantankerous but period correct trailer queen.  One's a motorcycle, the other is art, and art is notoriously in the eye of the beholder.

One of the reasons I've always gravitated toward cheap and cheerful 80s and 90s Japanese restos was because the parts are usually easy to find, including hard parts from a breaker if needed, and they're as cheap as chips to buy because people tended to use them rather than put them up on a pedestal.

My first brush with 'vintage' (I think a 51 year old air-cooled Triumph from before the collapse of the British bike industry qualifies as vintage) has me wondering if my approach still works.  The cost of parts is much higher than more recent Japanese bikes and this particular Bonneville was half taken apart by a muppet who wanted to be in Easy Rider, so I'm constantly finding parts missing or incorrect.  I'm also struggling with missing non-metric tools after having owned metric bikes my entire life.

When I'm reading Practical Sportbikes I enjoy the articles on DIY and the stories of scratchers who got a machine put together with their own hands.  When they run one of the 'specials' articles where it's a rich guy with clean hands throwing money at a project, I lose interest quickly.  Classic Bike Magazine is similar.  When they're talking about an owner keeping an old machine running on ingenuity and guile, I'm all in, but the minute it's a millionaire adding to his collection with another bespoke machine put together by someone else, I've lost interest.

I just finished Guy Martin's new book, Dead Men Don't Tell Tales, and Guy ends the latest one talking about trying to find what makes him happy.  This requires a fair bit of self awareness - something that most people don't have.  Guy's particularly difficult in that he will often act on an urge that turns out to be incorrect, but, as he says in the book, he's evolving.

There's a scene in Guy's Garage where Cammy, his professional race mechanic mate, knows how to fix the car they're working on but Guy has his own ideas and keeps bashing away at it wrong.  Rather than push the point, Cammy backs off and waits for Guy to realize he's using the wrong tool for the job.

Guy is critical of Cammy for being slack in his approach to work in the book, but I'm left wondering if the truth isn't somewhere in between:  what looks like a lack of effort from Guy's point of view is actually a better use of his energy from the professional race mechanic's point of view.  There's more to all this than just jumping in to the physical labour, you need to be exercising the grey matter too.

What I'm taking from this latest round of Guy Martin media is that you're more likely to stay engaged with and finish big projects if they make sense to you.  To that end, I spent yesterday working out why the kickstarter on the Bonneville wasn't working (the muppet had put it in backwards).

The goal is still to have gone through the whole bike and have it back in working order without breaking the bank.  The amount spent on it matters less than whether or not the project is in the black.  If a functional '71 Bonneville is worth about five grand, then that's what I'll work to on the budget, while keeping an eye on what engages me most about all this:  putting a sidelined bike back into service again... and then riding it!

This morning I'm looking at Motogadget's mo.Unit Blue and considering how to best tackle a 51 year old wiring loom that looks to be in good shape but should probably get rebuilt if dependability is the goal.  An ignition powered by bluetooth on a smartphone is just the kind of steampunk anachronism that a riding focused buyer would dig.  That it's also invisible means it won't hurt the look of the bike (the only change is the ignition key isn't there).

Got into rebuilding the Amal carbs only to discover the muppet who took them apart before didn't install any of the air slider hardware for the choke, so now I'm hunting for hard parts for 51 year old carbs... in a pandemic.  Note my anemic imperial socket wrench set.

Ready to go and then stopped - neither carb has the air slider or hardware in it.  I'd normally call around to the local breakers, find a donor set of carbs and then keep them handy for situations like this.  That isn't an option with a 51 year old British bike.

It's coming along - slower than I'd like, but it's coming along.  When it seems too much I remind myself why I'm doing it: one day soon that engine will turn over for the first time in decades and shortly after that I'll be out riding the thing!

Brake System Maintenance on a C14 Kawasaki Concours

 I'm busy in the garage these days with the on-going 50 year old Triumph Bonneville restoration project.  It's a big project that will take some time to sort out, but it's -20°C outside with snow squall warnings of 20cm of snow coming, which means it's also regular maintenance time on the two running bikes in the stable.

Tiger's back in hibernation after last week's sprockets & chain maintenance, waiting for a break in another never-ending winter of COVID for a chance to ride.

Last week the Tiger got new chain and sprockets.  I hadn't done the sprockets on it since getting it over 5 years and 40k ago, so I figured it was time when I noticed the latest chain had stretch in it that made it impossible to set the sag properly.  This week it's all about the Concours.

I got the Connie last spring in the middle of the second lockdown.  My son and I rented a van and drove down to The Beaches in Toronto and picked it up from its second owner who hadn't been riding it for several years.  It's a very low mileage bike (under 30k when I picked it up), but I like to cover all the basic maintenance so I can set a 'zero point' for future work.

