Last minute details before the 1957 Triumph Freebird goes to Bornfree 11.

A mechanism to invert the choke lever. The carb being used is an Amal brand. Their chokes require a cable pull to turn them off, backwards from most choke actuators. Because the vintage Doherty choke lever that I am using would end up with the lever sticking straight up on the handlebar to turn the choke off, a fix was needed. It is made of brass and will be completed when the new carb gets here.

Here is the Doherty choke lever. The natural patina on this piece and the steering damper knob seen just behind it were the inspiration for the brass patina given to the hand-built parts.

Some vintage alloy exhaust collars. I have been warned about their tendency to expand and loose grip when heated, but just going to have to make sure the exhaust is well tethered. They were sanded and shaped a little, buffed smooth then bead blasted.

Bright and satin finishes together. I love this look and have used it on a lot of my bikes. There is always a question as to when to go to one finish or the other, trying to keep it balanced.

Alien mini-drone or voltage regulator? A brass cover was made for the Podtronics brand voltage regulator. The unit was shaped a little to contour it and make it a little smaller. This picture was while it was being worked on. The final version is finished with the same patina as the rest of the pieces.

The regulator has a brass tube that comes out the back and allows the wires to pass cleanly to the battery box.

Inching along. The colors were chosen to soften the look of the bike and be a backdrop for the more blingy parts.

Test fitting parts. Some of these parts have been on and off the bike a couple of times as the final tweaks on electrical and plumbing are worked out.

At this point, the wheels and covers could be slapped on and it would look finished, but still more to go to get it right. This needs to be a fully functioning and ridable bike when it gets to California.

Cam timing. The head-steady mount makes a great mount for the feeler gauge, but long ramp quieting cams are a little odd to deal with.

An alloy spacer made for the footpeg mount.

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.