A surgeon works in a very very controlled environment and you my friend are an engineering surgeon. It's taken me time (years) to try and apply those concepts into anything I try to do practically 👍👍
Dave’s story of becoming a mechanic mirrored my life to a point. I was always fascinated by anything mechanical and I remember my mother telling me that whenever we went to visit my grandparents my grandfather would say “put everything away or Philip will have it apart” I ended up becoming an aircraft engineer and I just retired last year. I also bought a T160 in ‘75 and had it for about 3 years until I went overseas to work. It was a great bike and never gave me any problems. I think this bike is American specs because of the reflectors on the ends of the oil cooler, mine didn’t have them. Also might explain the fork gaiters, mine didn’t have those either.
It’s so clear that you really enjoy your work. You present the videos as if you enjoy undoing every nut. I don’t have a bike anymore but watching your videos has encouraged me to look for another one.
Great watching an expert in his element. Reminds me of 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' with the philosophy at around 6 minutes in, theJapanese call this Ikigai.
"Always take your time - never rush things" sound advice. I took my T160 apart to fix an oil leak. That was 6 years ago. I'll put it back together again soon.
Thank you for mechanic lesson. You can explain very well. I will follow. I also want to repair by my self in the future. When I was a kid and my bicycle crashed nobody could help that's why I want to repair. Thank you. Ralf Rainfurth, Germany
Dave, you exude calmness...making your work a joy to watch...thank you! You also display great care towards these old bikes and take your time to explain everything...that's rare in this day and age. I will be waiting patiently for Part 3. Thanks again for the time and effort you put into making these great videos. Best regards, Mitch
When i was growing up there a pair of guys that used to ride by where i lived, one on a Bonneville and one on a Trident, i think that's why i started to love old bikes, would love to own a Trident. Great vid!
Excellent video! I could listen to Dave explaining things all day! Really good, clear description of everything. Keep up the good work and I’m looking forward to the next one. 😊👍🏼
T160 caught my eye instantly. I've lived in the Western United States, I have been fortunate to have two. I restored the first one and sold it back in the 90s. The second one was a bit worse, had blown up the middle rod. The same mistake I made with all my bikes back then, I ripped it down to the bare frame. I have a whole garage full of this stuff, but now I have to figure out which parts are t160 versus the other three T 150 s that I have. Which part goes with which. Hopefully, now that retirement is near, I will be able to start putting everything together. I hope I live long enough to complete them all. This video, and others like it, are excellent motivation. Please keep them happening!
@@TheClassicMotorcycleChannel I was a mechanic at a New Zealand Triumph dealership when these Tridents came out. I can remember that one week we had every one we had sold back in our shop because they had broken down! Not a bad design - but the way they were assembled at the factory was a shocker! Set the timing on these 3-points. In one week the timing had drifted and needed to be set again. A blue printed and properly assembled motor with electronic ignition was OK - Les Williams proved that. But a factory thrown together bike was sad joke, and a dealers worst nightmare. Within one year our dealership went broke, and I moved down the road to work at a Honda dealership.
Excellent videos Dave. I've been watching for a while now. Too often we see overdone restorations that get out of control moneywise. Yours are full of common sense recommendations for refurbishment that we all can learn from. For me and many others we just want to ride these nice classics and are ok with them not being perfect! Cheers from Canada!
Great videos and tips Dave, I'm doing my first British bike atm (Triton) and absolutely loving it, watching the pennies too as all to easy to throw dollars at it
Hi Dave loving the video on the T160. I am retired now but worked as a postman for 25 years. .Thirty years ago I used to deliver to a guy who lived in Wadhurst Sussex . I think he called his company Sussex triples and only dealt with T160s . You working on this one brings back memories. I don't know if he's still in business .great days !
Video of technical school professional. Great. I have always wanted to own a Trident, whether it be Triumph or BSA. However now seeing this bunch of disassembled parts, some of them difficult to access, starting components and heavy brakes, I started to think about my simpler Twins time, less performance, single carburetor, Bowden cable brakes, simple, easy maintenance memo recovery with blacksmith equipment, those old Twins lacked better brakes, but only with larger levers starting almost from the center of the handlebars (bearings), stamped plate drums of larger diameter for easier and more effective braking. Magnet ignition was effective. But the coil fed through an alternator are easy to recover and also have efficiency. Electronic injection has many specialized people adapting to be able to go out on tracks controlled by the police. The machine is very efficient, but it must weigh a lot. Grateful for the very important instructions.
