Greetings from western NC!

[tarheelbilly]

I'm a recent purchaser of a '71 Bonneville 650 - my first Triumph. It wasn't quite a barn find (the seller knew he had something... ), but it wasn't running and he just wasn't interested in fixing it (new baby, blah, blah).... I checked all the electrical connections after I got it home - hooked up a couple loose wires, saw that it had spark, put in some fresh gas, twisted the choke lever around and it cranked after a few kicks....

I appreciate all the wealth of info hereon and hope to become a contributor...


Marty

 

[TheWelcomeGuy]

Welcome to TriumphTalk!

Hello tarheelbilly and welcome to TriumphTalk

Please try and keep this thread as your introduction thread. If you have any bike related questions please post them in the appropriate forum area as you will get a better response from all.

We also run a monthly photo competition so you may want to have a look at this as it is great fun all round Forum: Photo Competition

For information on how some of our forum enhancements work please have a look at our Forum How To Area. If you have any additional questions on how forum features work you can post them in this area.

Please note it may take a few minutes for your registration to be verified before the other forum areas become available to you

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact CarlS or DaveM

Enjoy your stay and have fun

 

[keystiger]

from South Alabama. Congrats on the fine new ride. Pics we need pics

 

[hemibee]

Welcome to TT from Southeast Texas and congrats on the new bike.


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[Bonnie79D]

Hi and :y88: to TT from Australia.

 

[tarheelbilly]

http://i40.tinypic.com/2rm2gxc.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/2nsnbpc.jpg

 

[Bonnie79D]

Nice pics. That should scrub up well.

 

[CarlS]

Tarheelbilly, welcome to the forum from the Sunshine State. Congrats on your first Triumph! That is a fine looking '71. I edited your post to include the photos in your post. Thanks for links.

 

[tarheelbilly]

Thanks, y'all! I trust you guys to give an honest opinion... Would you restore a bike in this condition or just clean it up and ride it? BTW, I'm just talking paint - the motor's in great shape.

Marty

 

[keystiger]

Marty that bike is in excellent shape. And appears to be mostly all original. If it where me I would spit polish and RIDE RIDE RIDE! You've got the "real deal" there. Ride with pride I say.
You can always do a full restore later if you want

 

[CarlS]

I agree with Keystiger whole heartedly. Clean it up good and polish it and enjoy it!

 

[DaveM]

Marty to the forum. What a COOL find I would just clean her up and ride her and maybe later see how you feel about really getting her back to showroom condition

 

[The Seeker]

Hi and welcome to TT and Triumph classic bikes from Pittsburgh.

Congratulations on s great find. I would clean/polish it and ride it for sure.

One thing though....the front forks look compressed completely. Is that from the tie downs or ate they broken down yo that point?

You don't want to tie down any bike that much as it will blow out the fork seals.

If that's not what's going on, you'll need to rebuilt those forks before it's safe to ride.

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[hemibee]

It won't hurt the forks to compress them fully. The only time it will be an issue is if you have a bad seal already. If that is the case the fork seals should be changed any way.

I would just clean it up some and ride it. As already said, you can restore it later if you want to.


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[CarlS]

I always tie my bike down until the forks are half way compressed.

 

[The Seeker]

I've seen fork seals blow on brand new bikes by tieing them down too far.

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[tarheelbilly]

Yes, that was only from the compression of the tie-downs - the fork seals seem to be in good shape with no visible leaking. That picture was shot the day I brought the bike home, which was not exactly a pleasant experience as evidenced by the blown-out trailer tire. I'm coming up I-40 west out of Winston-Salem on cloud 9, having just scored the bike when I started hearing a thump-thump-thump from the trailer. By the time I got slowed down and pulled over into the emergency lane, the tire blew out completely and nearly took off the right fender. No problem, I have a spare trailer tire, but where's that lug wrench? Oh yeah, it's in my other truck. D'oh!!! No way was I gonna abandon the bike and trailer to locate a wrench, so I limped up the emergency lane on the rim nearly two miles to the next exit. Needless to say, I'm glad I had the bike strapped down tight...

BTW, I also have an '84 BMW R100 and a couple Honda XR 200s. I always compress the front forks to about 3/4 when I haul and I've never had a problem.

Marty

 

[CarlS]

Glad you got the rig stopped safely with minimal damage. I have had trailer tires blow and take the fender completely out. Trailer tires are only rated for 65 mph. Anything over that builds up a lot heat.

 

[The Seeker]

My wife used to blow out horse trailer tires every time she'd drive on Rt 422.

It didn't matter if they were brand new...she'd run over something or something else would happen. We had to ban her from driving on that road.

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[hemibee]

I've seen fork seals blow on brand new bikes by tieing them down too far.

Posted with TapaTalk

Then they were bad to start with. It is impossible to blow a seal on a bike due to compressing the forks unless the seals are bad.


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