Decided it was time to add another bike to the fleet of reliability.
Found this on Craigslist in Pittsburg. I called the owner to ask a few questions. 3 times. I finally get a return call. I asked if he could send me some additional pictures and he told me he could mail me some Polaroids as he doesn’t know how to do too much with a computer. He was an older guy so I agreed. Never got the pictures. Called and agreed to a price and asked if I could send him a deposit. He agreed and I told him I would be coming down to visit my sister in Pittsburg at college soon and I would scoop the bike then. This was in February. I picked it up Sunday. The guy kept re-assembling the bike for me so I figured what’s the rush to go collect it? He said that he bought the bike in 91 from the original owner. Never rode it, started to take it apart to polish it up and never completed the re-assembly.
Here it is as I first saw it-also the pic I saw online
After hearing the story of the bike back to the time Moses walked the earth, it was free of his basement and loaded up
Got all the parts that were removed plus some other things
Roughly the color the bike is supposed to be
Brand new exhaust in the wrapper since the mid 90’s along with the HORRIBLE US Spec bars-got Euro’s on it currently
It’s like I took it apart except for everything is labeled and accounted for
37 years old with 4,100 miles and British-par the course
Finally home and the US Spec tank just sitting in the frame. I originally thought someone sprayed the top of the tank a yellow to orange in an attempt to do some lame flame/fire design. That’s the original red faded to shit. I don’t know if the tank was stored on the sun for years or what as the paint on the top tube looks pristine??? My 75 Trident is black with red scallops and black side covers, this one will be a red tank with black scallops and red side covers
Also gave me this, a Euro spec tank that he threw a coat of rattle can on just to prevent from rusting-inside looks brand new
Enough reading material to make War and Peace seem like Cliffs Notes
I have to say it’s freaking wacky having the shifter on the left side, brake fluid, and lights indicating neutral/high/low beam.
Plans are still up in the air but one of the Triumphs will be sold, possibly two. I will be out if/when I ever get a free minute. Running out of room in the last bay of the garage-taking the mower/grille out definitely has an order of operation now
There will be another one if the guy who is trying to sell the Norton Hi Rider in VA ever actually answers the phone or cleans out some of his voicemails.
I putzed around here and there on the 72 Bonneville(the gold-ish and white tank one) last year. I’m actually going to register it and ride that when the weather doesn’t suck balls. Plus, I can just take the plates off that one as I highly doubt anyone would check to see if the 72 Triumph is a 75 Triumph or a 79 Triumph and ride another one. Pretty much any free minute is devoted to the pedal bikes too. I need to clone myself.
Figured I should post up what happened to the Triumph.
I listed it on Ebay and sold it to a guy in Ohio. Great I thought as now I don’t have to crate it or anything like that. Well, that fell though as the title took longer than I thought it would, even though the buyer was going to make it his retirement project. So I re-listed it unfazed as I now had the title in hand. I got calls galore from all over the world. I got a call from a Kiwi who was on an oil rig in the Persian Gulf. He lived in Olean, NY and offered me just a bit less than I wanted for it. I passed on his offer and he told me he would call me about an hour before it ended. I told him for $500 we were different by, I wouldn’t risk an international call from an oil rig in the Persian Gulf if he really wanted it. This was after he asked me if the primary case bolts were in fact allen heads or Phillips. Each one. One by one. With a Kiwi accent on a satellite phone on an in service oil rig. If anyone overheard this conversation they would have thought I was deaf and mentally challenged. So the auction ends and he never called.
The guy who won it asked me prior to the end of the auction if he won the auction for my Bonneville, would I also sell him my Trident. I told him even if he didn’t win the auction I would sell him the Trident. This guy was also a Kiwi, in New Zealand. We were this close to a price on the Trident but he was just a bit low for me to cut it loose as I know I would even be hard pressed to replace it for $1,500 more than the selling price of mine. He would randomly email me asking if I thought about his offer and I didn’t cave. I told him if he upped his offer and threw in a Crowded House greatest hits CD, we had a deal. He was baffled why every American likes Crowded House and I told him it was because that’s the only New Zealand group that comes to mind. Yesterday the shipper showed up and I would be lying if I was to say I wasn’t expecting to be handed a wad of cash and both bikes to be taken away. So in the end I only sold the one.
Oh, he also sent me some pics of his collection. That was when I was very glad I stood my ground on the Trident pricing.
Yeah, this must be a cheap plot in New Zealand…
Lets have a look inside…
For those with a sharp eye, that is in fact an X-75 Hurricane just parked like it is no big deal. He has a mechanic on the grounds 40 hours a week.
