Sunday, August 7, 2016

Triumphant!

Just recently I scored a project Triumph! So excited. My first bike, too many years ago, was a Triumph Bonneville. It was a trial. Always breaking down, reliably unreliable but I loved that bike and have lamented selling it since the day I let it go. 

My new project is a 2005 Daytona 955i. A great bike with only 5000 miles on the clock. It's in need of a lot of love but mechanically whole. It'll be a great project that'll change the shape and goals of my VFR.






Sunday, June 12, 2016

Updating a VFR 700

I laid hands on a project VFR700 about a year ago. It wasn't and still isn't quite all there but it's mechanically sound and the obvious issues at this point are cosmetic. 


These iconic V4s were great bikes in the late 80s, the 700 winning bike of the year in spite of being 50cc's smaller than its Canadian and European cousins. Even pushing 80K miles mine has plenty of snap in the throttle. 

OEM fairings are both rare and costly for these machines with new manufacture after market fairings being affordable  but still on the costly side. As irony would have it fairings for the venerable race version, the much sought after RC30, are not only readily available but fall in the inexspensive cataegory. 

With effort it's possible to turn something like my VFR into something like Geof Infield's VFR. 


I've already done some small things, making mechanical repairs, changing mirrors, and updating turn signals. It'll be no simple task but I'm looking forward to putting some new life in this old machine. A V4 just has soul, a sound and feel inline engines don't have and grace at higher RPMs where V-twins rattle things apart.