Dreaming Of A Bigger Tool Shed...

At the bottom of the garden stands the tool shed. This is by no means a tool shed to boast about. It's roof leaks, the floor is rotten, a family of squirrels takes refuge from the elements inside, and I am forever having to prune back the ivy that seems to like the darkness of the shed.
Now while it serves its purpose as a place to keep my tools and various projects, it is both a little cramped and a little too damp for restoring old motorcycles. This isn't all bad. I have come to an agreement with the girlfriend that as parts get restored, as long as they don't smell or leak oil, they can live in the warmth and dryness of the house. Sadly the old BSA does not fit into either category so it has to fend for itself in the tool shed. Maybe when I am done with the Triton, the old girl will get an engine overhaul and come stay in the living room. Or maybe we will move to a place with a garage. We will see, but for now, a visual tour...

These actually make it look quite tidy... The Honda Monkey Bike sitting in the corner - I have to finish this by the time my girlfriends nephew has long enough legs to ride it - don't they grow up quickly nowadays.

Time for a nice cup of tea and a sit down, and ponder the meaning of stuff...

Alignment woes...

So with the motor's pending arrival it is time to start thinking about fitting bits together - the gearbox will be a reasonably quick job to refurbish, it is time to start planning ahead on engine plates, spacing and drive trains.

Using a Norton gearbox, this will be the only part that will be fixed laterally. The engine, having its mounts narrower than the engine plates, has room to adjust side to side in order to align the clutch and engine sprocket. With the plans to use a belt drive, this has to be spot on to stop the belt wandering off. I will be using a double sided gearbox adjuster to stop the gearbox twisting under load. As well as the engine and gearbox being lined up laterally they must also be spaced suitably apart for the primary chaincase to fit, and using a belt drive, the belt must fit within spec - belts are not made in every conceivable number of teeth and the permutations are not limitless. The gearbox centre should also be below the centreline of the rear swingarm when the rear suspension is loaded. This is so that when the power is applied, the force on the rear sprocket is such as to pull it down more in contact with the road rather than pull it up away from the road. Also the nearer the gearbox shaft is to the swingarm pivot, the less the variation of the distance between the gearbox and rear sprockets as the suspension extends and compresses. This is kinder to the rear chain. So that is the gearbox.

The rear wheel has some movement side to side by fiddling with the axle spacers, and adjusting the rim offset to suit. Things to be careful of are compromising the rear brake plate torque stay mechanism, and the chain clearing the swingarm. The Gearbox sprocket also has some lateral adjustment by using shims or offset sprockets, so even though the gearbox is fixed, the sproket alignment is not. Of course, the same is true with the clutch. It is also true with the crankshaft sprocket.

So, if I haven't confused myself, I put in the gearbox, adjust sprocket to rear wheel, adjust rear wheel to gearbox, put in engine and adjust to gearbox, shim sprocket to get spot on and Bob's your uncle, I will have a drive train.

So with all this thinking about alignment, I am going to have to get my frame trued before I start putting things in it, or all will be for naught. I guess I am going to have to make my mind up on my rear wheel too. And who I am going to get my engine plates from. Should probably figure out my primary cases and order my belt drive while I am at it. And then I have to decide what sprocket sizes and chain guage to use. I guess I should quit worrying about alignment for now, and go back to collecting parts and upsetting my bank balance...

A trip to the bike shop...

So I took at trip to the bike shop (http://www.europeanmotorcycles.com/) today where my motor is being assembled to drop off a big box of motor parts, and to give the man some hard earned cash - seamed like an odd exchange and definitely very one sided. The bottom end is now complete and I have to say it is a thing of beauty. The top end is ready to be worked on and from his reports, I should be seeing the completed motor by the end of the week. So it is time to clear some space in my wardrobe until the Norton frame is ready to be its new display cabinet. Photo's to follow....

Dreaming of brakes...

So one of my hardest decisions I have come across so far is what brakes to go for, the possibilities are endless and range from thrifty to possible bankruptcy. My original plan for the rear was a Triumph conical hub, drilled to look like a Norton Manx hub at a tenth of the price.

As for the front, I have been totally clueless and still am. My first thoughts were a full width Norton hub with a Norton Commando twin leading shoe brake plate, but I went off the thoughts of this because the Commando didn't come about until 1968/9 which makes it a little late for my build specs.

And then I came across a strange company called Disco Volante and discovered what only can be described as cafe racer porn - let me introduce you to the 250 mm Fontana four leading shoe front brake and its little brother, the 210 mm twin leading shoe rear brake. Time to start saving, I think I am in love...
Well, a lad can dream. Think I will put this decision off for a while, maybe I will make my mind up next year - for now, back to the motor and start on the gearbox...

The Motor...

I decided that the plan for this bike should be to construct it entirely from period parts available to the sixties builder and any concessions away from this should be hidden from view. I decided that a pre unit motor was the way to go, and settled on a 1958 Triumph T110 motor - 650cc vertical twin. I managed to find a bottom end in reasonable condition, well, that is how it was advertised, and surprisingly I didn't get raped over the price as so usually happens on Sleazebay.

The motor as bought...

So next came the long and arduous task of collecting overpriced motor parts. The list so far...

• Morgo big bore kit - 750cc, complete with pistons and gudgeon pins
• Morgo rotary oil pump
• Morgo tappet blocks - later style
• Mid sixties two part crankshaft - light version from a TR6C
• Polished conrods
• E3134 nitrided cams with R followers - this is Triumph's racing set up
• 3 key way timing wheels
• Alloy pushrod tubes - late style tappet block to earlier head
• Performance push rods
• Timing cover complete with rev counter drive
• Finned sump plate with drain plug
• Bonneville twin carb head (9 stud)
• Rocker assemblies
• Lightened tappet adjusters
• Finned oil rail for rockerboxes
• All new bearings and bushes and gaskets.

The motor is currently with Steve Giblin of European Motorcycles (http://www.europeanmotorcycles.com/) who is doing the engine assembly for me, including dynamically balancing the cranks and rebuilding the head, as well as repairing stripped threads from previous heavy handed owners. Hopefully it should be ready in a few weeks time so that I will have something complete to look at and to build a bike around. I am trying not to keep a tally of how much money I have in this motor already, or else this bike is going to end up as living room furniture.

The motor in its original surroundings...

The Frame...

When I first decided that an old cafe racer was the direction I wanted this project to head, it didn't take long for me to decide that a Triton was going to be the object of my desires. First built in the early sixties they were a marriage of the Norton featherbed frame, accepted as the best round handler of the day, with a Triumph twin 650cc engine which was well known for being the most reliable and easily tuned, but in a frame that has been described as a hinged camel.

After a fair amount of searching I came across a 1956 Norton Dominator 99 Featherbed frame - this is the wideline version of Norton's featherbed. It was a complete rolling chassis complete with its Roadholder forks and fullwidth alloy hubs laced to some rusty but original rims. I exchanged it for my tax return and the project begins...
This is how the frame would have looked in the motorcycle it was intended for...