1983 Triumph T140W 750 TSS; 8 valves & electric start!

[mikechev]

Re: 1983 Triumph T140W 750 TSS; 8 valves & electric start! - GrandPaul

Thanks Mike,

Mazocchi in the UK have the parts which I have ordered. My shocks are leaking oil. Probably standing too long with out use. The Mazocchi manual came with my bike.

How's the work going on your TSS ?

Hi SD

Not had much of a chance to get on here as I’ve been away on holiday and interstate with work over the last few weeks.

The correct carb rubbers arrived (apparently they have plenty in stock) a bit tight to fit but got there in the end.

One thing I found strange, the Bike has a balance pipe between the carbs to help with smoother idling but when I removed the pipe to fit the hose for the carb balancer
there were blanking screws in outlet?

If still to finish the carb balancing (had to stop to fix a cable problem first) but my question is:

Have the blanking screws been left in by mistake? Or are they meant to be there add the hose between the carbs is just to seal outlet?

Cannot find any reference in the manuals, any thoughts welcome.

 

[Sea Dog]

Hi Mike,

Welcome back. Hope you had a refreshing holiday.

My Bings have the small machine screws in the barbed outlet pipes. Have tried using a balance pipe with screws removed, however engine idles smoother with screws in place. It appears the screws are meant to be there. My bike did not have a balance hose fitted, however it could be a great safe guard to prevent the screws vibrating out.

Could you please give me the contact details of your carb rubber supplier and part numbers.

Looking forward to a ride report of your TSS

Cheers
SD

 

[DaveM]

Also looking forward to a ride report

 

[TSS_rider]

I put on a wireless bicycle speedo on the tss, cost about $45 from REI, great improvment over stuttering veglia, and is extremelly simple to install. I did have to buy 2 tiny "earth magnets' from Radio shack, which I glued to the wheel balancing wt. It works great.

I repalced the stock veglia tach with a taiwan copy I bought from Rabers Part Mart in San Jose. Looks like a Smith's and works excellently, so far. Unfortunately, during installation the tachometer cable plactic neck came off and now I will have to find a replacement tach cable.

Comment regarding my TSS - Putting the bike on the centerstand is a real bear. This requires a significant lift on my part, and I am no slouch in this respect; I thoguht a t150 was one of the more difficult bike to put on its centerstand, but the TSS is even more challenging. Cautionary note: If you use a mighty heave to get the bike up on its centerstand, the intertia of the bike can tip the bike over to the other side. (Don't ask me how I know this) Is this just me or do these bikes require a special technique to lift onto their centerstand.

Hope to get some serious riding in this week, then I will run a leak down test.

-Pat

 

[CarlS]

Did you get to do some serious riding?

 

[mikechev]

All TSS owners with Bing Carbs check out these carb rubbers on ebay Item # 150659100914

 

[Sea Dog]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the heads up with the carb rubbers. Really appreciate your assistance. I purchased them today.

TSS is running well. Fitted new seal kits to the rear shocks. They now work very well, in fact better than expected. The wallowing in corners has gone.

Hope things are progressing well with your TSS

Cheers

SD

 

[CarlS]

Glad to hear she is running well and being ridden.

 

[TSS_rider]

A quick update on my TSS.
Put on two new avons, a new chain and the original spec 44T rear sprocket.
When changing the oil, I notice a lot of weld swarf(sp?) on the oif reservoir backbone.
It was not loose, but would come off if pressed hard with fingernail.
Apparently many Triumph OIF aslo have this in their frame.
It made me uncomfortable, so I installed an oil filter that fitted in the frame.

Riding obsevations: Any rider observations are very subjective, but I try to be as objective as possible.
My reference points are my regular riders, a well sorted 1970 t120 and a modifed 1974 Duati 750.
I don't regulary ride modern bikes, so I cannot make that comparsion.
I took a couple of 60 mile fast rides on the windy roads of the Santa Cruz mountains in Northern CA.

The TSS handles exceptionally well.
Despite the very soft suspension, it is extremely stable in corners, tracks perfectly, changes directon extremely well,
absorbs bumps in corners without distraction.
Triumph really got the frame right, very impressive.

The bike cruises well at 75mph which shows an indicated 4,500 on my tach.
The manual states that 75mph equals 4,700 or 4,800 rpm; since I think my bicycle speedo is pretty accurate,
the tach is probably reading low. I took the bike up to about 85mph, still very stable with plenty more left,
but there were too many police lurking, so top end performance will have to wait for another day.

The bike does vibrate at speed.
Is it worse than my T120? Hard to say.
My T120 is well sorted with a 20T countershaft and is remarkably smooth for a vertical twin.
I will be taking the TSS on the 500 mile ride in October, so I will follow up.

Was this the bike to save the Triumph Co-op in 1983? Probably not, but it should have been put in production in 1978,
and that may have given the company enough resources to launch the Phoenix.

Regardless it is a nice ride.

 

[CarlS]

That is a really good good report. You have a sweet ride!

 

[Mike]

I have a T140 from the same year as my TSS, and I can honestly say that the T140 is much easier to get onto its centrestand than is the TSS, although the same part no is quoted for both. I know that my TSS stand is a little distorted in that the arm has been bent at some stage. When I get REALLY bored I shall swap stands over and see if it makes any difference (don't hold your breath!)

