I wish you a full a complete recovery from your knee surgery. Yes, electric start is a very nice feature.
1983 Triumph T140W 750 TSS; 8 valves & electric start!
- Thread starter CarlS
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Hi Mike
Great to hear from you again. Hope your knee is well on the mend.
My tank is the same. The previous owner added a strip of rubber to the rear rubber mount which has achieved 3mm clearance of the throttle and choke cable elbows.
My carb / airbox alignment is reasonable and has not caused me to notice a problem. It is a very tight squeeze for the Bings. However, I have the old original, perished manifold rubbers in use. May be a different story when I fit the new ones. Just a thought. As the manifold rubbers are offset, perhaps rotating them to acheive the best alignment may help.
Has taken me a while also to get the tick over spot on. I have found the Bings like to be nice and warm to work at their best. Have retarded the timing slightly from the standard 30 degrees to stop pinging when on load accelerating out of an uphill corner. This also smoothed out the idle and the engine pulls stronger from low down. (2000 - 3000 rpm range)
Enjoy the fiddle. Hope this helps
SD
mikechev
Member
Hi Carl/SD the knee is on the mend nicely, thanks for asking.
I've since taken to adding some height to the tank rubber which has given some clearance for the cables (around 3mm also), I think we will have to put this build quality issue down to the time of bike being built as the Bings were only for the US market (emissions) so not as much thought might have been put in to things.
I'll keep that in mind about the timing, what fuel do you use?
TT100's arrived today, so need to get the wheels off and up to the tyre (Tire for our US readers) shop. I know I said I was not intending to restore the bike and keep it (apart from a bit of clean an polish) as was. However, the wheels are a bit scruffy and since buffing up the alloy edges they look worse. So a lick of black paint has to be given. That will be it though, there is enough immaculacy presented, prize winning show ponies on this site
(You know who you are).
I was at a bike show on Sunday and came across the is interesting Triumph ratty café racer, thought it might inspire someone to use all the old broken bike bits they have lying around the shed.
Cheers
Mike
I've since taken to adding some height to the tank rubber which has given some clearance for the cables (around 3mm also), I think we will have to put this build quality issue down to the time of bike being built as the Bings were only for the US market (emissions) so not as much thought might have been put in to things.
I'll keep that in mind about the timing, what fuel do you use?
TT100's arrived today, so need to get the wheels off and up to the tyre (Tire for our US readers) shop. I know I said I was not intending to restore the bike and keep it (apart from a bit of clean an polish) as was. However, the wheels are a bit scruffy and since buffing up the alloy edges they look worse. So a lick of black paint has to be given. That will be it though, there is enough immaculacy presented, prize winning show ponies on this site
(You know who you are).I was at a bike show on Sunday and came across the is interesting Triumph ratty café racer, thought it might inspire someone to use all the old broken bike bits they have lying around the shed.
Cheers
Mike
Attachments
Hi Carl/SD the knee is on the mend nicely, thanks for asking.
I've since taken to adding some height to the tank rubber which has given some clearance for the cables (around 3mm also), I think we will have to put this build quality issue down to the time of bike being built as the Bings were only for the US market (emissions) so not as much thought might have been put in to things.
I'll keep that in mind about the timing, what fuel do you use?
TT100's arrived today, so need to get the wheels off and up to the tyre (Tire for our US readers) shop. I know I said I was not intending to restore the bike and keep it (apart from a bit of clean an polish) as was. However, the wheels are a bit scruffy and since buffing up the alloy edges they look worse. So a lick of black paint has to be given. That will be it though, there is enough immaculacy presented, prize winning show ponies on this site
I was at a bike show on Sunday and came across the is interesting Triumph ratty café racer, thought it might inspire someone to use all the old broken bike bits they have lying around the shed.
View attachment 2387View attachment 2389View attachment 2388
Cheers
Mike
Too old to be a pony. More like an old nag with way too much time spent on it in the stable.
I use unleaded 98 fuel. When I had it stripped down, it appeared that the top of the barrels / liners had been skimmed. The liners used to settle into the barrels and cause the cooper sealing rings to leak. This was a warranty fix from Triumph. My compression may be up slightly from standard and the fuel we get now days is quite different to the leaded stuff they were designed for.
Anyway, back to the stable to admire my noble steed.
I am glad to hear the knoee is meding well.
I like that cafe racer.
