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Got lucky and bought an ex race bike which was complete but needed some love, it had a lot of good points like a 1951 T100 engine with the all important alloy barrel and head, gearbox with CR gearset, a 1953 rigid frame which had previously been modified to Competition spec with rearset foot peg positions and rear brake pivot relocated to suit - this had been done with lots of braze and not much finesse, home made oil tank which wrapped around the seat tube and looked naff, great looking patina Thunderbird tank with a few dents but really cool. Wheels were not the best 7inch SLS front, rigid rear was ok, front forks were present but no oil looking a bit shabby.
So what had a I bought ? well a good project in my eyes that would need a lot of love but the kicker was the parts that came with the bike - Brand new proper GP500 tank with the correct baffles all painted and ready to go, brand new 1 gallon oil tank with the correct breather tube, brand new chrome down pipes with correct megaphones, external oil filter, brand new twin Amal carbs & a mk2 sprung hub rear wheel in need of love - my plan is to build a GP500 replica or my version of one.
What's a Triumph GP500 you may ask and for those that already know sit back and relax, so the story goes that during the war Triumph supplied a portable generator to be used in Lancaster bombers and this used a Triumph 500 Twin engine which had an alloy head and barrels, come the end of the war and Triumph built up a race bike for the IOM TT with this engine + a sprung hub rear wheel (this was a copy of a design used on landing gear off planes and stopped the need to redesign the rigid frame and used up old stock before going the swing arm route) Back to the story in 1947 the GP500 won the IOM TT and the rest is history, Triumph made a reported 150/200 race bikes and then sold a race kit with the parts to turn your T100 into a race bike from a Coffee chest full of parts, the engine mods were claimed to take the STD engine from a heady 32 to 42bhp.
If your still reading thanks - I am a fair way along on the strip down so will post some regular updates so you can see any progress.
Tank
So what had a I bought ? well a good project in my eyes that would need a lot of love but the kicker was the parts that came with the bike - Brand new proper GP500 tank with the correct baffles all painted and ready to go, brand new 1 gallon oil tank with the correct breather tube, brand new chrome down pipes with correct megaphones, external oil filter, brand new twin Amal carbs & a mk2 sprung hub rear wheel in need of love - my plan is to build a GP500 replica or my version of one.
What's a Triumph GP500 you may ask and for those that already know sit back and relax, so the story goes that during the war Triumph supplied a portable generator to be used in Lancaster bombers and this used a Triumph 500 Twin engine which had an alloy head and barrels, come the end of the war and Triumph built up a race bike for the IOM TT with this engine + a sprung hub rear wheel (this was a copy of a design used on landing gear off planes and stopped the need to redesign the rigid frame and used up old stock before going the swing arm route) Back to the story in 1947 the GP500 won the IOM TT and the rest is history, Triumph made a reported 150/200 race bikes and then sold a race kit with the parts to turn your T100 into a race bike from a Coffee chest full of parts, the engine mods were claimed to take the STD engine from a heady 32 to 42bhp.
If your still reading thanks - I am a fair way along on the strip down so will post some regular updates so you can see any progress.
Tank
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