Hi Dave - just discovered this channel over the last few days. Have modern sports bike at the moment but would love a Triumph Tiger- excellent watching whilst having a brew and a biscuit- brilliant info keep em coming 👍
Back about 40 years ago when I had my ‘71 Lightning, my friend who had a Spitfire chopper, picked up a T160 basket case from another friend to rebuild it for them in exchange for a table saw. Almost as good as riding a classic is watching a pro working on one.
35 years ago I bought a 1976 T160 with only 1300 miles on the clock. It was as it left the factory and had never been apart but it smoked. The valve guide bores in the head were so far off-centre to the valve seat inserts that seats had been cut more than twice as wide one side than the other. The crude old carbon steel seat cutters used in those days had obviously also been deflected to one side by the unbalanced cutting forces, so the cut seats weren't true and this in turn wrecked the valve guides. So it might be worth while to take the valves out for a look.....
Sad story. You might start looking for an entire used head... I have some experience with triples. The one most agonizing lesson I learned, was an agonizing noise. Took the whole top end apart, couldn't find anything wrong. Did the rebuild, put it back together. The noise was there again. Took the top end off, long story short, one of the three cylinder sleeves was loose in the aluminum cylinder. When the engine heated up, it began to rock back and forth, making the noise. That sleeve was so loose, I could knock it down a half an inch with a single tap from a rubber mallet.
Dave watching your videos takes me back in time ,yes I was with Alan Demet racing at Westwood and the west coast ,did you go back to the old country ps keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I don't know about Triumph triples, but with some engines those cogs that engage with the starter, often cast into or attached to the flywheel, can get "raggedy", worn unevenly (or "sloped"), or just broken. Unless you're going into the crankcase anyhow, it might be a good idea to just spin the engine around plugs out with the kickstart to examine all of those cog teeth. The old Triumph Herald or Spitfire 1200 car engines were particularly prone to uneven wear or breakage there. If just worn, the "quick and sloppy" fix was to just flip the big toothed wheel so the unworn sides of the teeth presented towards the starter.
Its not a Bendix gear type of pinion, these are thrown into mesh by inertia, the type of started motor on this Triumph is call a pre-engaged type, the starter pinion is push into mesh with the ring gear without turning only when the pinion has engaged will the starter motor turn.. Hope this helps..
If that were mine I'd want to do some upgrades and weight reduction. Led lights front and back get rid of that chunky cluster. Get rid the heavy chrome mud guards better rear shocks.
Great video and explanation, however T160 front end doesn't use any bushing. If one of legs shows too much clearance in a slider this slider has to be replaced. Ir is crucial to check a clearance between valves and guides to find out a reason for oily middle piston. In my opinion this engine didn't make lots of miles after last rebuilt.
OK so run out of Argon mix but you had a bottle of C)2 hanging about? There is a reason that it was hanging about! Any chance of an explanation on the Argon v CO2 . Not a load of technical stuff just a simple lay mans talk. Great video as usual. Its still cold now you are in short sleeves two weeks and I will see you in shorts I reckon. Lol. I know there is loads of stuff on the net but Im doing sort of the same stuff as you (not as well) and any advice would be appreciated.
Another calm and informative video Dave, like someone else said in this forum, your my new best mate. Can’t wait for the next instalment and when are you going to start work on those Land Rovers?
Do you find it difficult to find parts for your restoration projects and where would you start looking I really enjoy watching you and it has rekindled my interest in classic motorcycles
Just wondering about the tunes that you removed from the head. Do you ensure that the tubes are exactly replaced in the same hole, or is it unimportant?
Dave, thanks so much for this series on the T160. Can you tell please how many miles did this engine have on it when you broke it down? Thanks, Matt in Colorado!
Hi, I recovered my beloved T150. It had a capacitor, no battery, never missed a beat, went to Italy twice, used it every day. Would you consider rebuilding the engine? If so please reply and I will give you my e mail address?
Dave is a Legend. I can't express how much I enjoy all the series by Dave.
