My Triton

Been hanging round making a bit of noise for a while so I thought maybe I should put a couple of shots of my Triton on view. I have a scan of what it looked like when I got it.....It was 'Tritonised' in '67....



When I first restored it I tried to style it on a Manx Norton with a Triumph engine, complete with Norton decals on the tank. I believe the first Tritons were like this, as back then they used the Manx engine in some form of car racing, but you couldn't by just an engine, you had to buy the whole bike, so a number of engineless Manx's appeared. Folk started putting other stuff in, and the T110 was a popular engine.
I got alot of critisism for putting Norton on the tank, all from Triton owners who seemed to think It should have Triton on the tank.... anyway here is a picture of it after restoration. It is a 1958 wideline with a 1956 T110 with 3134 cams and a twin carb head with Handed monoblocks and a Norton box with a Commando belt drive clutch. The tank is an original Manx item. The pipes are swepbacks with Goldies. I went for ace bars as clip ons are just so hard to ride when you have a bad back!



Over the years the bike evolved in my quest to make the bike more enjoyable to ride and also to get the odd bird on the back (i.e. my partner or daughter!) I also found that although the style of the classic Triton looks great (at least I think so), the bike was a pain in the arse (and back ) to ride....and I also wanted to do some trips, like France to the French Triton Clubs anual rally etc.....so it ended up like this.....Dominator tank, home made seat, and I picked up a twin leader on the way, but this shot is prior to that....I run with 'Vincent flats' for bars now....It is a good ride....the rearsets give you a bit of a 'sporting position' :wink: but it is pretty comfortable. Note the rear pillion brackets...made 'em from stainless...much nicer than my first attempt I reckon....I did a 1500 mile trip one time to the French rally and around. Great people, the French Triton folk....great rally....and The French LOVE Triumphs and Nortons....



Hopefully these shots will come out....not great with computers...I think I may need some help from The moderator to resize? Thanks.

hi stu,nice pics from what i can see(ie 2 3rds of pic) is it my pc or me that cant see full size pics on here, takes me back to when i built a triton,in early 70s,are you still running the 8 stud head

I think Jerry has set a maximum photo size limit? So I suggest members upload their photos to Photobucket using 800 x 600 upload size option (to do that, select 'more options' below the upload images & videos' button on the Photobucket album page and set to: 800 x 600) or resize them in Photobucket (use photo edit) if members do not wish to have their photos shown partially cropped?

That's really nice for a home made seat... looks great!

The head was brand new still in greaseproof paper when I bought the bike off my work collegeue....he built the bike first time round and it had a single carb 8 stud head. Apparently the twin carb head is a 9 stud head drilled to the 8 stud pattern. This avoided the cracks you get across the hole to valve zone, or so he told me...

Not many folk like that seat, I was trying to come up with a racing 'pod' style with a pillion, and also to reduce the width of the seat as much as possible. Those widelines are a bit of a stretch when your feet go down.

L.A.B. I will try again. There is a note on your advice section saying they would be resized so I didn't worry....another go here

bigstu said:

L.A.B. I will try again. There is a note on your advice section saying they would be resized so I didn't worry....

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Thanks, bigstu!

Jerry appears to have introduced an image size restriction to the forum recently, which appears to crop photos above a certain size rather than reduce the image size!

I have now amended the photo posting information section, so members will be aware that any oversized images could be cropped (as you have resized the images, this appears to have corrected your first set of photos now).

Nice bike that. I've just gone the other way with mine, from this





To this:

Cheers Tritonthrasher
Good to see proper 'ridden' Triton, get a bit tired of the show bikes that you never see on the road.
I wonder if some of them really work....
Where you based?
Off to the Manx?

As this week's "flavor of the forums" appears to be negative criticism, I'll throw in with this-

I do not like the Thruxton style exhaust header pipes as they cross along the sides of the engine too close, making service on various systems impossible without removing them. Since they offer no more ground clearance than standard pipes, I see no point in using them.

Yep, that's about as mean and nasty as i can get in negative criticism, sorry.

grandpaul said:

As this week's "flavor of the forums" appears to be negative criticism, I'll throw in with this-

I do not like the Thruxton style exhaust header pipes as they cross along the sides of the engine too close, making service on various systems impossible without removing them. Since they offer no more ground clearance than standard pipes, I see no point in using them.

Yep, that's about as mean and nasty as i can get in negative criticism, sorry.

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And yet they look cool. Weren't they intended to help clear a fairing?

I have to admit, they LOOK cool. Yes, they were intended to fit inside a fairing, but without that need (no fairing installed), they get in the way of the engine. Just a technical consideration, not that I don't like the LOOK.

Man, I'm downright NASTY on this topic...

Sweptbacks....They do offer no real practical advantages.....but If you look at a Triton with them on from the rear at an angle, a bit like you are looking up the exaust pipe, the bike looks 20mph faster than one with normal Triumph pipes. Its a style thing.

If it were me doing the installation on my own bike to co-exist with a full fairing, I'd use the upswept pipes that are routed over both sides' cases, so as to leave everything on the engine clear to work on.

Then, I'd hear it from the people that don't like the upswept pipes (oh yeah, I think that's where the negatives started on this thread)...

GrandPaul
founder, "Knotted Knickers M/C"
"if you want to know what's wrong with your bike, just show me a picture of it"

bigstu said:

Cheers Tritonthrasher
Good to see proper 'ridden' Triton, get a bit tired of the show bikes that you never see on the road.
I wonder if some of them really work....
Where you based?
Off to the Manx?

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I'm in Thurso, far north of Scotland. I should put that in a profile, I guess.

I was at the TT this year, won't be at the MGP.

As for the pipes, they are pure swank. I could claim it gives optimum pipe length- some say that's why Gold star BSAs had it- but I'd be lying! There's nothing that needs too-frequent maintenance behind the pipes and they come off easily anyway.

grandpaul said:

If it were me doing the installation on my own bike to co-exist with a full fairing, I'd use the upswept pipes that are routed over both sides' cases, so as to leave everything on the engine clear to work on.

Then, I'd hear it from the people that don't like the upswept pipes (oh yeah, I think that's where the negatives started on this thread)...

GrandPaul
founder, "Knotted Knickers M/C"
"if you want to know what's wrong with your bike, just show me a picture of it"

Click to expand...

Aside from the primary (which should have a no maintenance belt drive anyways :wink: ) what do the pipes block?

They are damn sexy.

Ignition unit and entire timing cover removal.

grandpaul said:

Ignition unit and entire timing cover removal.

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I've seen ones that block the points cover on a Unit Triumph, which must be inconvenient.

...Not to mention removal of primary cover...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

grandpaul said:

...Not to mention removal of primary cover...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Click to expand...

As mentioned, belt drive and electronic ignition and you shouldn't have to remove either cover for a long, long time.

swooshdave said:

As mentioned, belt drive and electronic ignition and you shouldn't have to remove either cover for a long, long time.

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Even better: a magneto.

There are some owners who feel the need to get into the clutch quite often. Maybe less so if it's dry.