As you would expect from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the brakes on the GTR1400/C14 Concours are superbly engineered Nissin calipers.  I'd picked up the pads last summer but they hung on the wall until now because I was putting miles on the thing.  I did find the brakes were squeaking a bit, suggesting the calipers weren't releasing properly - something that can happen in a bike that sits for several seasons.  Like I said before, I don't like riding a bike where I'm not sure of the maintenance, especially on brakes, so it was due.

Doing the pads on the Concours is remarkably easy.  You don't need to remove any body panels and everything is very accessible.  Undo the pin that holds the pads and spring that holds them in and then everything comes apart in your hands.  The pins were rough and there was some odd gunk stuck in the front right caliper.  I cleaned everything up and lubed it and then slotted the new pads into place with the now lubed pins (I think it's a #5 hex head that does the trick).  All very logical.

If you're looking for torque settings for the
brakes on a Kawasaki GTR1400/Concours
C14, here they are.

The rears are just as easy and a similar design with the same pin and caliper bolt sizes (everything is hex metric).  The back was as mucky as the front and I went to lengths to clean up the pressurized caliper slider and lube the pins and areas where the pads move.  The action immediately felt better afterwards.

Last spring when I got the bike I had to sort out a leak in the hydraulic clutch which resulted in entirely new DOT 4 brake fluid (what the Connie uses in both clutch and brakes).  Changing up your brake fluid removes impurities and moisture that can eventually cause real corrosion headaches in your brake system, so after doing the pads I changed up the brakes fluid on both front and rear systems.  The only fluid change left now on the Concours is the antifreeze.  I'll do that at the end of next season.  When I tested it the fluid it was still bright green, looked new and showed good temperature range.

Getting all the air out of the hydraulic clutch so that it felt tight and had positive action was a real pain in the ass last spring.  The good new is that this air-line powered vacuum system did the trick then (it's not crazy expensive) and takes the headache out of bleeding anything with steady, controllable suction.

In the case of the brake system, I set up the vacuum bleeder and then kept adding fluid in the reservoir at the top until it came out clear (the used stuff was darker and cloudier - it looked almost like water once the new stuff made an appearance.

Just a note:  don't keep brake fluid laying around open.  It collects moisture and goes off pretty quickly.  As with all brake fluid changes, I opened the bottle and then immediately used it this time.

The front brakes took less than 10 minutes to completely bleed of old fluid and the rears even less.  If you're doing your own brake/hydraulic fluid maintenance with any kind of regularity, let that hand-pump go and get one of these things (assuming you have an air compressor of course).

With the brakes sorted on the Concours and the sprockets and chain on the Tiger, both are waiting for a break in the weather for a cheeky winter ride to kick off the 2022 season.  As long as I'm not trying to navigate ice on the road, I'm good to go.  An above zero day and some dry pavement is all I need

Now that the regular movers (I was going to call them new but the Tiger is almost 20 years old and the Connie turned ten last year) are sorted out maintenance wise, it's back to the old Bonneville project.  Next up I'm rebuilding the two Amal carbs, then it's rebuilding the ignition system and then (hopefully) hearing the old thing bark for the first time in decades.

Sometimes the Bonneville can feel like it's too big to manage, it needs so much, but with two other working machines I'm never going to be angry with it not being ready, though I would love to have it running in time for The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride on May 22nd.  A '71 Bonneville with some early 70s retro style would be a blast.

Motorcycle Electrical System Rebuild From Scratch

Researched links on re-wiring the 1971 Triumph Bonneville... 

The old Bonnie has an intact loom and many of the original electrical components, but many of these pieces won't have weathered the decades well and I'd be crazy to try and rebuild a hacked on electrical system in a fifty year old bike, so it's all coming out.  I'm going to take a page from the custom scene and build a loom from scratch and design and build a complete electrical system from scratch.

This ain't no modern digital machine so the electrical system in it is prehistorically simple.  Building a dependable replacement with quality modern upgrades (proper copper wiring, modern connectors, new electronic ignition and coils, etc).  The result should be a 1971 Bonneville that is more spritely and dependable than anything that rolled off the line in Meriden in 1971.

Tutorials on creating a motorcycle wiring harness/loom:

BikeExif Tutorial: https://www.bikeexif.com/motorcycle-wiring

Rewiring tutorial:  https://www.liveabout.com/making-a-motorcycle-wiring-harness-743591

Tutorial:  https://purposebuiltmoto.com/motorcycle-electrics-101-re-wiring-your-cafe-racer/

Tutorial: https://www.hagerty.com/media/maintenance-and-tech/building-wiring-harness-from-schematic-to-bundle/

Resource (costs 20 pounds): https://rupesrewires.com/build-your-own-wiring-loom-pdf-book/

Another good resource ($40): https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0760345368/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've purchased and read that last one - it's a gentle introduction to electrical work but I found it a bit simple and wished it had picked up speed as it went.  If you've never done any electrical work then it's a good place to start, but that's what I do all day so I was hoping for something with a bit more depth.

