Triumph T120TT Special (COMPLETED!!!)

Some of you may remember a thread a little while back of some progress on this bike. Well the builder called yesterday saying it was ready to pick up. The tank badges still need to be painted and the tach is frozen. Aside from those two issues, the bike is complete! To bring it up to street legal, we'll need to figure out a way to mount a license plate and rear brake light. We're thinking of creating a "chopper style license plate" mount off the rear footpeg mounts, placing the license plate vertical and a brake light above it or below it.

The bike fires on the first kick, effortlessly. It has HUGE gearing that makes the bike want to pull hard, and I mean HARD. It's loud, but not quite as loud as my father's old Triumph 750cc flattrack bike. The pickup and go on this is phenominal to say the least and it really is a fun bike.

For those of you who know your tires, you'll know that Dunlop originally were made in Great Britain. These are legitimate new old stock GB tires. They are a little hard but are plenty good enough because this bike won't be rode extremely hard.
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It's a 1967, late production model.

The NOS tires will be ridden on. The bike isn't going to be ridden hard or as often as the other motorcycles, but there is no intention to swap tires just to ride and show.

We ditched the crappy Lucas electrics for a more reliable and better tuned system. I think we got Boyer. We hid it all under the seat (if you recall, there is a little area beneath the seat for battery boxes on other models) using a battery box for a more modern Bonneville. It is so well done, tucked away, and clean that it looks stock. Honestly, if a Concours judge were to judge it, it would be sad to see him deduct points for it. IMHO, upgrading the electrical system makes for a more reliable bike that can actually be ridden.

The tires are what would come stock with the bike. They are Dunlop K70s. The front is 3.50x19 (IIRC they no longer are being produced, even in Dunlop Japan) and the rear is 4x18. Back in the day, my father ran a 4.00 in the front and rear.

The dual carbs may not have been stock. We aren't entirely sure because some say models came with a Amal Monoblock carbs, others say Amal Concentrics carb. We have Amal Concentrics on it, as that is what it had when my father bought the bike in the early 70s. Not to mention the Concentrics are superior and to buy Monoblocks would cost around $600.

The paint is exact to the original. As some of you may know, Laquer paints are illegal in California. The painter we went with sourced his paints to a guy in Maryland (who also Cadnium plated all the original bolts) who supplied all the correct paints. Many bikes you will see don't have the proper laquer paints. The color changes from a redish/purple (in dark/shade/garage) to a bright red (outside/in sunlight). The white also changes from a white to a creamy color. Hand painted gold pinstripes are a nice accent.

Being that we used laquer paints, we tried to match the white (for the tank badges) with OneShot paints. We didn't have a yellow to bring down the white, only a black, which made it grey. In the end, we couldn't get the paint to match as it was still too bright. So we got some extra of the laquer paint used and we still need to do the badges. Laquer is EXTREMELY hot and will dry as soon as you put it on a brush. So we have laquer thinner as well. It is a matter of when we have the time to carefully paint the badges. Also, the holes in the tank need to be re-tapped because they are kind of plugged. Once the builder gets a new tap in, we'll get that all squared away as well.

It's taken about 1 year to restore this. 1-2 of the months were spent doing proper research on the bike. Let me tell you, there is A LOT of ambiguity and elusiveness revolving around the TT bikes. Especially the 1967. Another couple of months were spent waiting for the bolts to come back. The guy in MD was holding on the them and not shipping them, for whatever reason. Then when he finally shipped the bolts, he gave us a BSA rear axle bolt, so we still couldn't even get a rolling chassis going. Sourcing a good, new top end was tough as well. It was tough finding a top end that wasn't bored to .060 over. Once all the pieces were taken care of and gathered, the bike went together very fast.

Oh, and the clutch is sooo smooth. Shifting is effortless, much more like a modern Japanese dirtbike. Doesn't clunk around or anything. VERY nice.

 

Thanks Darrell. IMO, switching to a Boyer is almost necessary. Why settle with junk, when you can upgrade and it won't look any different. To me it's a no-brainer. Glad you like it! I'd love to see your Norton!

Thanks Bill! What year is your Bonnie?

My father use to have a 750cc custom built flattracker Triumph. It had a trackmaster frame and Amal Concentrics. It originally had Mikuni carbs but, according to my father, never could run right with them. When he ditched them for the Concentrics, people were disgruntled, "why would you change from Mikunis!?!" From a performance standpoint, the Mikunis were better but were far more tempermental and would never tune in right. The 750cc was REALLY fast. My father who never raced, but rode with experts and pros all the time, even admits it was a bit scary at times.

Hopefully I could get his old pictures on my computer and post them some time! I think everyone would enjoy them!

 

Here's a couple videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_YV56wQrbw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlBVCXjU6CI

 

I don't know about the Brit Bar handle bars. Honestly, I don't quite know what you are talking about.

As for the pipes. They are straight through TT pipes. Here are two videos of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_YV56wQrbw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlBVCXjU6CI&feature=related

It sounds pretty tame at low RPM. The motor really wants to scream and wants to stay in the upper RPM range. It sounds loud, but not obnoxious loud. It sounds quite muffled idling and light revving, almost like it is sputtering. But once you grab a handful of the throttle it's a different story. Some Harleys are ridiculously loud and sound stupid (quite frankly). This has a great sound that screams its performance, yet not sounding over the top. You know what I'm talking about, the guys who have such loud pipes you'd think they were doing 100mph in 4th gear when they are actually in 2nd gear going 45mph.

 

Recently, a 67TT sold on eBay for $19,500. Market Value says roughly $16,500 for one in excellent condition.

 

BUMPED because of better pictures (for those who can't get enough of pics). We finally got the badges finished up. The tank badge holes were gummed up and had to be tapped, so we had to find a person with a whitworth 2BA tap. Still awaiting the tachometer to be rebuilt, which should take 2-4 weeks. Luckily it is local and not shipped out so when it's done, it will go back on the bike immediately.

The last pic is with me. I did a little color editing and applied a Sepia effect to the pic to make it seem like it's a vintage photograph.
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