The 1957 Triumph Freebird returns from the Golden Bolt Motorcycle show.

The 1957 Triumph Freebird bike is back from The Golden Bolt Motorcycle show in Los Angeles. Although the bike did not win in this winner-take-all competition, it was well received and placed in the top ten despite missing out on the critical road test (due to a catastrophic oil leak that presented itself as soon as the bike was kicked over at the start of the ride.) A lot of good moments with friends old and new, and a chance to see some great bikes and their builders up close. The weather was awesome, everyone was cool, and the show was more intimate and chilled than most.

During set-up. I can tell it was a good week-end because I didn’t have time to take too many pictures.

The reason I didn’t make the road test portion of the competition was this hole blown out of the oil-feed block. During it’s previous life, this part had been buffed or sanded aggressively prior to being chrome plated and the solder holding the plug in place was gone. There was no indication of a leak in the test-riding I did prior to this event in 100 degree Texas heat, but shortly after kicking the bike over for the ride, a plume of oil was shooting several feet out from the side of the bike.

Here a brass plug was turned and press-fitted into the bore, and then silver-soldered to secure it. The copper tubes are lead-soldered in place and had to be re-done after the plug was put in. It does not leak and will stay in place till the next owner grinds it away.

One of the high lights of the show was getting a vintage style Bell helmet custom striped by Skratch of Skratch’s Garage. Skratch is a displaced Texan who has made a name for himself on the West coast building, painting and striping rad custom Hot Rods. A true old-school artist who has a love for early American hot-rodding, and produces killer modern builds that showcase his understanding and love for the style.

A subtle but huge change from the previous set-up for the Freebird. Since first re-assembling the bike, the tank position did not feel quite right, but with a couple looming deadlines on the horizon, it was left alone. After fixing the oil leak, I decided it was finally time to address it, and lowered the tank an inch in front. Really happy about how it changed the alignment.

The other side shows another addition to the bike since the show, a brass plug for the tranny. Test riding the bike prior to the show, one of the brass valve-cover caps fell off, so a new set was ordered, and aluminum ones substituted for the show. After returning from the show, the new cap was added, but the caps can only be bought in a set of four, leaving three spares. The tranny plug is the same size, so one cap was modified a little appearance-wise for the job.

A vintage license plate and mounting bracket was mounted. Still working on a light for it.

One of the beautiful things about leather is how signs of wear richen it. The Wade O. Wilson engraved checking on the levers is a detail often overlooked, but one of my favorites.

There are angles from the front and back where the levers are concealed by the bars, giving the bars a clean uncluttered look.

Detail under the seat.

Some of the future finishing for this bike will be packing the panniers with supplies, but for now, they look so beautiful the way Penny Goods Leather put them together.

More details on the rear of the bike.

A rare August rain in Texas made for a great day to shoot pictures.

I got a couple drops of motor oil on the seat, but they just add character. Some leather balm purchased at Wilkinson TX, a local leather artist store, has it looking and feeling supple.

Ready to ride!

Vintage Triumph, Norton, Indian and Honda riding and the Red Baron gets a new seat and pipe.

Riding our local roads around North Texas with a bunch of guys on vintage bikes, stopping for barbeque and some impromptu grass track racing, ending with an evening cool front blowing away the hot summer day…about as good as it gets. Adventure rider and writer Jon Beck was in town chronicling a road trip from LA to Texas with his longtime bud Jason Lee, and we met up for a ride. Jason was riding his 1948 Indian Scout, a bike that despite its age and restoration, gets ridden hard. Jon was riding Jason’s “Goldie,” the 1971 Triumph TR6C repaired in the last post, buddy Ben D’avanza was on his 1974 Norton Commando, John Green on his 1970 Honda CB750, Fabian Campos on a modern Honda XL650, and I was on the Jack Wilson 1967 Triumph Bonneville. Knobbies on Jason, Jon, and Fabian’s bikes, but the rest of us were rocking street tires and feeling the fresh-cut grass slide on the turns.

Getting ready to roll. There was no specific plan, but we found plenty to do.

Jason giving the ‘48 some hot laps on the grass. Even with knobbies, grass can be a little unpredictable.

John Green surveying the bikes after our ride.

Goldie. the ‘48 Indian, and the ‘74 Commando on the roadside in Argyle, Texas.

The Red Baron was back in the shop for a banana seat, sissy bar, and low pipe mods. I wanted to do the seat and sissy bar combo a while back, but it took a couple years for owner Ben D’avanza and I to coordinate a time to do it. The cocktail shaker muffler sounds great and flows well. The kickstart lever and brake pedal were slightly re-bent to clear the pipe.

The seat cover came from a discard custom seat another customer left with me, and I thought it was the right vibe for the build. Ben had the sissy bar, and it was modified to be part of the one-piece seat mount.

Mocking up the parts and photo-testing the profile. The seat pan was made from cold rolled 16 gauge steel sheet. The high pipe is still on at this point. The original 5/8” diameter exhaust was designed for a 50cc engine and is too restrictive for this 90cc engine. The new pipe is a 7/8” and makes for better top end power.

Ben found this LED powered Maltese cross tail light to finish off the look.

Still kind of awkward and fugly…just the way I like them.

The Wilwood brake calipers and rotors are in for the 1993 H-D FXR build. More on that in the next post.

Wiring a Triumph TR6C, FXR fender mounting, CL360 passing through the shop.

Jason Lee’s 1971 Triumph TR6C desert sled, “Goldie”came to the shop with no spark. A rapid battery discharge indicated there was a parasitic drain. The tail light would come on randomly when the bike was parked, and no amount of adjustment to the brake switches seemed to make any difference.

Here is where the problem starts. The wiring on this bike appears to be all custom, and further investigation found the brake switch wires were both hard wired with the power from the battery! This means the brake light would be constantly on with no way to turn it off aside from battery disconnection. The fact that the tail light was only on intermittently did not make sense until the tail light was taken apart.

Here is the tail light wiring and the explanation for intermittent lighting. All three wires were ground either partially or completely through, and would ground against the aluminum housing enough to light occasionally. A new set of wires was grafted in and along with a re-wire of the front main switch, everything is functioning correctly.

She runs and rides like a dream, with a loud throaty roar and a ton of pull.

Some mounting brackets for the 1993 Harley-Davidson FXR rear fender, made from 1/8” plate and 16 gauge sheet steel. Capture nuts were welded to the backside to simplify installation.

The fender brackets make for a clean minimal install.

The fender is mounted and a longer seat pan is being worked out. There will be some springs under the tail of the seat to complete the look.

Some ribs were put in the pan using the Jet Tools English wheel. The shrinker/stretcher was run around the back edge to strengthen and smooth it out.

Another familiar bike, this 1974 Honda CL360 came in for a fuel delivery issue and points adjustment, and left running right again.