Triumph 500 twin gets stripped and rebuilt

Lewis Perry’s Excelsior project takes a back seat in the CB Workshop this month as Rick helps mate Will Coleman to buy his dream bike for £1000. Here’s how they began the process of restoring this Tiger to its natural habitat

Money’s the problem; old bikes are just too expensive for young people. Back in 1981, I was 17 and had £250 to spend; that bought me my first Triumph, a non-standard ’61 5TA in bits.

‘Mars bar economics’ suggests about 400% inflation since 1980 – but when did you last see a realistic 500cc Triumph project for a grand? Me neither, until now...

“Hi Rick! Ferret here,” ricocheted the voice from the phone. “Guess what? I just bought another 1929 New Hudson! But I had to take a D1 Bantam, ’57 Ajay 350 and a Tiger 100SS as well – they’re all as rough as badgers’ arses, but if you know anyone, £2500 the lot or will split!”

I instantly thought of my 24 yearold pal, Will. He’s always liked Triumphs, but wasn’t sure they were really for him – until he borrowed my ’68 Trophy for the 2018 West Kent Run. He loved it, but couldn’t afford one; maybe this was the answer. After discussion with his dad and brother, he came back to say they’d buy all three! “You do realise,” he wryly observed, “you’ve now corrupted nearly my whole family!” Always overshadowed by the 650s, Triumph’s unit construction 500 has a lot going for it. Light, revvy and smooth, a well sorted 500 is great to ride and easy to live with. The problem is the bottom end – lack of oil changes or poor machining of a replacement bearing can lead to big-end failure. I rebuilt my 5TA three times before finding someone who machined the bush correctly in line with the other main bearing; if the crank tightens up when the cases are bolted up, it’s wrong and all you can do is buy another bush and take it somewhere else. Nowadays I do it myself.

Will’s 1962 Tiger 100SS last saw daylight sometime in the ’80s.

Ferret warned it was ‘seized, sort of’ – the engine moved but locked when turned either way. But when we started the strip, we found no seizure – just a corroded valve stopping the piston. Better still, I doubt the engine’s done 10,000 miles since a full rebuild. All it needed was a freshen up, new rings, gaskets, seals and bearings, plus a grind to remove slight wear on the main crank journal.

We’re not looking for show finish – and I hate blasting abrasives into engines, so Will scrubbed the crustiness off the cases using wire wool and brass ‘suede brushes’ in my parts washer. After a degrease/ paint strip in my caustic soda tub, the iron barrel got a few coats of ‘barbecue’ satin black spray paint. I took Will to Rockerbox (01252 722973) to buy the parts because I trust what they sell and knew he’d appreciate the old-school shop as much as I do.

Pete Scopes at Brit Steel Classics in Dover (07707 845820, see page 36) offered to come and help Will put his engine back together. I’m always up for seeing how someone else tackles a rebuild; you can always learn something – and sure enough, when I was stumped by why the gears wouldn’t select, Pete had the answer. The selector forks look similar but are actually handed and Pete spotted that they were misplaced. As a brand new camplate is fitted, we think the last owner replaced it to cure selection problems but muddled the forks on reassembly, making it worse. So that’s why he stopped riding it. He’ll be kicking himself if he reads this!

Will’s delighted: “I knew how an engine works, but I’d never had one apart. I will feel much more confident riding the Triumph now I know it inside-out, and I really appreciate everyone’s help!”

I’d say this is what it’s all about – a bit of community effort to help out the next generation...

‘ON STARTING THE STRIP, WE FOUND NO SEIZURE’