 

[CarlS]

I would have to be really, REALLY, bored to undertake that project!

 

[DaveM]

Very nice report thanks for posting it for us

 

[Sea Dog]

A quick update on my TSS.
Put on two new avons, a new chain and the original spec 44T rear sprocket.
When changing the oil, I notice a lot of weld swarf(sp?) on the oif reservoir backbone.
It was not loose, but would come off if pressed hard with fingernail.
Apparently many Triumph OIF aslo have this in their frame.
It made me uncomfortable, so I installed an oil filter that fitted in the frame.

Riding obsevations: Any rider observations are very subjective, but I try to be as objective as possible.
My reference points are my regular riders, a well sorted 1970 t120 and a modifed 1974 Duati 750.
I don't regulary ride modern bikes, so I cannot make that comparsion.
I took a couple of 60 mile fast rides on the windy roads of the Santa Cruz mountains in Northern CA.

The TSS handles exceptionally well.
Despite the very soft suspension, it is extremely stable in corners, tracks perfectly, changes directon extremely well,
absorbs bumps in corners without distraction.
Triumph really got the frame right, very impressive.

The bike cruises well at 75mph which shows an indicated 4,500 on my tach.
The manual states that 75mph equals 4,700 or 4,800 rpm; since I think my bicycle speedo is pretty accurate,
the tach is probably reading low. I took the bike up to about 85mph, still very stable with plenty more left,
but there were too many police lurking, so top end performance will have to wait for another day.

The bike does vibrate at speed.
Is it worse than my T120? Hard to say.
My T120 is well sorted with a 20T countershaft and is remarkably smooth for a vertical twin.
I will be taking the TSS on the 500 mile ride in October, so I will follow up.

Was this the bike to save the Triumph Co-op in 1983? Probably not, but it should have been put in production in 1978,
and that may have given the company enough resources to launch the Phoenix.

Regardless it is a nice ride.

Great report ! Thank you. It's all true....mighty fine motorcycles!

Am riding my TSS nearly every day as I am still waiting for my Tiger to return from the repairers. The TSS is proving to be utterly reliable and is a joy to ride. Really hooked on it. Have to fit a new rear tyre next week as the TT100 has done 2,500 miles and is shot. Was expecting to get double that mileage, however most of my riding is at highway speeds. I think the tyre compound is soft (Japanese manufacture), however the trade off is that they really hang on. Have surprised my mates with their modern bikes with the cornering agility of the TSS. It drops into corners very nicely and changes of direction is intuitive. They only get me with their acceleration out of the corners where modern bike horse power is far superior, especially up hill. Have also found it a very easy bike to ride around town.
The new clutch plates I fitted are working perfectly. No more sticky clutch and it just snicks into 1st from neutral every time.

Very much enjoying the ride.

SD

 

[Sea Dog]

I have a T140 from the same year as my TSS, and I can honestly say that the T140 is much easier to get onto its centrestand than is the TSS, although the same part no is quoted for both. I know that my TSS stand is a little distorted in that the arm has been bent at some stage. When I get REALLY bored I shall swap stands over and see if it makes any difference (don't hold your breath!)

Hi Mike,

No problem getting mine on the centre stand. Rear tyre is 12mm off the ground when on the stand.

SD

 

[Ksquared]

Geez - that is a beautiful bike!

 

[Sea Dog]

I have a T140 from the same year as my TSS, and I can honestly say that the T140 is much easier to get onto its centrestand than is the TSS, although the same part no is quoted for both. I know that my TSS stand is a little distorted in that the arm has been bent at some stage. When I get REALLY bored I shall swap stands over and see if it makes any difference (don't hold your breath!)

Hey Mike,

When you have time, a comparison between the T140 and TSS would be VERY interesting.

SD

 

[CarlS]

+1 I agree with that.

 

[grandpaul]

T140s span a wide range, but comparing my '79 T140D special and my '83 TSS, they are actually very similar.

The TSS has smoother suspension and much better brakes, the D seems to rev easier and it sounds better.

They are very close.

 

[mikechev]

Hi All

Been laid up for a bit due to Knee Op (Good job the TSS has electric boot) hence not had much to say about progress.

She is all ready for the road now, just finished syncing the carbs (last used up a fair bit of time) it apears to have been the source of the issue I had with the slight missfire feeling.. Once warmed up she ticks over like a swiss watch (well i think so).

The original tyres passed the roadworthy bur will be replaced before she goes on the road. No luck in getting the AVON's so TT100's it will have to be.Still got a couple of minor jobs to finish off, but one of them has me stumped, so hoppfuly someone can help.

The tank is touching the throtle cables on the 45 degree bend piece going into the carbs (Bings), as first i though it was the tank rubbers worn? nope new ones made no difference. I've had to re-fit/adjust a few bits around the bike as it seems to have missed the quality control process at Meriden.

I tried adjust the inner air box as it looked like the carbs are tilted up, but no real adjustment is there, it occured to me that they (triumph) may have cut the holes in them too high, but looking at the rebuild pics of SD bike (great point of reference SD thanks) they look the same.

Bugging me this one, so any suggestions welcome..

Cheers

Mike