Replacement harness:

http://www.britishwiring.com/MC-28-PP-p/mc28pp.htm

Prebuilt '71 Bonneville wiring harness: https://www.thebonnevilleshop.com/product/lucas-71-72-triumph-bsa-650-twins-main-cloth-wiring-harness-pn-54959629-g-99-1222-g/

Original loom wiring colours:

• RED (seems to be earth but then battery + so this is a positive earthed bike?)
• WHITE (headlamp loom)
• GREEN/WHITE STRIPE (LH handlebar switch & main loom)
• BROWN/GREEN STRIPE (headlamp loom)
• BROWN/GREEN STRIPE (headlamp loom)
• WHITE/YELLOW STRIPE (L/H handlebar switch) + ignition coil
• BROWN (headlamp switch)
• GREEN/RED STRIPE (L/H handlebar switch)
• PURPLE (horn press R/H switch)
• LIGHT GREEN (L/H handlebar switch)
• PURPLE/RED (earth?) horn
• BLACK/WHITE STRIPE / BLACK/YELLOW STRIPE (contact breakers)
• BLACK/WHITE STRIPE (condesner pack/ignition coil split)
• RECTIFIER:  WHITE/GREEN STRIPE + GREEN/YELLOW STRIPE+BROWN/BLUE STRIPE+RED (earth)
• IGNITION COIL: BLACK/YELLOW STRIPE to coil & condenser pack + WHITE to coil
• RED (earth frame)
• BROWN/BLUE: Zenor diode
• RED to battery positive (that doesn't make much sense)
• BROWN/BLUE: battery negative
• IGNITION SWITCH:  WHITE+BROWN/BLUE+BROWN/GREEN
• FLASHER UNIT:  WHITE+LIGHT GREEN
• REAR LIGHTS:  BROWN/GREEN STRIPE (rear lamp)+BROWN (stop lamp)+GREEN/WHITE STRIPE (L/H indicator)+GREEN/RED STRIPE (R/H Indicator)+RED (earth)
• STOP SWITCH:  BROWN+WHITE
• STATOR (GREEN/YELLOW STRIPE+WHITE/GREEN STRIPE)

https://monomotorcycles.co.uk/ were advertised in the UK's BIKE Magazine...

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/certified-18-awg-25-ft-0207555p.html

The Motogadget is an all-in-one electrical block for all electrical items on a bike - it also provides you with a bluetooth connection so you could start and stop it by your smartphone:

https://www.motogadget.com/shop/en/electrics.html

Not really what I'm looking for for the Bonnie project, though I'll keep it in mind for a future ground up custom build.

A new ignition barrel with keys looks to be about $80.  I'll see if Britcycle has them.

The existing wiring looks like it was taken apart and left that way - I'm tempted to take it all out and just rewire it rather than trust the old mess.

Electrical Systems Parts List:

• Ignition barrel & key set
• wiring to rebuild loom step by step - I'd need correct gauge wiring & connectors
• fuse box
• fuses
• reg/rectifier
• upgraded/modernized stator

Motorcycle wiring how to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zm67VyrQTS1_H7WRunfkhOZ1H6wivD6RuK6194P3lvs/edit?usp=sharing  A commonly found writeup someone has done to walk any interested DIYer in how to rewire your bike.

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

1971 Oil In Frame Triumph Bonneville Restoration: Tire Choices

The old Bonneville needs new tires and inner tubes so I'm wrapping my head around olde fashioned, pre-metric motor-bike tyre sizes.

Those would be the Dunlop K70s that came with the Bonnieville back in the day.
Fortunately Dunlop is still looking after the bike they designed the tire for.

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 Charts                               Motorcycle 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:

1971 Triumph Bonneville Project: Engine Out

The weather's all over the place at the beginning of March this year.  Last weekend I had both road-ready bikes out for a shakedown, this weekend we're skiing in -20°C windchill; that's the road I was riding on last week.

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.

Resources & Links

Power-coating Specialist in Guelph for the frame:

https://www.kccoatingsltd.com/contact

Where to find tires:

https://revco.ca/

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.

How to DIY your own fender: 

https://purposebuiltmoto.com/how-to-make-a-diy-motorcycle-fender/

If I had more space I'd have welding kit and an English Wheel set up in the workshop and get into a lot more fabrication.  I'd go digital too.  A industrial sized 3d printer would make me dangerous:  https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2015/11/iihtm-digital-workshop.html