Triumph Bonneville 1964.

Hi Joe
Sorry for any confusion but the 1966 bike was never advertised here but on the car and classic web site. I wouldn't subscribe to advertise a classic Triumph on a BMW GS website but I do know that people are interested and was happy to post pics and have a laugh about it. At the time it was no secret at all that the bike was advertised for £14950 IIRC and the price was displayed prominently on the advert along with all my contact details. The price certainly raised a few eyebrows, "no shit Sherlock" made me laugh in particular! I think this is absolutely top-dollar for one of these but the price seems to have been removed from the advert after it was sold. I have no idea why and it is not helpful. However, I do believe that the final sale price is a private matter between the buyer and myself. I would say that I was not in a hurry to sell and that I was very happy with the result. If someone is prepared to fly in from Germany to view a bike you can tell they are a serious buyer and I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions. I certainly had no intention of being mysterious or evasive.

As with any old bike, take care when buying and do as much research as you can about the particular bike's history and the work that has or has not been done. Like any other, they can be a money pit but at least most parts are easy enough to come by. Ultimately, there isn't any way of knowing whether things like the sludge trap have been sorted unless you have done it yourself. Originality isn't that important unless the seller is demanding big bucks in which case I would want everything correct. I'm keeping an eye out for a unit construction Trophy or TR6 for my brother at the moment and there are some rough looking examples out there.

Thank you for the reply. Not interested in prime advertising site, I asked price and didn't get replies. £15k would have been fine for a sorted bike as I want one for a collection. Not interested in what you sold it for, the £15k answer tells me the figure I asked for.
 
Beautiful bonnies Sean,

By the way, the Car and Classic website always removes the asking price once bike is sold, dunno why, I've sold a Laverda on there.


Just out of interest what power did she put out on the dynojet and who did you use? Huge fan of Hugh Brown's work!

Here's my '68 US spec, bought 9 years ago in Illinois (the bike, not me, I was in London!) on US ebay whilst pissed one night!! By mostly pure dumb luck she turned out to be a good un and very very original. I spent a memorable 2 weeks riding around California (I shipped the bike to a mate in the SF bay area before shipping it home) with a few breakdowns as a result of her being a bit of a garage queen for the previous few years..

Currently stripped down to tidy up the frame paint and finish my engine rebuild following a dynamic crank balance, megacycle (v mild) cams and 750 kit, nothing that detracts from it's outward originality imho (can probably revert to 650cc in an afternoon in the shed ;)

Cheers

Dave
 

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Excellent! That's that way to buy a bike. I think you fell lucky there 'cos there are some major money pits out there. Must have been great fun riding it round out there.

Hugh is a great guy with a unique sense of humour too and we have had a lot of fun with the bikes. How many other restorers put their money with their mouth is and reputation on the line to speed test their bikes at the likes of Elvington? My bike went faster than Hugh's own which we think must be down to the dyno time as they are otherwise built to the same spec. His later bike has air filters and concentrics whilst mine is on open bell mouth monoblocs.

I have been visiting Steve at Motrac's dynojet since my club racing days and for longer than I can remember and always enjoy the experience. The outright power figures are generally not repeatable between dynos and even different days on the same dyno. But, if you are using it a a tool to identify the effects of changes there is no better way IMHO. My own bike was making 47hp at the rear wheel at about 6750 rpm but with plenty of over-rev in hand and a nice shaped curve.

It would be interesting to run your bike and see how it performs with your modifications. Maybe come along to the next Elvington?
 
Thanks for the reply Sean, 47bhp is a very impressive figure for a 650 and testament to Hugh's work and your dyno time. I've generally seen low 40s for stock well-sorted bikes (Transgarp in Sweden for example posts a lot on Britbike and Advrider). I wouldn't be suprised if those lovely air filter cans cost a bhp or two, doubt monoblocs flow any better than concentrics though? Suspect my '68 will be a fair bit down on that unless I invest some time/expertise/money in the head, it's pretty standard at the moment. I have the P&M valves Hugh uses (and some P&M headwork) in my much-modded T140 and that absolutely flies. All interesting stuff. Would like to do a sprint on one of my Triumphs, suspect the '68 will be a while yet though as I have a few other bikes to sort first!
I think given a decent operator, dynojets shouldn't vary by more than a few percent, but it IS possible to vary the readings either way if the operator wants or lacks the expertise? Lots of discussion on the web on this of course.. Would love to see a video of your bike ripping through the lights at 117!!

All the best

Dave
 
Fitted a 43 tooth drum brake / rear sprocket - from a T100 and rocked up for another bash at Straightliners Top Speed Tuesday. Was very happy with the result...

F7_F16_C3_F-52_CA-4_FE9-_B53_B-_AE14190_D067_A.jpg


Not bad at all for a 650 production spec. pushrod twin on pump fuel even if the wind was in our favour.
 
Thanks.. it was great fun and a testament to Hugh’s skills as an engine builder that it stayed together. There is another project in the pipeline that might prove interesting next spring. Watch this space 😁
 


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