I like that cafe racer.
mikechev
Member
The wheels came up pretty nice even though I say so myself. Used Brake caliper paint, probably should have been a bit less glossy but that was all I could find, should be durable though. The new TT100’s are now fitted and the wheels back on the bike, all going to plan she should be on the road next week.
Mike
The wheels look really good.
Nice work Mike! Hope all goes well on the test ride this weekend. Will drag mine from the shed for a run tomorrow.
Well dragged the old girl out of the shed and wound her over on the starter motor to build up oil pressure before giving it full choke for the start. Oil pressure up
Choke on full
Hit the starter button and it free wheels :y8: Try again and continues to free wheel. Sprag clutch not engaging. Knowing the sprag clutches are an archilles heel, I strip off the timing cover and remove the sprag clutch for inspection. Found one of the three small, fragile actuating pieces broken. Everything else looks fine. Put it all back together without the sprag clutch and have gone for traditional starts......the boot!Now the journey begins to find a new sprag clutch..........HELP !
Had to reset the valve clearances as I had slackened the tappets off to remove the sprag clutch which requires removing the timing idler gear. Once the timing and tappets were reset, I thought a health check of the compressions was in order after warming through the engine. To my delight, the compressions are up to 165psi. Immediately after the rebuild they were around the 150 psi mark, so everything has bedded in nicely.
That is good news - except for the sprag clutch. At least the old standby kick works.
See that's what you get when you use your bike.... do what i've beeen doing and just imagine what it would be like to ride
British Spares NZ list the sprag bearing, not cheap at $128.29 AU but they show plenty in stock.
60-7291 SPRAG BEARING,START CLU,T140ES 128.29 172.11
Nice work Mike and thanks. I'll get onto British Spares on Monday. Got the old girl back in action and living the dream once more cruising the highways.
Are you on the road with yours yet? The challenge is to imagine how good these bikes are. They own your soul when you ride them.
I have only a few weeks riding left on the TSS before the wet season kicks in. The Tiger 800 will come into its own then as it splashes around in the wet stuff really well.
Looking forward to your ride reports.
SD
mikechev
Member
The plan is to get the bike registered next week, as I have to take the bike to QT (Queensland Transport) finding the time is the only problem i have (very busy at work just now)..
Where did you put the QT Mod plate? I'm loathed to rivet it on the frame downtube as recomended by the engineer...
Where did you put the QT Mod plate? I'm loathed to rivet it on the frame downtube as recomended by the engineer...
Hi Mike,
I riveted it onto the frame under the seat between the two seat hinges. Will take a photo tomorrow and post it. Interestingly, the engineer I used recommended putting it somewhere under the seat so as not to spoil the look of the bike....different folks different strokes. Good luck dealing with QT.
I riveted it onto the frame under the seat between the two seat hinges. Will take a photo tomorrow and post it. Interestingly, the engineer I used recommended putting it somewhere under the seat so as not to spoil the look of the bike....different folks different strokes. Good luck dealing with QT.
mikechev
Member
The First ride:
Got the TSS registered for the road this week, while quite time consuming all went smoothly with the Queensland transport department .The short ride to and from the transport office provided a mini shakedown, and gave the brakes a chance to bed in.
The plan was to go for a big shake down ride this weekend with a mate and a few tools (just in case of any mechanical issues). However, I had some free time this afternoon decided to go for a ride as the temptation was too much. Ended updoing around 60 miles! The bike just kept getting better the further I went.
When your usual ride is a modern (retro) bike (05 Thruxton ), getting back on a classic does take a bit of getting used to. With new tyres fitted there was no "knee scraping" stuff going on, however as the ride went on my confidence in the rubber grew. I have owned a few T140's and the lack of typical Bonnie vibration was true to the TSS's reputation.
The front brakes initially gave a slight shudder when a decent handful was grabbed, a minor steering head bearing adjustment fixed that. The rear shocks bottomed out way too easily, I'm no featherweight but not that heavy. A mid setting on the pre-load has improved this and one more click might just do the trick. There's no leaks from the shocks and I might play with the pressures (any tips SD?).The front forks springs are soft but the damping seamed ok, I'll leave them for now but any suggestions are welcome.
Performance wise, well it was better than expected and significantly better than any of my previous Bonnie's ( Of course I'm going to say that
). It did feel a little bit flat at 1/4 throttle so I might try adjusting the needle heights as SD did. It also stalled at idle as I came to a stop a few times.
