Triumph for my Z1.

I'm biased beyond belief. Do what you want to do. Haha

he must be either over 50 or under 30 :woohoo:

My uncle had a stunning 72 Trident 750 he loved. I got to ride it a few times and it was different. I found it hard to get used to the switch of the shift and brake to different sides but the thing was pretty fast and sounded fantastic. It was a chick magnet tho. About the only Brit I would actually want tho is a Yammie 650 Tracker :ohmy: . Seriously I would like any Brit as long as my garage has a Kaw 650 - 1000 in it as well. Dammit Janet now I want some Fish and Chips!

I built or should say rebuilt the Z1 for reliability.
Originally paid only $250.00 for it.
Rebuilt EVERYTHING front to rear and added Dyna ignition and coils, solid state voltage reg. 29 mm smoothbore. Cast wheels with twin disk (hate patching tubes), manual timing chain adj. and the list goes on and on.

My plan is to due the same to the Triumph minus the cast wheels.
Jimstan

The first thing you need to do is clean the sludge trap. Unless it has been done recently and he can prove it you need to do it or have it done. It involves tearing the bottom end down which is a pain but if that thing gets clogged then goodbye engine. No oil filter on the bike, just a centrifugal trap. Next step is to switch to 12v electronic ignition. This will get rid of silly 6v battery, coils and points. Once you get it set you never need to touch it again. If you fail to do this the bike WILL leave you stranded. That is the only real weakness of the bike. Get rid of it and you are left with a pretty stout machine. Enjoy!

The "silly 6 volt battery" was replaced with 12 volts in 1966. That asside, I am so happy that every Brit owner here had such a great expirience with their Brit bikes. It must be the years in between that made them reliable becauuse my two BSA's were JUNQUE! I had a three year old 1962 Big Valve Super Rocket in 1965 and in 1966 I bought my first brand new anything, a 1966 BSA Lightning engine number A65L13346 and it was a piece of crap. It looked beautiful with it's chrome tank and fenders and candy apple red paint. Problem 1 with 2000 miles on it, head gasket. Then the clutch basket fell apart on the Canadian border. It used a rubber biscuit to dampen the shock. It was held together by three tiny flat head screws. Oil started leaking from the base gaskets after about 1000 miles. We only got a 3000 mile or 3 month warranty and the base gaskets were not covered. There is a reason why the Japanese were successful in knocking off the Brits and that reason was RELIABILITY. Look at an assembly drawing of a Brit twin. Two main bearings with both connecting rods and flywheels swinging in space.It was not Lucas that made the electronics so bad, it was the bike makers. They ordered the cheapest crap that Lucas would sell them. Keep your Kawi, you will be happier in the end.

Enjoy kicking that pig over, and over, and over, and over, and over etc... to start... :blink:

Later years KZ, possibly (naw) but a true '75 Z1 series and as good looking as your build, no freaking way...

If you really want an old triumph and yes they are cool old bikes no doubt save some cash and buy one.

Just my two worthless cents on the thought....

OMR

HDDAN wrote: The "silly 6 volt battery" was replaced with 12 volts in 1966. That asside, I am so happy that every Brit owner here had such a great expirience with their Brit bikes. It must be the years in between that made them reliable becauuse my two BSA's were JUNQUE! I had a three year old 1962 Big Valve Super Rocket in 1965 and in 1966 I bought my first brand new anything, a 1966 BSA Lightning engine number A65L13346 and it was a piece of crap. It looked beautiful with it's chrome tank and fenders and candy apple red paint. Problem 1 with 2000 miles on it, head gasket. Then the clutch basket fell apart on the Canadian border. It used a rubber biscuit to dampen the shock. It was held together by three tiny flat head screws. Oil started leaking from the base gaskets after about 1000 miles. We only got a 3000 mile or 3 month warranty and the base gaskets were not covered. There is a reason why the Japanese were successful in knocking off the Brits and that reason was RELIABILITY. Look at an assembly drawing of a Brit twin. Two main bearings with both connecting rods and flywheels swinging in space.It was not Lucas that made the electronics so bad, it was the bike makers. They ordered the cheapest crap that Lucas would sell them. Keep your Kawi, you will be happier in the end.

Amen. On my 1963 BSA B40 the first engine fried when the return oil line vibrated off the external oil tank at night at about 70 mph and seized the piston. This happened because BSA was too cheap or dumb to use a decent nipple on the oil tank. Theirs was just a straight tube with no bulge near the end, so there was nothing to keep the hose and hose clamp from slipping off the tube from vibration and oil pressure. I replaced that with a 1965 A50 engine. The crankcase on that engine cracked in half one night when I clunked it into 1st gear. I had it welded back together and was able to use it for a couple years before I bought my KZ650. Both of mine had the 6v system which was total crap. Even when the system occasionally worked the headlight was no brighter than 2 squashed lighting bugs. The bike vibrated so bad that the left side bolt that holds the swingarm on fell out one day and left me with a swingarm held on by one bolt. The B40 didn’t use a pivot bolt that runs all the way through the swingarm, just a short hollow bolt on each side. And then there are the Whitworth threads, bunches of left handed bolts, the rear sprocket that was actually cast as part of the rear brake drum, etc. Granted, the B40 was not their top of the line, but it should have been better than it was. But it did look nice. Ed