jimmy

"most of what you say"....Thats an improvement. The first time we met I could see from your coupon that you never understood anything I said ?

What profile of tyre is on it

Aye fukking thanx tommy, I'm doing my best

Indeed matey. My auld Triumph will be 60 next year Hey SBene Why did it come off the road, was it broken or just stored. If the latter, it should be easy enough to get it running. 4 years is nothing. Get fresh fuel and oil and a good battery and see if it starts....You can pick up a manual for next to nothing Get your boy enrolled on a bike maintenance course at night school and he can fix it himself, which I imagine would make you and your late hubby very very proud

Do you have a manual for the bike, I assume not. I'm not familiar with it, but can you push the top down a bit to reveal a circlip

I'm sure he's encountered a few dodgy ferrys in his time Anyway how come you lot are all FB buds

You should avoid boats (especially West Coast boats) ? Sounds a great trip, made all the better with phoaties

I look for the increase in road "furniture" i.e. signs, poles, markers, white lines getting longer and closer, etc. These indicate the severity of the approaching bends or hidden hazards beyond

Hopefully. Reading the manual and asking online it seems that any one of the faults could cause the gear change issue, so I'm hoping that if I replace all the springs and plungers I should be good to go... to go straight onto the next issue ??

Well the gear changes got worser and worserer so today I pulled the outer gearbox casing to have a look. Just as well I did as it was a mess. The springs were all skewed, one of the plungers was stuck in the down position and one of the spring 'buttons' looked to be missing. Turns out it was inside the spring so obviously the wrong size. Anyway parts book out tonight and get the new bits ordered

Hi

Brilliant review matey, and it was a pleasure meeting up with the 3 of you, oh and McCaigs folly is the local name

Unfortunately we have had rain my 4 days off. Back to work this morning so probably dry up...Ho hum it is Scotland after all

Following completion of the loom I had my first run out on it. I had travelled about 15 miles when I blew a fuse, fitted a new one, rode off, blew a fuse and so on . After going through a few fuses I eventually worked out that, as I had not bolted the seat on ( I wanted to have quick access in case the reason the wires melted in the first place, happened again) whenever I was sitting on it it was pushing down on the battery which in turn pushed down causing the -ve wire to chaff against the carrier. Once I adjusted this I made it home, crimped on a new terminal and rerouted the wires. I then went out for another 20 miles without mishap....so happy as a happy thing Now I can get back to the original shake down and adjust the clutch and find out why the gear lever does not always spring back making it difficult to engage a gear at times, anyway...... The RH footpeg was all bent out of shape and was awkward as hell to change gear, yes I did say RH side, so it came off today and up to my mates shop to employ some of my auld metalworking skills from a previous lifetime. After some heating, twisting and bending whilst cooling down in a bath of oil, the peg not me, I have it back in the shape it was intended and back on the bike. There is a problem with the gear change return which errr, doesn't, so that'll be the reason for the crappy gear changes, now I just need to find out the reason for the dodgy return....maybe leave that to the winter. Here it is

Hi Tommy I've sent you a PM ?

Hi mate. An immediate change I notice is the 'settings' tag in the bottom LH Corner has gone....oh and a banner change (but thats just a cosmetic thang)

Haha (again) I just displayed my ignorance.... I misquoted a comment I picked up somewhere along this road. Delving deeper in my addled mind, it was a flippant comment regarding which colour of wire to use and the comment passed was electrons don't care (about the colour of the insulation)

Haha, like electrons, I don't care which way they're going. With no experience, +ve and -ve earth just meant a different colour of wire connecting the frame to the battery

