The bikes: Triumph 5TA

My current main project is a Triumph 5TA that I am slowly turning into a cafe style bike. Why the 5T, well mainly because 650s are pretty expensive to buy, especially if the intention is pull them apart! Secondly, the 500 engine, whilst not being the most potent in the world is sweet running and smooth. Finally, the bike had a bit of reputation for being a bit of an iffy handler, I reckon that with modern rubber, uprated front springs and decent shocks some of the handling qwerks can be dialled out... We shall see!

The bike arrived like this:






It isn't original in any sense at all and whilst looking pretty enough, to my eyes it looked a bit dull. So first up was to create a mental picture of the bike I wanted; basic essentials were: clip-on's, rear-sets, humped seat and swept exhausts. I also wanted to switch the front wheel from the 19" wheel it had back to the original 18" but also to incorporate a twin lead brake rather than the puny single lead.

So work to date...

The forks have been rebuilt with new seals, springs and legs. At this point I reverted to a set of clip on's and new headlight supports, throttle, grips and levers. At the same time the yokes have been swapped to later ones so that a twin lead brake will now fit between the fork legs; the races were renewed as well.





The effect is pretty cool, but it does mean that by the time the choke and light switches have been put on there is not a lot of space on the bars! One area I did overlook was where to mount the ignition switch; it was on the old, much bigger, fork shroud, but that has now gone, so still need to figure out quite where that is going to mount! The Chronometric clock still works looks much better on the bars than just mounted roughly as it was before.

At the rear the old dated mud guard has been switched for an ali one that has been cut down to accept a new light and plate holder. The aim is try and show as little of the guard as possible whilst still making it useful - I think its tuned out OK! The seat has been switched for a pretty cool humped seat. Initially I wasn't sure about this, but it seems to work well, its certainly more comfy to sit on and induces a more leaid out sporty riding position. The changes have tidied up the back end massively.

To help with the handling the rear shocks have been changed for Hagon items and the rear tyre, which before looked more like a car tyre, has been replaced by an Avon 130/18 Road Runner that just fits in the rear swing arm... Just! The low level pipes have been changed for higher upswept ones and Thruxton silencers. They sound like thunder with the baffles out...! I've now lost the baffles!!! MOT will be interesting!!!







With the new exhaust and the bars, the need to sort out out the foot pegs is pretty obvious! Clip-on's and standard pegs would lead to hop surgery pretty quickly! So I have mounted rear-sets by removing the passenger pegs and mounting the new pegs on the pillion mounts. The brake has been easy to modify but on the gearbox side the selector has had to be turned through 180 degrees so that it sits near the new peg, so reversing the gear selection pattern. Instead of one down and three up, it is now back to the more conventional (for old Brit bikes) one up three down; and of course it is on the right not the left...



That's the progress to date; next on the list is the new front wheel incorporating the twin lead brake - I have already bought and re-furb'd a hub - mount a new front mudguard, sort the electrics, give it a really good clean and polish and then actually ride the bike. The aim is to get it ready for the London to Brighton run later in the year.