Triumph 500 Bob Job

[drumbum]

Hi Folks,

Starting this thread quite a way through the build and have found this forum very useful up to now.

I tore down a perfectly rideable Daytona about 8 years ago after it went thru 2 head gaskets. Turned out the top of the barrells were convex so off to my mates machine shop to get that and the head matched up again.
Long story short, this is where i have ended up after putting it on hold a couple of times to prioritise other little things (kids, mortgage, lazy ass wife) that life threw my way.

This is being put together with pretty basic tools and a bit of "number 8" mentality and I don't mean I use a pool ball to help decide what is done.

This project won't be filled with the super engineered or fabricated parts I admire from a lot of the threads I have followed, but it will be proportionately balanced and have a good mix of subtle ingenuity thrown in within the bounds of my ability.

Many friends poke a bit of fun at me for not having an "off the shelf" rider but i suspect they don't understand my journey where building it is well over half the fun.

Will update as things progress, thank you to chopcult forum contributors that have helped me form a picture of what i want.

[planksta]

those fork covers look great!

[TroyFab]

Very clean looking.

[farmall]

Clean is good. Me like.

[drumbum]

Here is a bit of progress.

Got some bars bent up from a pattern i made which look great and way better than anything off the shelf.

The fork covers i think are aftermarket early sportster ones i think but fit the forks perfectly when using pre-unit seal retainers on the unit forks. had to notch the bottom of the brake plate side one to give clearance for fork travel.
The process of converting the forks to internal springs was to much chop and change so I got a local spring maker to twist me up some shorter narrower ones.

More to come.

[60GalaxieJJ]

Can't wait for more.

[drumbum]

So, rolled the bike out of the shed again after getting the front brake plate back from the polishers and doing a few other minor things.
Really happy with the over all look of the bike at the moment.
Went for A Trico switch for the hi/lo, horn, and kill which looks tidy and balances the bars out nicely in an un-fussy kind of way. Wiring will be through the bars.
Next up will be mounting the pre unit oil tank I have which fits the cavity where the hardtail meets the loop perfectly.
Then its down to mounting the guard, the fuel tank (though there is a bit of work to do on it first), and a chain tensioner of some description. The simpler the better.

Then strip down for paint and shiny stuff.

[LoudPipesSaveLives]

Great looking bike. Nice job so far.

[drumbum]

Found this today.

This where i started about 7 years ago after fitting an ill-fitting hardtail......Glad i took my time, it looks terrible.

[nuklhd]

i dig how it sits and looks. is that front end stock for that particular model? i really like it. info on it if you don't mind so i learn a little bit. thanks.

[drumbum]

Forks are stock external sprung Triumph. Lowered it using an extra set of spacers and had a local spring maker twist up some shorter springs that also had to be a smaller diameter to fit under the aftermarket fork covers. Don't really know what the covers are off but they were a Californian made aftermarket item. Brake is the 500cc TLS of the day with some bits trimmed off the brake plate to lighten the appearance a little.

Got a bit busy in the weekend with a revised headlight idea and mounted the oil tank though it needs to be moved down a touch to balance the spacing against the frame.

[drumbum]

More progress

Well a lot has happened since I last posted.
Separated from my wife, divided assets (not the bike thank you very much), sold a house, bought a house, and put the kids into new schools.
Like I posted originally, this is being built around the curve balls life is throwing up but i wasn't expecting that.

Anyway, most of what you need to know is in the picks. Balance of the fabrication is down to mounting the rear guard and number plate.
On mounting the tail light atop the rear guard I discovered the old english car side lights i choose for the job were brass. Originally i was going to chrome plate the sad looking lights but i think I'll just give it a good buff and go from there.

For me the bike sits well and the riding position is comfortable. Not far to go until I can tell you for how long. . . . Ha.

[planksta]

Those fork covers are most likely MCM they look like FC-6 which were for extended triumph front ends, they're 15" past stock length, here is a pic for reference

[drumbum]

Hi Plank, I have a set of those as well. The ones on the bike are different at the top and a narrower tube than what you have pictured. I liked the look of the ones on the bike better so put preunit seals in and had narrower external springs made to fit underneath them. If you compare the taper at the top of the covers the MCM ones taper form the top of the cover down to where they attach to the lower tree. The ones I am using do not. Have a look at photo 3 in the original posting and you will get a better look at what I mean. I was told they were for an early sportster but who knows really.

[planksta]

Hi Plank, I have a set of those as well. The ones on the bike are different at the top and a narrower tube than what you have pictured. I liked the look of the ones on the bike better so put preunit seals in and had narrower external springs made to fit underneath them. If you compare the taper at the top of the covers the MCM ones taper form the top of the cover down to where they attach to the lower tree. The ones I am using do not. Have a look at photo 3 in the original posting and you will get a better look at what I mean. I was told they were for an early sportster but who knows really.

Huh yea your right I see how they taper in the middle of both trees instead of starting at the bottom one, not sure what they are then. Question for you if you don't mind, I'm building my front end and was going to use some MCM fc-5 covers and they don't fit over the stock unit fork seal holders, should I just swap the fork seal holders out for pre unit ones? Or should I just mill off that top flared portion of the stock ones?

Thanks
-Zach