Hope you all enjoy these pics as well. As soon as I find the ‘74 850 Commando
and ’54 BSA A10 pics I’ll forward a couple of them too.
I picked up the Trident in
Niagara Falls
in late ’97. It’s stock other than a Boyer ignition (and 6v coils), Bub exhaust,
and removed turn signals (still in a bag under bench with orig. exhaust). I did
have to replace a spun clutch bearing and snapped pull rod after my second ride!
Later it blew a head gasket and broke the center exhaust pushrod after the
floats in the carbs stuck. The valves were sunk too deep in the head and thus I
couldn’t get proper clearance on the tappets, requiring the valves and seats to
be re-done (plus the addition of shorter T150 adjusters). The bike always ran
kinda crappy unless the idle mixture screws were opened up, resulting in
frequently fouled plugs. Funny thing, when I showed the bike to Jack Wilson in
1998 he said: ‘Idle’s too rich – They (Tridents) shouldn’t run that good cold’.
He was right. Subsequently I found a web article by Viking Exhaust in
New Zealand
that referenced tuning Tridents with Bub pipes (I think they are drag racers).
It recommended larger main jets and different slide cut-outs as the Tridents
were always a bit lean – even with the stock exhaust. Anyway, the article was
spot on. I pieced together the parts recommended from the article and now the
bike runs great! With a richer mid and top, the idle mixture could be set
properly, resolving the plug issue. It’s been about 4 years ago, so I don’t know
if they’re still around, but the tech article was excellent and I recommend it.
I bought the ‘71 Bonneville in 1978 for $500 dollars and rode it throughout high
school. It was my first Brit bike (after learning to ride Dads’ ’54 A10 at age
16), and I still enjoy it after 25 years! I added the small battery recently to
help the Mity Max with the lights. It also has 2 Accel coils and condensers to
help the spark. All mounting brackets – seat, coils, bat, pipes, rear fender,
etc. were hand made. Currently the ’71 is using my ‘67’s motor (had to fab a
different head stay) because the ‘71’s sludge trap plugged when the pistons
melted. I had put a Rout 750 kit on the bike afterwards (I think it was in
1980), but was too inexperienced to know about the sludge trap. Thus the motor
never ran well as the big ends were starving for oil. It’s still apart waiting
for the money for all the bits I always wanted to put in it, but there are too
many other obligations now!
Oh, and the ’71 BSA. I found that on a car lot in
Wylie
,
TX
. (just north of
Dallas
). The lot owners dabbled in bikes and had about 12 different ones, the BSA
being the only classic (and Brit). I liked the ‘dove gray’ frame that Umberslade
hall (Slumberglade?) was so reviled for, plus it’s the same year as my beloved
Bonney and probably built on the same line. It has all the original bits,
including the elusive rubber boots that connect the carb mouths to the side
panel air filters. Even switch gear paddles are immaculate (unbroken), and the
blinkers work! The mufflers are incorrect, but they sound better than the stock
‘71’s.The only thing it was missing was the choke lever and the junction block
that splits the single cable into 2 air slides. Fortunately I had a set
purchased for the Bonny rebuild and used them on the BSA instead. The motor had
been rebuilt but never run and the bike sat outside for a year, sticking the new
rings in a new bore. I paid $1500 (less than half of what they were asking) and
chuckled all the way home. RPM cycles cleaned up the bore and I fitted new(er)
pistons to finish it off. Some moron had mis-matched almost all the electrical
connections under the tank, but I have schematics for the BSA twins and took
less than 15 minutes to restore. In fact, when I rode it down to get it
inspected I was so excited to show the inspector that everything worked. He must
have remembered the BSA’s because he didn’t want to look at anything on the
bike. I said ‘no, really – it all works’, and he just said ‘if it made it down
here with you on it, it’s good enough for me’. I was kinda deflated at first,
but got over it – enough to return later on the Trident and then the Bonny!
I’ll be calling you guys soon to look for bearings and gaskets to finish off the
’71 motor. Keep up the good work!
Jim D.
