"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR MOTORCYCLE TODAY"

[Fatfatboy]

Thanks Keith.
I thought about replacing everything. A starter and solenoid are that much but with the hack on it’s a pretty tight squeeze to get to the starter plus it would be nice to know what the real issue is before throwing parts at it.

The starter does try to spin the motor. It just doesn’t spin it fast enough to start it. Well it did once when I first put the battery in.
I attached directly from the battery to the starter post and the starter motor spun fast but didn’t kick the pinion gear out.

When I get a chance I’m going to try pulling the plugs to see if it spins the motor faster and if it does then I’m going go straight to the solenoid with a jumper wire and see if it fires.
It’s a bit tight to get to because of the exhaust and one of the hack mounts but if I hold my tongue right I think I can get in there to do it.

[oldironnow]

Fatfatboy wrote

Thanks Keith.
I thought about replacing everything. A starter and solenoid are that much but with the hack on it’s a pretty tight squeeze to get to the starter plus it would be nice to know what the real issue is before throwing parts at it.

The starter does try to spin the motor. It just doesn’t spin it fast enough to start it. Well it did once when I first put the battery in.
I attached directly from the battery to the starter post and the starter motor spun fast but didn’t kick the pinion gear out.

When I get a chance I’m going to try pulling the plugs to see if it spins the motor faster and if it does then I’m going go straight to the solenoid with a jumper wire and see if it fires.
It’s a bit tight to get to because of the exhaust and one of the hack mounts but if I hold my tongue right I think I can get in there to do it.

That's a good plan with the plugs out (and grounded?)
The slow starter makes me suspect it, as I do on my Ninja.

But what hack said about the wiring ("I had a battery ground cable once that looked fine but it was corroded badly inside the sheathing") is exactly what I was thinking. I've had cars do that sneakiness.


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[m143]

Got in some dirt road miles on this beautiful fall day.

[Fatfatboy]

oldironnow wrote

But what hack said about the wiring ("I had a battery ground cable once that looked fine but it was corroded badly inside the sheathing") is exactly what I was thinking. I've had cars do that sneakiness.

.

I've not had that happen before but I am sure gonna check'em now. I guess it could be a reasoning behind only getting 6 volts to the starter post.

[Fatfatboy]

Nice photo Walt.
The tree's are turning real good here. i love the fall. Just don't like what comes after.

[hacksaw]

So nice! I love it . You da man , Walt!

[m143]

At one time I thought this bike was too tall.
I took it apart a while ago and kinda forgot about it.
After 6000 miles on a bike that is too tall, this one got my attention again.
So we rolled it on the table.
It's a '71 5 Speed.

[hacksaw]

That’s a 750?
They had an oddball 5 speed at first. Quaife? Is that the name? Lol. I can’t remember .
Yeah, too tall is the knock on the frames.
The factory thought so as 72 model frames were lowered .
BSA had the same issue but didn’t make the change and BSA production was phased out over the next year or two.
Nice to see you working on it !

[m143]

Keith,
It's a 650.
I put a few thousand miles on this bike years ago.
The 5 speed is said to be weak and problematic,
but it shifted ok for me.
I like the 4 speed better, seemed like I was always shifting the 5 speed and fith was not any taller.

[hacksaw]

Wow! That’s interesting and really cool !
Being a 650 if it came with a five speed it’s a Quaife Engineering unit. I read of them but never knew of one. That’s historic!
The 750 with triumph gears show vin nos. Ending in V.
Denoting 5 speed. I don’t know what yours would be.
I don’t know why they were designed just to shift more often , with no “overdrive “ or whatever change in overall gearing . HD did the same thing going to a 5 speed in Evos.
Quaife gears I think people just plain beat on them . There was a lot of resentment shown toward the whole OIF new bikes . So any flaw that could be picked on was certainly amplified by the naysayers .
My GUESS is the Quaife was designed as a stop gap measure to fill a racing need for an extra gear on some  tracks. As you have proven it endures fine in practical street riding.
Thanks for the interesting post . Good luck with it!

[m143]

Yes T120RV.

Homogulation, Triumph needed to sell 400 of the five speed to race the 5 speed.

Some people have speculated that my transmission could have been sorted out in the 20 years before I bought it.

[oldironnow]

m143 wrote

Yes T120RV.

Love that pic.


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[hacksaw]

Yea I can understand the racing numbers game.
I have no idea how many were produced , but it stands to reason a t120v is not common. I don’t know what the tranny weakness actually was or if Quaife had an upgrade or if the actual triumph 5 speeds could be retrofitted .
Very cool bike.

[Fatfatboy]

I think I got all I could out of the rear tire on the fatboy.




So I finally did something about it.



I had these take off spoked wheels and tires lying around off a Deluxe that I’d planned for another project that I changed direction so I figured I’d put them to use.

[hacksaw]

Wheels look good!

[Fatfatboy]

I do like them more than I thought. I would rather have black walls but I hated to waste the fresh tread.

[hacksaw]

Black walls on your blitzed paint job would be a distraction . The white actually softens the eye tearing yellow but at the same time balances out the whole look of the bike .

[hacksaw]

What did I do ?
Well I placed a new Diamond tred mat under the R65. Whst a bitch to start this thing. I can never tell how much to choke it or not choke it to get it running . In this case I had left the gas on! So it must have been flooded. Good thing the battery is new and I keep it on a tendr .
The clutch plate always rusts and sticks in my humid garage . I have now painted the areas of the block course  with waterproofing paint. Unfortunately the conc floor I didn’t get to b4 it got cold . Oh well. But I got this mat down and I have a fan on slow throwing some air it it’s covered with old towels . I do have a BMW cover if I can find it .
I also have the Hinkley pushed up along side it. I may get another mat for this bike as well .

[hacksaw]

Looks like a homeless camp .
Oh well.
I got to dig up some covers.

The triumph fires up like instantly !
I used to be a big anti efi guy .
No more!

Idk why the pic is sideways. It’s straight up and down in PHOTOs ???

[oldironnow]

Your motorcycles look well dressed for winter.

There’s a quirk in the website.

I believe the fix is to take cell photos in a sideways/horizontal format.

Which I rarely remember to do.

So i need to find the pic in my photos, and take screenshot of it, and then post that version.