Cheers Drew. Once my initial shock, horror, trepidation was over I started looking forward to the new learning experience. I got a hoor o' a load of help from 'Stuart' over on Britbike and Airhead sent me a very good 'how to' article from an auld magazine. Lessons Learned. Plan, plan and plan again. It took me about 4 attempts to draw a loom that would do everything I needed and I emailed it to a guy to proof read it. My bad, in that I intentionally left out wiring up the handlebar switches because I assumed this would be the easiest part of the loom build. I then spoke with a mate in work, who has got the best job in the work. Although he is a Cop he has been carrying out the role of Rhib engineer for the last 4 years as we are unable to fill that position, so he works on engines all day and gets to order the best of kit for his workshop. With that in mind I borrowed a Delphi crimping tool. An expensive piece of kit but was great to use. Perfect leverage and ergonomically great to handle....I will be loathe to hand it back, I then set out a parts list and send my order off. As stated above, I underestimated on a few items, so again, plan, plan plan and add extras. Practice makes perfect. Prior to starting I spoke with my mate at the Marine Unit and he gave me a 'course' in wire stripping and crimping. Once the kit arrived, I put this into practice and in the end there were only a couple of wasted terminals lying in the bin. Be Prepared (Like it Drew) for some changes. In my finished loom drawing I had left out the handlebar switches and also the fusebox I was going to install, so starting with the fusebox, I had to reroute all wiring that would be fused. I had dryrun the wires and held them in place with tie wraps, so whilst there weren't many waste terminals, there were piles of cut tie wraps in the bucket, but at £2.50 odds out of Lidls, I have tons left over. As the loom developed, a few more changes came into place in that I added earth wires (hence the need to reorder red wire, +ve earth with red being the standard colour) and slightly changed the connection points for some wires The Handlebar Switches Which I thought would be the easiest to wire turned out not so. As above the switches were from a mid 70s T140, 750cc (my bike is a 59 500) so again I had to jump from my own loom design to the official diagram for these switches. As I said at the outset, I had no previous electrical experience, although I can read a diagram, but getting the correct lighting set up took me two weekends of frustration. This part of the loom drawing should have been included in my original drawing that way the guy quality assuring it would have guided me on the right lines prior to this pain Finally When stripping out the old harness I thought I had taken enough photos and labelled enough end wires to help in reassembly....but no, I hadn't. So if you're doing a loom, or any leccy work, think carefully about how many pics are enough, then double it. Take pictures from a variety of angles giving an overall view as well as close ups of each connection. Summary Whilst delighted to have build my first 'scratch' loom I am aware of how much I do not know. A lot of electrical testing still leaves me clueless and I have to read the test process over and over. In the middle of this rebuild, I also suffered electrical issues with my modern Triumph, and it cost over £350 to repair this because I had no confidence in what I was testing and so believed the 'experts' on various forums telling me the tests I carried out were incorrect.... So if I have learned anything it is be a bit more confident in myself. Another thing I picked up is that most people (I spoke with anyway) had various names for electrical issues....Black Art, Devils work, Bastard wiring etc. On discussing this further, these folk were like me and had little or no experience of electrics so were happy to shy away from it. I was/am the same but in the end I was forced to face up to my shortcomings. Once I did I am happy as fek that I was able to get a working bike back for only the cost of the materials. If it happened again, although pisssed off, I would be confident to tackle the issue without all the angst I went through the first time (still seeking advice and reassurance of course) Still regret not taking pics of each stage of the rebuild, and thanks for staying with me

Well, that was a long haul. Finally got the wiring completed on the auld bike. I spent a lot of time preparing both myself and the bike. I purchased all my kit from vehicle wiring products who delivered in jig time. My only fault with them was their post and package charges. £4.50 is the starting price, so my first order, that seemed fair, but twice more I had to go back (once for 2m of red wire and another for 10 terminals. As they weighed the sum total of fuck all, I found the charge to be excessive then...but it was my fault for not ordering the correct amount I discovered a company called 12 volt planet, who were 10p/m dearer for wire but their p&p was only £1 odds I wired it in 3 sections, charging circuit, Ignition circuit and lighting circuit and added a fuse box. The melted harness only had one fuse in it, so I wanted to try and avoid that pain again. I also wired in a kill switch which the PO had cut off at the switch for some strange reason The PO had made his own harness using (I would think) whatever wire he had available so it did not match any manual, and as there were a number of upgrades to the bike, it did not match any specific Triumph wiring diagram, so I had to pick and choose from a variety of model years The Ignition and charging circuit turned out surprisingly easy but I had a bit of bother with the lights. The handlebar switches were off a different model so I had to bugger about with a multi meter and a lot of patience. I now have pilot, main (dipped and high), tail brake, speedometer and both idiot lights working.There is still an issue in that the pilot light will not come on, on its own, rather the main beam will come on with the pilot, but as I don't run about with just the pilot, it is not an issue. So glad it is now sorted and my only regret is not taking photos of each stage of the loom rebuild...but I have laminated my wiring diagram so should help me in the future if needed Thanks for all the help and encouragement

Aye, that's what it'll be so it is

Haha, I knew that would stick

Contact the owners club, or Yamaha UK. They will provide a dating certificate (example 1983 model manufactured for sale in Europe) which you can take to the local DVLA office, or send off with the appropriate form (available via DVLA site on internet) and you will be provided with an age related plate And while you're at it, stick an intro on the new members page, that way you will get a lot more assistance

Don't want to steal the guys thunder, but met up with them in Oban this morning and after a good breakfast we rode down to Dunoon via Inverary, Good to see Tommy again, and meet Drew and Mick

I txt Tommy tonight. They are in oban today and tomorrow. I'll speak with him tomorrow and try to get up to oban early doors Saturday to ride down with them