The not so good stuff:
The heavy throttle action soon makes its presence known! That spring mod SD did might be on the cards. There's also an annoying rattle coming from the front guard? The lack of traditional Bonnie bark from the exhaust is a bit strange, but as I'm determined not to change the exterior look of the bike, I persevere with it for now but those peashooters are nice and don’t look out of place on the TSS.
As I sit on the couch writing this , the satisfied look on my face is commented on by my wife. And even the envy that came from reading the installments of SD's adventures has faded, It was all worth it!
I'll run a spanner over her tomorrow and check for any escaping oil.
Mike
Got the TSS registered for the road this week, while quite time consuming all went smoothly with the Queensland transport department .The short ride to and from the transport office provided a mini shakedown, and gave the brakes a chance to bed in.
The plan was to go for a big shake down ride this weekend with a mate and a few tools (just in case of any mechanical issues). However, I had some free time this afternoon decided to go for a ride as the temptation was too much. Ended updoing around 60 miles! The bike just kept getting better the further I went.
When your usual ride is a modern (retro) bike (05 Thruxton ), getting back on a classic does take a bit of getting used to. With new tyres fitted there was no "knee scraping" stuff going on, however as the ride went on my confidence in the rubber grew. I have owned a few T140's and the lack of typical Bonnie vibration was true to the TSS's reputation.
The front brakes initially gave a slight shudder when a decent handful was grabbed, a minor steering head bearing adjustment fixed that. The rear shocks bottomed out way too easily, I'm no featherweight but not that heavy. A mid setting on the pre-load has improved this and one more click might just do the trick. There's no leaks from the shocks and I might play with the pressures (any tips SD?).The front forks springs are soft but the damping seamed ok, I'll leave them for now but any suggestions are welcome.
Performance wise, well it was better than expected and significantly better than any of my previous Bonnie's ( Of course I'm going to say that
). It did feel a little bit flat at 1/4 throttle so I might try adjusting the needle heights as SD did. It also stalled at idle as I came to a stop a few times.The not so good stuff:
The heavy throttle action soon makes its presence known! That spring mod SD did might be on the cards. There's also an annoying rattle coming from the front guard? The lack of traditional Bonnie bark from the exhaust is a bit strange, but as I'm determined not to change the exterior look of the bike, I persevere with it for now but those peashooters are nice and don’t look out of place on the TSS.
As I sit on the couch writing this , the satisfied look on my face is commented on by my wife. And even the envy that came from reading the installments of SD's adventures has faded, It was all worth it!
I'll run a spanner over her tomorrow and check for any escaping oil.
Mike
mikechev
Member
This is where my one ended up Mike.
Meant to say, riveted the mod plate to the tool tray! bit of risk but payed off.
Mike,
Your TSS looks fantastic! Wonderful to have two of them on the road in OZ. With only one number separating the bikes regos, they could be twins.
I've just clicked over 3000 miles on mine since the rebuild and its running very well. The small tweeks to the timing and tuning have worked well. Interestingly, I have found the bike has to be thoroughly warmed through before it achieves a stable idle. Must be a Bing thing.
My rear shocks are set to the second to heaviest setting, which gives a sag with me onboard of one third of the stroke. I weigh 68 kgs. I run the recommended 28 psi in the shocks. Easiest way to do it is to pump up to 40 psi then drop down to 28, allowing for the small amount of pressure loss when you remove the pressure gauge.
My front fork springs appear a little soft, however the ride is really comfortable and it never gets out of shape. Have got used to it now and don't notice it anymore.
Looking forward to more ride reports. The more you ride it the larger the grin....believe me!
SD
Your TSS looks fantastic! Wonderful to have two of them on the road in OZ. With only one number separating the bikes regos, they could be twins.
I've just clicked over 3000 miles on mine since the rebuild and its running very well. The small tweeks to the timing and tuning have worked well. Interestingly, I have found the bike has to be thoroughly warmed through before it achieves a stable idle. Must be a Bing thing.
My rear shocks are set to the second to heaviest setting, which gives a sag with me onboard of one third of the stroke. I weigh 68 kgs. I run the recommended 28 psi in the shocks. Easiest way to do it is to pump up to 40 psi then drop down to 28, allowing for the small amount of pressure loss when you remove the pressure gauge.
My front fork springs appear a little soft, however the ride is really comfortable and it never gets out of shape. Have got used to it now and don't notice it anymore.
Looking forward to more ride reports. The more you ride it the larger the grin....believe me!
SD
