That Triumph T-Bird taught me more about motorcycling and motorcycle maintenence than just about motorcycle I have ever had. I learned how to rebuild a sprung hub, cut my own cork clutch plates and how to troubleshoot and fix the electrical system (there are a lot of jokes about Lucas electrics that could fit in here but you have already heard them all).

While about as far from home as I was going to get one day, my trusty (?) Triumph 500 decided that it had had enough fun for one day. Over to the side of the road I went and started started staring at the electrical system with a truly blank stare. Now, remember this in the day before cell phones…way before, (as a matter of fact, most houses still had rotary phones?!) and I didn’t bring my carrier pigeon along for the ride that day. I won’t make that mistake again…While sitting there pondering the world of English electrics I heard the rumble of a thundering herd of motorcycles. It was a group of Hells Angels members out for a Sunday ride. When they pulled over near me you can imagine what I was thinking. As it turned out, I was helped by a couple of Hells Angels members that happened to know a lot about my little Triumph. These two guys stayed with me while the others continued on and got my bike running better than it had for quite a while. It was a bit scary at the beginning but these guys were so helpful, we ended up riding the rest of the day together and I bought them lunch to say thanks.

But, I digress. Lets gets back to what I found on ebay…the starting point for a truly rare Vintage Triumph. This is really more than a winter project, probably two or three winters. If you’re lucky. It is really only the engine, trans and frame. But….there is so much you can do with this start. Bring it back to stock (that’s going to be a LOT of work), make it a true old school chopper (a lot of it easier to do than go stock), or a vintage racer (flat track or roadracer), or it’s just another motorcycle project that your wife looks at as ‘another piece of junk taking up space in the garage’ and looks at you with that look of “my mother was right, I should have married Irving Shcnickelfritz, the accountant”.

Now, most importantly, you’re going to need the sprung hub. The hub had what was politely known as a suspension built inside, a couple of springs that gave the rear axle about an inch of travel? It worked after a fashion. But it is correct for this motorcycle to have no matter what route you take to finish it. And I would certainly want the way cool headlight nacelle. That headlight had all the instruments but it was actually made to house the bigger 7″ headlight. And you’re hoping that it stays on when you need it (back to the Lucas jokes). The more I look at it, I would do all I can to make a stock T-Bird again. But…and this is a big but, it would take a lot more than one or even two winters to do that. Ah, what else have you got to do on those cold Minnesota nights?

A couple more little interesting things about the Thunderbird. The T-Bird was born out of the 500cc Speed Twin, it was bumped up 150cc that gave it 8 more horsepower. At that time, post WW2, here in America big twins ruled the roads and to compete the brits had to make their lighter, better handling motorcycles more powerful. Enter the Thunderbird. The bike went from the twin carbs of the 500 to a single SU carb for better fuel economy. One way to tell if you have a genuine Thunderbird is if it has a hole in the downtube behind the engine that connects the carb to the air box. Most of the parts of the bike that we would normally expect to be chomed are painted because metal treatments like that were being saved and used for the Korean war effort machinery.

There are a number of good resources for old Triumph parts here in the US and England. I found four right here in California and two in Australia, my guess is that England is a treasure trove of parts to bring this skeleton back to life.

To get started on your next life long, exasperate the hell out of your wife and friends click on the pics below for more info (not much really…how much can you really say about a frame and engine? But you might want to ask the seller if the dog comes with it?

’52 Triumph Thunderbird frame and engine

Indian went from being the winningest racer on the track in it’s earlier lives, to a British made motor (either Matchless or Royal Enfield), tucked into an Italian frame. Interestingly enough however, other than the Taiwanese mini bikes, Indian motorcycles have always been well received by magazine types but not so much by the motorcycle buying public. Police departments were particularly fond of the various Indian models, including the one we are talking about today.

Indian motorcycle stopped production in the original Springfield Mass.factory. From 1955-1959 Royal Enfield’s were marketed as Indians. Production finally ended in 1960. In 1961 everything went back to Royal Enfield.

The 700cc Indian is actually based on the Royal Enfield Constellation twin was at the time was described as the first ‘Superbike’. In 1959 Indian motorcycle took the ‘Constellation’ and stretched out the frame and built up a much stronger gear box…that’s why the cops loved them so much. Sturdy and steady.

