Anyone ride a TSS ?

I’m curious, anyone on here stupid enough to ride a TSS ?

@Fast Eddie That's a strange comment. "Stupid" enough to ride?

I had a TSS for a good few years and rode it a fair bit. THOROUGHLY MODERN bike, triple discs, electronic ignition, e-start, etc.

Never gave me a hint of trouble. Instant starting, and first-kick starting almost as easily.

Handled perfectly well, never a worry, never exhibiting ill manners at any time. 40+MPG with ease.

It had shorty mufflers, but I had the originals in a box.



I have NO CLUE what you're on about...

Yeah, I know all about them GP… I had one for 16 years and am possibly on the verge of getting another.

The one you had was what is known as the TMA spec (American distributor), they were the final batch made before it all went tits up. 112 of them I believe. If you ever see a mint low miler come up for sale over there please let me know.

I’m interested to hear from anyone still / currently riding a TSS. Stupid or otherwise

Fast Eddie said:

Yeah, I know all about them GP… I had one for 16 years and am possibly on the verge of getting another.

The one you had was what is known as the TMA spec (American distributor), they were the final batch made before it all went tits up. 112 of them I believe. If you ever see a mint low miler come up for sale over there please let me know.

I’m interested to hear from anyone still / currently riding a TSS. Stupid or otherwise

Click to expand...

Well, there was a brand new one complete with factory hang tags, in a glass case at Dude Wheeler's Gate City Cycle in Nashua, NH.
He passed in 2019.
I'm unsure if the bike was sold at the Jerry Wood auction in 2020.

Fast Eddie said:

Yeah, I know all about them GP… I had one for 16 years and am possibly on the verge of getting another.

The one you had was what is known as the TMA spec (American distributor), they were the final batch made before it all went tits up. 112 of them I believe. If you ever see a mint low miler come up for sale over there please let me know.

I’m interested to hear from anyone still / currently riding a TSS. Stupid or otherwise

Click to expand...

So maybe you should have asked "...anyone ELSE stupid enough..."

grandpaul said:

So maybe you should have asked "...anyone ELSE stupid enough..."

Click to expand...

A fair correction !

I’m surprised a bit of humour caught you out so badly tho GP.

I’m a huge TSS fanboy, and I’m simply trying to find any others that may be out there…

Anyone ?

Fast Eddie said:

I’m surprised a but of humour caught you out so badly tho GP.

Click to expand...

Nah, not badly at all.

The worst part was causing me to remember I NEVER SHOULD HAVE SOLD IT!!!!!

grandpaul said:

Nah, not badly at all.

The worst part was causing me to remember I NEVER SHOULD HAVE SOLD IT!!!!!

Click to expand...

Now that I can relate to!

I’d have put Norton type peashooters on your bike and called it perfect !

I fancied a TSS at one time, but apart from being a bit thin on the ground, they seem to have too many engine issues. I really should have given Dave Nourish a pile of cash, for a four valve top end & crank, for my TR7. Too late now though.

Matchless said:

I fancied a TSS at one time, but apart from being a bit thin on the ground, they seem to have too many engine issues…

Click to expand...

Tis true, dat.

But… most troubles were due to being ‘rushed’ to market with zero product development funds. Then being let down badly by some suppliers (porous castings).

The general consensus now is that the later bikes were fairly well sorted.

Plus, any ‘bad uns’ likely blew up or got turned into 4 valve T140s years ago, so those that remain are likely good uns.

Finally, they’re now classic bikes, so even if ridden hard it’s not the same kinda hard as back then.

I used to cane mine mercilessly back in t’ day, or so I thought. My girlfriend at the time rode it too, I once asked her if she took it to the red line, “oh, way past that” she said. And she didn’t mean past 7k, she meant all the way out of the red, ie way over 8k.

So, on balance, I think one is a reasonable bet these days.

But avoid those being sold by lady owners !!

I really wish you’d not shown me that…!

Matchless said:

I fancied a TSS at one time, but apart from being a bit thin on the ground, they seem to have too many engine issues. I really should have given Dave Nourish a pile of cash, for a four valve top end & crank, for my TR7. Too late now though.

Click to expand...

Mine had none of the "weepy cases", no e-start issues, no worries whatsoever.

Maybe THAT'S why I sold it? Too simple? Really, I love WORKING on classic bikes, and I never even changed a spark plug on mine...

grandpaul said:

Mine had none of the "weepy cases", no e-start issues, no worries whatsoever.

Maybe THAT'S why I sold it? Too simple? Really, I love WORKING on classic bikes, and I never even changed a spark plug on mine...

Click to expand...

The late ones were indeed really well sorted.

It a huge irony that it was Weslake, the very company who first invented the 8 valve kit for Triumphs and sold loads of ‘em, that caused the porosity issues as a supplier to Meriden. These issues cost the company dearly. Money they really could not afford. They also let them down on supply, holding up production meaning Meriden were unable to build them fast enough to satisfy demand (which was very healthy).

Even the electric start works well on later bikes. These days a lithium battery would also be a wise move, the battery and starter tech of the day necessitated a freakin’ huge battery and a Li job would save a ton of weight, but more importantly, it would spin the starter faster, easing starting and greatly reducing chances of a kick back (that kills these sprags). A Tri Spark with their anti kick back function would also be good insurance IMO.

TSS’s were arguably a victim of their own success. They were so smooth, and revved so high… therefore that’s what people did, regularly revving them to unknown figures past the 8,000 shown on the tach ! Most classic bike riders wouldn’t do that these days. There was little point anyway to be honest, even though they revved crazy high, peak power was still around 7k ish, at which a TSS is really quite smooth and unstressed.

So in summary, IMO a good TSS would make a great addition to a classic Brit bike fans stable these days.

Fingers crossed I’ll have a bit more to post on the TSS topic in a few weeks…