"Cup of tea" nah, I find leave it over night and usually in my sleep a solution/idea comes to me and all is resolved. Excellent to watch 👍👍
A surgeon works in a very very controlled environment and you my friend are an engineering surgeon. It's taken me time (years) to try and apply those concepts into anything I try to do practically 👍👍
What an amazing series - binging on a rainy Saturday - cups of tea galore - perfect 🙂
This guy knows his stuff,great videos Dave
Passion is a life long friend, especially when it comes to old bikes and fishing for me.Make hay when the sun shines.
The tear-down brings back memories as a fitter at Pratt's of Greenwich
That where I got my Bonnie!
Dave’s story of becoming a mechanic mirrored my life to a point. I was always fascinated by anything mechanical and I remember my mother telling me that whenever we went to visit my grandparents my grandfather would say “put everything away or Philip will have it apart” I ended up becoming an aircraft engineer and I just retired last year. I also bought a T160 in ‘75 and had it for about 3 years until I went overseas to work. It was a great bike and never gave me any problems. I think this bike is American specs because of the reflectors on the ends of the oil cooler, mine didn’t have them. Also might explain the fork gaiters, mine didn’t have those either.
This was my dream bike 40 years ago. Thanks for making this video. I look forward to the next one!
...mine too!
Go get it friends.Its never too late.
It’s so clear that you really enjoy your work. You present the videos as if you enjoy undoing every nut. I don’t have a bike anymore but watching your videos has encouraged me to look for another one.
Great watching an expert in his element. Reminds me of 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' with the philosophy at around 6 minutes in, theJapanese call this Ikigai.
"Always take your time - never rush things" sound advice. I took my T160 apart to fix an oil leak. That was 6 years ago. I'll put it back together again soon.
😂
Aww man..lol.
Thank you for mechanic lesson. You can explain very well. I will follow. I also want to repair by my self in the future. When I was a kid and my bicycle crashed nobody could help that's why I want to repair. Thank you. Ralf Rainfurth, Germany
Dave, thanks for making these videos we really appreciate the work you put in to them. I behave of all the old motorcycle community your great.
Dave, you exude calmness...making your work a joy to watch...thank you! You also display great care towards these old bikes and take your time to explain everything...that's rare in this day and age.
I will be waiting patiently for Part 3. Thanks again for the time and effort you put into making these great videos. Best regards, Mitch
Thanks for your nice comments Mitch :)
Great vid Dave, you are the master ! back in the day my mate had a T160 which I remember had a Hyde 1000 cc conversion .......love it Sir thank you
When i was growing up there a pair of guys that used to ride by where i lived, one on a Bonneville and one on a Trident, i think that's why i started to love old bikes, would love to own a Trident.
Great vid!
Excellent video! I could listen to Dave explaining things all day! Really good, clear description of everything. Keep up the good work and I’m looking forward to the next one. 😊👍🏼
Thanks Simon :) (from Alex)
Totally agree.
Love this, it's a great production of proper motorcycle graft the common man does in his shed. I feel like im in the workshop chipping in!
Excellent video. Dave is my new best mate (although he doesn’t know that). What a knowledgeable person he is.
Looking forward to part three 👍🏻
Thanks Dave for sharing! Very detailed explanations to keep us home mechanics out of trouble. Thanks again!
Great video Dave. Looking forward to the next instalment. 👍
Thank you for a splendid program Mr. Mitchell. Cheers, Paul.
Great stuff as always David. Great to see old school stuff on an old school bike. We don't see much of it nowadays. Great to see
Another great video Dave looking forward to the rest(did this to my T150V last summer during covid).👍👍
These videos are making lockdown fun, keep up the good work 👍.
Excellent video Dave, love your approach making everything easy for us amateurs to understand. Looking forward to the next installment
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience! Great to watch your videos!
Pure goldmine this channel. love it!
T160 caught my eye instantly. I've lived in the Western United States, I have been fortunate to have two. I restored the first one and sold it back in the 90s. The second one was a bit worse, had blown up the middle rod. The same mistake I made with all my bikes back then, I ripped it down to the bare frame. I have a whole garage full of this stuff, but now I have to figure out which parts are t160 versus the other three T 150 s that I have. Which part goes with which. Hopefully, now that retirement is near, I will be able to start putting everything together. I hope I live long enough to complete them all. This video, and others like it, are excellent motivation. Please keep them happening!