There is so much in Indian history that is so fascinating. Harley Davidson maybe the American ‘Lifestyle’ motorcycle but Indian is truly the iconic American Motorcycle. What is great at this time is that finally Indian Motorcycle has found a home (Polaris Industries, makers of Victory motorcycles) that will give the love and respect that this brand deserves. And maybe, just maybe, Indian will now be with us for another 100 years.

I found this really nice 1962 Indian Chief on ebay the other day and and I think it’s a great bike to add to anybody’s collection. As long as you go out and ride it!! Now, there is an interesting thing I found out about this motorcycle, it is titled as a 1962 but…it is probably a 1959 model? If you remember, back in the late 1950′s and the early 1960′s many motorcycles were titled the year they were sold, not the year they were actually made. This is the model that has the stretched frame and the ‘New and Improved’ gearbox. It only has 5504 miles on the clock and the clock is the optional 150 MPH speedo…a little optimistic but really cool to have. This bike has been stored inside for more than the past twenty years of it’s life…So, it looks it’s age but is in easily restorable / rideable condition. There were only about 800 of this particular produced so it falls into the ‘rare’ category really nicely.
Click on the pics below for more pictures and more info about this really cool motorcycle. This is one the bikes that make me really want a bigger barn. And…a bigger bank account.

’62 Indian 700cc Chief

I love finding odd motorcycles, for this website and for riding myself. The quirkier…the better, that’s my motto. Unlike other stories I have written about bikes that I have personal connections to, this little Ducati is a complete stranger to me, but I really like it.

Come to think of it though, I actually do have a connection to it, rather convoluted however. For a short period of time I had a little Suzuki 90cc trail bike that looks strangely familiar to this Ducati. Besides both having a 90cc 2 stroke motor, look at the styling…imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery.

We only had the Suzuki for about six months but it was a blast to ride around the neighborhood and the really big vacant lot behind our house. I was tempted to ride it in a ‘Family’ Enduro once but that thought quickly passed as I opened the second beer and my step dad was rolling on the floor laughing. If I had had the Ducati Mountaineer, well, maybe he wouldn’t have been laughing so hard?

So this little Ducati is really unique. For one thing most people don’t equate Ducati with small two strokes nor trail bikes, but at that period in time, Ducati made a lot of small displacement motorcycles.

The Mountaineer and it’s street going compatriot the Cadet, were available in two different versions. You had your choice of the basic 5HP model or, the mind bending, arms stretching, neck straining 7HP model. Think of all you can do with 2 extra horsepower. The Mountaineer had a steel Duplex Cradle frame (compared to the Suzuki’s stamped, might as well be tin foil frame), re-inforced handlebars and a dual rear sprocket set up, very reminescent of Honda’s dual ratio set up on the Trail 90. The little Ducati trail bike had a three speed tansmission and weighed in at only 115lbs. With 5 or 7 horsepower, you only need 3 gears!

Here’s the really cool thing about this little motorcycle. It had a turbine like fan to cool the motor so that no matter what RPM you were running in any gear, the engine had air running over the cylinder to keep the temperature down. Italian engineering at it’s most creative.

My daily perusing of ebay landed me on this little Ducati and the fun began. The seller has a story to go with this bike, selling it for an estate, the owner had passed away, it’s been sitting for a generation. The seller says it has only 83.7 miles on the odometer. The story attached to that is that the original owner bought it new, rode it around a bit, crashed it into the brush (or something like that), and from there on was afraid to ride it and parked the bike. Ok….look at the pictures. It looks to me that there is more wear than from just one little crash and then sitting through the ‘Summer of Love’, the Vietnam War and dozen Presidential elections. The ad also states the speedo cable is disconnected, Hmmmm. And, was the crash bad enough rip off the front tire? Nonetheless, for somebody looking for a really unique Italian motorbike, this might just fit the bill. You know, this could be a neat little bike for the Moto Giro California next year.

Click on the pics below for more pictures and the full story. A great resource for information about this Ducati would be the Ducati Bevelheads list, I know this isn’t a bevelhead but these guys are knowledgeable about most any vintage Ducati. You can contact them through my friend Steve Allen at www.bevelheaven.com

’64 Ducati Mountaineer 90

Fast forward a couple of years and the trusty R100 needs a break. Battery charger goes on the Goose and surprisingly, the next morning it starts right up. ” you know what, I had forgotten why I bought this bike, I really like it”. Eric is still riding his T3 almost daily.

