Chrome is back and assembly begins on the 1957 Triumph Freebird build!

With less than a month till the Born-Free Show, it is crunch time around the shop. Chrome is finally back, the frame is back together, and engine, primary, and tranny are installed. Still making a bunch of small parts to finish off the build.

The tranny was waiting on the kick-start and shifter arms as well as the clutch arm before final assembly could be done.

Just prior to the engine install, a lot of cleaning threads and removing chrome from holes to get the parts back together. The fork springs were cadmium plated to contrast all the chrome and to match all the other round-rod cadmium plated pieces.

A brass collar for the internal cable throttle assembly being made.

There is something exciting about a table covered with fresh chrome. The brass collar in the previous picture can be seen on the handlebars.

Most of the chrome was very good, but the brake arm on the right was nickel colored and had to be re-chromed.

The rear wheel dust cover was missing off the spacer so a brass one was made that covers the spacer and is held in place by a small recess on the edge of the spacer that allows the wheel nut to clamp it down.

Time will tell if this is a good design, but the factory one uses a cover pressed-on to the spacer that had come loose and started spinning, gouging out the edge of the spacer.

After polishing the rear spokes and nipples, it was obvious the front wheel was going to need to be disassembled and polished again. Sigh.

After the polish job, a brass dust cover was made to match the rear wheel.

More details. Brass screen was placed in the front brake panel grills.

Engine and tranny are in, wheels built, but the small details will delay getting it on the ground.

The first of the leather work has come back and is amazing!

Engraving brass parts and saddle bag construction on the 1957 Triumph Freebird Bike.

The brass reverse handlebar levers and kickstart pedal were engraved by Wade O. Wilson of Mansfield Texas. He also did engraving and pinstripe on the Honda CL175 Cabracer and Elsinrore MT250 Brother Bike built for Steve Caballero. Wade came up with the Freebird script that echoes the original Thunderbird script on the primary cover,.

I wanted a vintage checking on the levers like you see on pliers. Wade used a rounded tip graver to get this appearance. Everything was buffed to break the edges and then oxidized.

A Japanese Koi fish on the clutch lever perch. The fish is my personal symbol, explained in the “about” section of this site.

Also taken from a Japanese painting, this is the bird chosen to be the Freebird. I was wanting a simple small bird, the type of little consequence that is free in the sense that he is free of expectation. Think about it, song birds, beautiful birds, predators, scavengers, everyone has their eye on them and expect a certain behavior or appearance, but the little unremarkable one gets to go around unnoticed…which one is more free?

The Born Free script on the other side of the kicker pedal. Wade did such a killer job on everything!

Some saddle bags for the rear rack of the bike. Beaten on a steel hammer form, they are made from single pieces of 22 gauge steel.

Just held temporarily by tape, the edges had to be tweaked quite a bit to get them to line up together.

The boxes will be for tools and anything else that will fit in them. They will be suspended in the triangular section of the rear rack.

20 gauge brass and some brass tubing is being used to make the hinge for the boxes.

The boxes will be covered with leather and the brass will be oxidized after the soldering is done. There will be a toggle type latch in the circular part of the hinge strap, and a flap over the top.

Freshly rebuilt by Joe Hunt Magnetos, the magnets were switched out for some of the Neodymium ones that never need re-magnetization and are supposed to deliver a dense spark.

Paid a good bit for the sticker…too bad it is coming off.

The 1957 Triumph Freebird Bike battery box and headlight finishing.

Getting some more body parts finished. The battery box latch and hinge are on and just waiting on the frame to come back from chrome. The latch was made from some one-eighth inch brass plate and an antique skeleton key.

Easy to open with one finger, but still tight enough it can’t accidentally open.

This latch was made a couple years ago and has sat in a box until this build was revived for the Bornfree Show. Nice to see it finally in place.

The hinge is also handmade from 20 gauge brass and tubing.

Details, details, details. The rear tank mount was worked out, using brass rod and nuts drilled for safety wire and rubber mounting on all sides.

Getting the headlight assembly wired up. The indicator lights are lit by neon bulbs taken from some military surplus fixtures.

Still feels strange using a positive ground, but really it is just getting used to the wire color difference.

Coming up with some brass fittings for the fuel hoses. The 1/4 BSP fittings were an online purchase and along with some clear 5/16” tubing, look a lot like the stock Triumph hoses. The brass thin wall tubing came from the hobby store, and slipped over the tubing snugly. It would probably been tight enough to keep the barbed fitting in, but a little crimping would probably be a good idea.

To do the crimping, a simple tool was made from scrap steel.

The finished hoses after the crimping and the patina was applied.

Not having the frame is not all bad as it has forced me to work on the components on the bench opposed to on the bike.

The Seven bike was moved into the house. Yeah, my wife is alright.