Hi Charles, thanks for your nice comments. It makes it so worth while to hear things like this. Good luck with them all!
@@TheClassicMotorcycleChannel
I was a mechanic at a New Zealand Triumph dealership when these Tridents came out.
I can remember that one week we had every one we had sold back in our shop because they had broken down!
Not a bad design - but the way they were assembled at the factory was a shocker!
Set the timing on these 3-points. In one week the timing had drifted and needed to be set again.
A blue printed and properly assembled motor with electronic ignition was OK - Les Williams proved that.
But a factory thrown together bike was sad joke, and a dealers worst nightmare.
Within one year our dealership went broke, and I moved down the road to work at a Honda dealership.
Another excellent video! Thanks!!👍😊
This channel needs to be called It's all right, just needs a good clean up. Lol. Great video.
Excellent videos Dave. I've been watching for a while now. Too often we see overdone restorations that get out of control moneywise. Yours are full of common sense recommendations for refurbishment that we all can learn from. For me and many others we just want to ride these nice classics and are ok with them not being perfect! Cheers from Canada!
Excellent video! Thank you!
Great videos and tips Dave, I'm doing my first British bike atm (Triton) and absolutely loving it, watching the pennies too as all to easy to throw dollars at it
As usual another excellent video from Dave,you were born to do this Dave so look forward to them keep them coming 👌👌👍
Hi Dave loving the video on the T160. I am retired now but worked as a postman for 25 years. .Thirty years ago I used to deliver to a guy who lived in Wadhurst Sussex .
I think he called his company Sussex triples and only dealt with T160s . You working on this one brings back memories. I don't know if he's still in business .great days !
Another excellent video on the Triumph restoration. Well presented and easy to follow, looking forward to part 3.
Cheers John!
Great video so much good advice ,I enjoy doing jobs on my a10 keeping it maintained, and my r80/7 you've got to look after them 👍
Another Great work shop video!
Video of technical school professional. Great. I have always wanted to own a Trident, whether it be Triumph or BSA. However now seeing this bunch of disassembled parts, some of them difficult to access, starting components and heavy brakes, I started to think about my simpler Twins time, less performance, single carburetor, Bowden cable brakes, simple, easy maintenance memo recovery with blacksmith equipment, those old Twins lacked better brakes, but only with larger levers starting almost from the center of the handlebars (bearings), stamped plate drums of larger diameter for easier and more effective braking. Magnet ignition was effective. But the coil fed through an alternator are easy to recover and also have efficiency. Electronic injection has many specialized people adapting to be able to go out on tracks controlled by the police. The machine is very efficient, but it must weigh a lot.
Grateful for the very important instructions.
Loving these videos 👍🏻🙏🇨🇦
Enjoying this series...Very good advise...Looking forward to the next video.
Love the bicycle bell story - mine was a fishing reel. I wonder how many biking folk have stories like that?
Great presentation, very enjoyable
Great video thoroughly enjoyed it very informative
Hi Dave - just discovered this channel over the last few days. Have modern sports bike at the moment but would love a Triumph Tiger- excellent watching whilst having a brew and a biscuit- brilliant info keep em coming 👍
Great channel .. great bikes .. top geezer .. say no more !!
only british genious puts a frame on + dont know any other bike that has that 😂🤣😆 love the video!!!!
Back about 40 years ago when I had my ‘71 Lightning, my friend who had a Spitfire chopper, picked up a T160 basket case from another friend to rebuild it for them in exchange for a table saw. Almost as good as riding a classic is watching a pro working on one.
35 years ago I bought a 1976 T160 with only 1300 miles on the clock. It was as it left the factory and had never been apart but it smoked. The valve guide bores in the head were so far off-centre to the valve seat inserts that seats had been cut more than twice as wide one side than the other. The crude old carbon steel seat cutters used in those days had obviously also been deflected to one side by the unbalanced cutting forces, so the cut seats weren't true and this in turn wrecked the valve guides. So it might be worth while to take the valves out for a look.....