A little info about the T3 here. The T3 designation stands for how many disc brakes are on the bike and, it was Moto Guzzi’s first motorcycle with integrated brake system. Tap the rear brake pedal and you also get one of the front discs slowing you down. It actually works quite well. The T3 was an outgrowth from the 850 California model. It was still designed for traveling and was also used by many Police departments. The T3 is a fine handling motorcycle (by big heavy slow steering rock steady Italian standards), it has been the platform for so many beautiful Cafe’ Racers and Sport Tourers. Guzzi’s of this vintage are found for sale with as litle 15,00 miles to over 150,000 miles on the internet on a regular, well…semi regular, basis. As I researched the Guzzi T3, every owner had almost nothing but good thing to say about, including my friend ‘The Alien’ (I can’t always take his motorcycle reviews all that seriously…he loves Studebakers, showed at my house one evening test driving his new VW van powered by an Oldsmobile V6 and is currently driving an old Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser…the list goes on but I’ll stop here and get back the subject at hand).

I found a really nice ’75 Moto Guzzi that has been seriously tricked out on ebay today. This Moto Guzzi has been completely gone over, through and tweaked. Apparently the owner wanted a LeMans but couldn’t find one he liked so he built his own. After stripping down the T3 he started lining up the garage floor with a LeMans tank,rear fender and seat, a special cafe fairing, forks originally designed for a Ducati, some upgraded Delorto pumper carbs, a factory close ratio transmission and even more including being pumped up to 1000cc’s. A beautiful paint job and a lot of nice details. The owner say’s “it’s not perfectly restored, it’s a hot rod”.

There are some negatives with bike. It does have some small crash damage, gas somehow got underneath the tank bag and damaged the paint on the tank. It’s really not all that bad. It will need some TLC because it has been sitting. Standard stuff…new battery, go through the carbs, etc.

This really is a nice bike but with all the mods it is going to need to be paid attention to on a regular basis. Click on the pics below for a lot more info and more pictures. So far it looks to be at a reasonable price for all you get. This guy has done all the work, you just need to ride it to your favorite Italian restaurant. My suggestion is Guisseppi’s in Pismo Beach California…I can also tell you the best roads to get there.

’75 Moto Guzzi T3 kinda of Le Mans

I seem to have this penchant for acquiring motorcycles that weren’t very popular here in the US. Yes, I do have a small fleet of Honda 350′s, (the biggest selling motorcycle of all time), I rode a Honda CB750 for years, but I do love the unique (read, hard to find parts for…) motorcycles. am currently working on an SRX600, which only came to the States for one year. A year later (1987), Yamaha tried again with the SRX250, a neat little sled…a quick handling, revvy little single, quarter fairing for the racy look and trying to attract the commuter rider. Well, it lasted just one year here too. Ironically,the Kawasaki EX250, aka; The Baby Ninja, came to the US around the same time and is still selling really well…Kawasaki can’t make enough of them…!! Honda has joined the game with the new CBR250 Single which is also selling really well and loved by all the moto magazines world wide. So, why didn’t the SRX250 succeed??? Beats the hell out of me. Light, sorta quick (a bit slow revving for a little bike, because the motor actually came from the XT250 Dual Sport), great handling, electric starter and sport bike styling. A great package. So again, why did Yamaha give up after just one year in the US? Sigh.

So, I found this neat little SRX250 in really great condition on ebay today. The owner did a couple of mods that in this case, really make the motorcycle, in my and apparently the owners opinion, better. He took the fairing with it’s rectangular headlight off, fitted a round headlight to the front, changed the funky looking side panels from black plastic to cool looking stainless steel, but other than that, kept the motorcycle as it was designed.

It starts right up, runs great, has only 6300 miles on the clock and should be a blast to ride. One of the good things about this little road rocket is that because it’s motor is based on the XT250 powerplant,(which is still around) finding parts won’t be an issue. There are plenty of resources for suspension upgrades if you find the need, and the web is full of forums and groups for the SRX models.

Click on the pics below for more info and the chance to get a really fun ride at what seems to be a very good value at this time

’87 Yamaha SRX 250