T140 0pinions please ~

How come you didn't go yellow?

Cos I do not like yellow and Triumph did do a run of 20ish TR7T's in White* ;)



* White Tiger Trails were also made for the Gulf Petroleum sponsored Royal Military Police display team.
 
Well I never knew that

Interesting how that particular 'Tiger Trail' has a T140E (Bonneville) cylinder head fitted and a right hand side gear change

Looks more of a bitsa to me
 
Well I never knew that

Interesting how that particular 'Tiger Trail' has a T140E (Bonneville) cylinder head fitted and a right hand side gear change

Looks more of a bitsa to me

Agreed - rear fender is all wrong as well but then my knowledge of pre- Hinckley Triumphs is not that great :)
 
Fully street legal - honest officer 😉

Sent from my SM-T310 using Tapatalk
 
I have a 1977 T140 that I bought off eBay about a year ago because I had the same itch. When I was teenager an older kid had one and I was seriously envious. I had 250 Suzuki.
I have just put mine back on the road. Went out on it last Friday, got 4 or 5 miles down the road and spent the next two hours pushing it home. Turned out to be a very simple wiring fix in the head light, but I had not taken tools. Lesson learned. Met some great people though who stopped to help.
Went out on it today and did about 60 odd miles. I love it and plan on keeping it a good while, but they are bikes for someone with some mechanical knowledge, though they are very simple to work on. There is tons of info out there and spares are cheap and available from loads of places.
Check out the sump publishing site. It's light and sounds brilliant, brakes are okay, handles very good and doesn't vibrate too badly unless you go to far up the rev range. I think it's a tootling around country lanes sort of bike but I couldn't imaging myself touring on it unless I developed masochistic tenancies.
I'm pleased I scratched my itch.
 
My old man had a cpl of 70’s T140’s which I rode and enjoyed quite a lot. I then bought myself a TR65, US style, basically a bonnie with a 650 motor and a single Amal carb. I quite enjoyed riding that too but not great for any distance. Unfortunately it shit itself on the way to work one morning. One of the pistons had seemingly disintegrated and wrecked the motor. I got it rebuilt but didn’t really have the confidence in its reliability after that. One thing it did have was a lovely smoked red/black factory painted tank. :okay
Would I have another? Yes but not at the prices they are fetching now!
If you do get yourself one, just make sure you get the correct spec rose tinted glasses with it. ;)
 
First brand new bike I bought. Part ex’d a T250 Suzuki for a T140V in maroon, £837 brand new, wish I still had it.
Met a mate of mine at a Cadwell vintage meeting back in the day, who owned a water cooled Scott, he fancied riding the Bonny home so I rode his gorgeous Scott back to Boston. On arriving back home he offered to do a straight swap, thought for a while but being naive, stupid and as the Bonny was on HP declined his offer. Two weeks later he got front ended, took it to an ex Scott employee in Wolverhampton to be repaired where he researched its history and found it was one of the last three to be made, aaarrrgh do I wish I’d swapped. :blast
As to the T140, did a few Cornwall trips, loads of race meetings then dyked after hitting a telegraph pole.
 
Vintage bikes in general

I will reassemble mine with:
All plated or stainless bolts.
Powdercoated black parts.
I may rechrome the engine covers or strip the chrome and polish.
T-cut the paintwork.
Maybe electronic ignition.
I think they do an upgraded oil pump?
I will keep all the original fasteners and bits.
My bike also has the signed certificate.

OK, I curently own and use regularly, a 1975 T140v, owned for, er, about 35 years? Also a '68 bonnie I'm just finishing a mostly cosmetic rebuild on (well initially, except I got the crank balanced so actually rebuild from crank up), a commando and a BSA Rocket 3. I've also fixed up/restored/fettled a few Triumphs for others. All run, all are pretty reliable and none of them can be treated anything like a modern bike. This doesn't mean they break down everywhere, it just takes more work in terms of pre-emptive maintenance and (critically) acquiring knowledge.

If you get satisfaction out of understanding how things work, learning from others (Britbike.com is a good start, this thread, frankly, isn't :) ) and get a buzz out of something visceral, authentic and beautiful, then yes, it will be a journey you could really really enjoy, and that means in terms of actually riding them and the wider "ownership experience".

If you think a Hinckley Scrambler/Bonneville/whatever is evocative, beautiful, authentic and visceral, then stick with that, you'll probably be happier in the long term.

T140vs out of the factory were sometimes great, some were woeful (especially crank balance) , all of it can be fixed either by paying someone, or better yet, getting out the spanners and doing it yourself. Spares are generally decent quality and reasonably priced, if you avoid anything with Wassell on the box. The fundamental components are tough, they didn't blow up because of intrinsic weaknesses (mostly), they blew up because they were thrashed by hormonal teenagers from cold, "serviced" infrequently by, er, hormonal teenagers etc. Biggest actual reliability issues these days boil down to 40 year old electrics and carbs.
The technology comes from a time when everyone fixed things for themselves so nothing is especially complicated. However everytime I rebuild one, I learn something new so there are nuances and gotchas, but also a wealth of knowledge out there from people who are delighted to help new owners into the fold.

Priorities -

Buy of a knowledgable owner who actually used it, not something sitting on a dealers turntable

Take someone with you who knows them

Fit electronic ignition

Go through the carbs and if slides worn fit new carbs (Amal premiers don't wear out like the old ones did), if not, fit new needle jets.

Fit a new wiring loom, it takes about 3 hours. Fill all the connectors with silicone grease and it'll last another 40 years.

Save money and don't fit a new oil pump, it has feck all to do with cooling and nothing wrong with standard pump.

If you DO have to rebuild it, get the crank dynamically balanced (they were only statically balanced at the factory, and sometimes not very well). I have mate with a T140 only one day apart down the production line, mine cruises happily at 80, though 75 helps in terms of hanging on, his is rough at 65.

If all that sounds like a ball-ache, see Hinckley comments above. Some of this also applies to old Guzzis and Airheads as well, just less so! My Triumphs are no less reliable than the old Guzzi I chuff about on, they do take a bit more work, but not massively so?

All IMHO :rob

Here's mine;
 

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