nice day for the Trumpet

acadian

acadian

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Finally got old faithful out for a spin today, I'd almost forgotten how much I love this bike. No, not as grunty as the commando, but she's a 73 "hot cam" TR7 with a 32mm carb, so no slouch. Rode her to Baja, up to BC and back east once... she never left me stranded.

nice day for the Trumpet
 
nice! aren't you'uns supposed to stay in the house like we'uns here in the Old North State? (though hardly and one seems to be obeying)
 
alan hodge said:
nice! aren't you'uns supposed to stay in the house like we'uns here in the Old North State? (though hardly and one seems to be obeying)
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The way I see it I'm as far away from anyone as I could get on a motorcycle, even more so than all the bicyclists who are still out and about
 
acadian- you inspired me I took '68 BSA A65 out for a quick 25 mile ride weather is gorgeous here and the rod was jammed with cars/trucks and other bikes all out joyriding I didn't get closer than 6 feet to anyone so was 'safe' except for the blonde in a big SUV that pulled out in front of me
 
73 is still my fav Triumph twin despite needing a few mods and some "pep up".
They do vibrate a bit and after the Commando sort of hard to live with for anything
over an hour. Maintenance is pretty easy too.
 
Well my T140 is proving itself to be a fabulous lockdown ‘shopping for essential supplies vehicle’ ...!

The Triumph T140 SFESV.
 
Onder said:
73 is still my fav Triumph twin despite needing a few mods and some "pep up".
They do vibrate a bit and after the Commando sort of hard to live with for anything
over an hour. Maintenance is pretty easy too.
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I agree. Pretty simple to overhaul and add some thoughtful mods. IMHO the "oily" frame is a very good handler, especially compared to the older duplex. Over the years my list includes:

  • Alloy 7 plate clutch basket with T120 springs
  • T120 exhaust cam (came like that from factory, but renewed 10 years ago)
  • 32mm premiere - 260 main jet, 106.5 needle jet, 17 pilot jet
  • Morgo oil pump, gives me consistent 15+ psi at hot idle
  • Trispark with twin tower coil
  • oil cooler with bypass
  • oil pressure gauge off timing chest
  • XS breathers off exhaust rocker and primary, exhaust breather plumbed into oil tank
  • 70 TLS brake
  • T120 push over exhaust headers
  • Oil filter fitted under the seat where the old coil mount used to be
Next up I plan to fabricate a set of standard handlebar clamps to do away with the shitty P clamps and provide more versatility in handlebar choice. The "M" bar I currently have are comfy with the rearsets, but I'd like to try something a bit more aggressive
 
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If I remember correctly Triumph put in a quieter cam because one of the main bearings was failing. There is a youtube by a fellow in the states who does or did a mod to change the bearing so you could go back to a stronger cam.

Im one who likes the P clamps with their rubberiness and the stock domestic bars suit me so much I have them on two of my other bikes including the Commando until I put on the big tank and they just won't play sadly.
The 68-70 TLS is a fine brake but Im pretty much settled on the stock disc.
Later OIF is good, the early ones crack where the swinging arm connects. They are a bit too tall for me but they are stiff. Too heavy but so are most
stock frames. Good bike ten years too late.
 
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I also like the rubberiness of the stock P clamp bar mounts. They’re a bit crap when worn or badly assembled etc. But when in good nick and correctly assembled they do a good job of isolating the vibes without excessive sloppiness.

Triumph Tiger Trail’s had more normal ‘split’ mounts, they had too cos the braced off road bars couldn’t be fitted with P clamps.

But they were solid mounted, they had to be as there’s not much room between bar mounts and idiot light console and with a split clamp set up they’d hit the console when they flexed forwards. Clearance there is something you’ll have to consider if using anything other than stock P clamps.

Tiger Trail set up:
nice day for the Trumpet
 
Onder said:
If I remember correctly Triumph put in a quieter cam because one of the main bearings was failing. There is a youtube by a fellow in the states who does or did a mod to change the bearing so you could go back to a stronger cam.

Im one who likes the P clamps with their rubberiness and the stock domestic bars suit me so much I have them on two of my other bikes including the Commando until I put on the big tank and they just won't play sadly.
The 68-70 TLS is a fine brake but Im pretty much settled on the stock disc.
Later OIF is good, the early ones crack where the swinging arm connects. They are a bit too tall for me but they are stiff. Too heavy but so are most
stock frames. Good bike ten years too late.
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That’s a good video, certainly makes me miss the availability of Nourish cranks!

But... main bearings... I must be doing something wrong, I’ve broken cranks (including a Norton crank) in Triumphs, and con rods, and I’ve split cases. But, I’ve never had main bearings fail...

I guess it’s as my teachers used to say: “must try harder”...!
 
Again by memory, the original main in the 750 twin died in low miles like only a few thousand and they changed the cam rather than
deal with the bearing.
True British Engineering in the Final Days.
...and to be fair the Final Days started during the Depression!
 
I’ve heard the story too, but I’ve no idea if it’s true. Anyone on here have first hand experience of such failures?

Dave Degens told me he had never stripped a 650/750 Triumph engine due to main bearings failure!

Norman Hyde’s version of the story is that this failure mode occurred during development of the T140, not production bikes.

And he said it was “failure of the welded cage T/S main ball bearing” that was the issue, not the drive side roller as mentioned in the video.

Even if it is true I suspect something else was at the root of it, a faulty batch of bearings? Incorrectly machined cases? Etc.

There’s are too many tuned Triumphs flying around. We all know they can break the crank, throw a rod, split the cases, etc, etc, but main bearing failure just ain’t high up on the list IMHO.
 
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In the 20 years I've owned the bike she's been stripped down twice, the last coming up on 10 years ago, the mains were replaced but not because of failure. AFAIK, some of the 73's came with T120 cams from the factory because that's what they had on hand at the time.

But what do I know... she's always been a spirited bike though I've never flogged her
 
Many years ago my '77 TR7s main started to fail at 19,000 miles. I'd pulled up at a junction & could hear/feel that something wasn't right. I rode it home very carefully & later that week stripped the motor to find the TS ball race steel cage had failed where the two halfs are spot welded together. I replaced it with the three piece roller as used by Triumph on later engines. This is a common problem at around the 20,000 mile mark.
 
I guess many Triumphs get stripped before 20k and the mains replaced as a matter of course !

Any idea when they went over to the roller TS ?
 
I think a lot of us put in new mains when we do an overhaul and probably don't have to. Seems to me that the mains, if
they are worn, are worn not due to mileage but pollution of the oil for some other reason.
 
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