Sad story. You might start looking for an entire used head... I have some experience with triples. The one most agonizing lesson I learned, was an agonizing noise. Took the whole top end apart, couldn't find anything wrong. Did the rebuild, put it back together. The noise was there again. Took the top end off, long story short, one of the three cylinder sleeves was loose in the aluminum cylinder. When the engine heated up, it began to rock back and forth, making the noise. That sleeve was so loose, I could knock it down a half an inch with a single tap from a rubber mallet.
Dave watching your videos takes me back in time ,yes I was with Alan Demet racing at Westwood and the west coast ,did you go back to the old country ps keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I don't know about Triumph triples, but with some engines those cogs that engage with the starter, often cast into or attached to the flywheel, can get "raggedy", worn unevenly (or "sloped"), or just broken. Unless you're going into the crankcase anyhow, it might be a good idea to just spin the engine around plugs out with the kickstart to examine all of those cog teeth. The old Triumph Herald or Spitfire 1200 car engines were particularly prone to uneven wear or breakage there. If just worn, the "quick and sloppy" fix was to just flip the big toothed wheel so the unworn sides of the teeth presented towards the starter.
Interesting project thanks
Great video. Great advice. Thanks.
Thanks again Ludwig :)
I could be wrong but i though the t140, T150 and T160 yokes and stanchions where non taper and just had a pinch bolt top and bottom?
bellissimo video ,complimenti dave
Its not a Bendix gear type of pinion, these are thrown into mesh by inertia, the type of started motor on this Triumph is call a pre-engaged type, the starter pinion is push into mesh with the ring gear without turning only when the pinion has engaged will the starter motor turn.. Hope this helps..
Great video Dave...I subscribed
If that were mine I'd want to do some upgrades and weight reduction. Led lights front and back get rid of that chunky cluster. Get rid the heavy chrome mud guards better rear shocks.
Great video and explanation, however T160 front end doesn't use any bushing. If one of legs shows too much clearance in a slider this slider has to be replaced. Ir is crucial to check a clearance between valves and guides to find out a reason for oily middle piston. In my opinion this engine didn't make lots of miles after last rebuilt.
Really interesting❤️
Dave when I was little I took my dad's alarm clock apart to see how it works he had to go buy a new one
OK so run out of Argon mix but you had a bottle of C)2 hanging about? There is a reason that it was hanging about! Any chance of an explanation on the Argon v CO2 . Not a load of technical stuff just a simple lay mans talk. Great video as usual. Its still cold now you are in short sleeves two weeks and I will see you in shorts I reckon. Lol. I know there is loads of stuff on the net but Im doing sort of the same stuff as you (not as well) and any advice would be appreciated.
Another calm and informative video Dave, like someone else said in this forum, your my new best mate. Can’t wait for the next instalment and when are you going to start work on those Land Rovers?
Do you find it difficult to find parts for your restoration projects and where would you start looking I really enjoy watching you and it has rekindled my interest in classic motorcycles
I look forward to watching you replace the bushes in the front forks 🤣 ,otherwise ok 👌
Standby Edward, we go there :)
That’s usually when the customer says “it wasn’t cracked before “ must’ve been you.
You need a pair of new handgloves Dave, briliant video! Best regards from the Netherlands.
dave, great vid , have you always been a mc/mechanic, look forward to next.
So if i have some movement in my pistons but the bores look great should i just re ring it ?
Don't mean to be picky but the tappets are at the base of the cylinder. The The rocker arms are under the valve covers.
Just wondering about the tunes that you removed from the head. Do you ensure that the tubes are exactly replaced in the same hole, or is it unimportant?
Hi Russell, thanks for the question. I'll make sure Dave goes over this when we do the install, Alex
Dave, thanks so much for this series on the T160. Can you tell please how many miles did this engine have on it when you broke it down? Thanks, Matt in Colorado!
Not 100% sure Matt, but I'm with Dave today so I'll try and find out. We think the engine's been opened up before
who does the audio vocals in this series?
Jo does the narration at the start of the videos, she's one of the team here :)
@@TheClassicMotorcycleChannel she does a great job, very proper English, just like Downton Abbey
@@ronduval1142 Nice one Ron, I'll let her know, a small compliment goes a long way :)
Hi, I recovered my beloved T150. It had a capacitor, no battery, never missed a beat, went to Italy twice, used it every day. Would you consider rebuilding the engine? If so please reply and I will give you my e mail address?
I could send u some pics