This 1975 Triumph Trident T160 arrived at our shop in late December of 2020 as a mere rolling chassis. As a triple, this is the only 3-cylinder that Triumph produced and its power was intended for racing. It sat for many years prior to being brought to us, and had even survived a flood a few years back. Needless to say, its condition left no doubt that it would require a great deal of work to achieve the full restoration its owner desired.
Aside from the fuel tank and seat the owner kept at home to clean up himself, the chassis arrived with several parts bins packed to the brim. We learned that the owner’s father had previously owned a Triumph dealership before they closed for good. His consequential access to those spare parts were of massive help to us in the restoration process.
Per usual, our first step was to completely strip down the motorcycle by organizing parts into piles and begin the cleaning process. We removed the entire top end of the motor, which is when it became obvious that this bike would not be a case of simply putting gas in it and it starting. The piston rings were stuck and would have caused low compression and possibly smoke issues as well.
With everything off the frame, we took it and other various parts to be powder-coated black. As we’ve mentioned in many previous posts, we tackle each restoration job on a case-by-case basis and work closely with customers to find that perfect balance between achieving their desired outcomes and staying within a budget they’re comfortable with. For this particular project, it made the most sense to clean, polish, and/or replace parts rather than pursue having them re-chromed, as chrome work can often cost 2 to 3 times the parts original value.
In line with our usual findings, there were parts that needed replaced either due to being too worn or missing entirely. The wire harness in particular was in need of serious repair and we were relieved to find a brand new replacement from Klempf’s British Parts out of Dodge Center, MN. Owner Mitch Klempf is a true British-bike guru and has earned our business for many years now thanks to his extensive product knowledge, fantastic customer service, and ever-growing inventory size. Klempf’s continuously impresses us with their ability to deliver quality products with accurate fitment each and every time. (It also doesn’t hurt that they send us candy with every order.)
Sugar-buzzed and ready to work, we then completely disassembled the engine. We tore every single bolt out of the motor and once we got into the transmission we were glad we went that far. Confirming our suspicions, it had pounds of brown sludge from years of sitting. Unfortunately, that rusted out some of the bearings, which had to be replaced.
The Trident model has many unique quirks. For starters, it has a single-disc dry clutch that is more often found in the automotive industry. BMW is another manufacturer that uses this unusual style clutch, but it is generally uncommon in the world of motorcycles. The design makes for a much stiffer clutch pull at the lever.
Something else that makes the Trident model unique is that is has an unusual number of different (not to mention quite complicated) shift linkages in the motor to allow for the “left hand foot shift” that became standardized around 1974. This required precision in reassembly and alignment and could result in the shift function not working entirely if anything was even a little off. The excessive connections in the shift linkages lends to finding neutral feeling like an exploratory effort.
In time we pieced together the frame by installing the new electrical system, heavy-duty Progressive shocks, fenders, handlebars, and new speedometer rubber mounts.
The original rims were pitted so we replaced them with some new aluminum rims that the customer supplied. After inspecting them closer, we realized they were actually Indian rims. With the new spokes, we fought lacing the custom rims to the original hubs. We ultimately had success with the front, but found that the rear simply would not work at all. Our only option was to find a new rim that matched the Indian front. Thankfully, we found that Excel made a nice match! We fitted them with Dunlop tires, a vintage style similar to what would have come on the bike from the factory.
With the frame fully built, all that was missing was the motor. We started assembly and although it went fairly smooth, it wasn’t without its own fair share of resistance. The motor has two cams, one for intake and one for exhaust. It also has three individual sets of points. John went through the three Amal carburetors, and we installed the motor in the frame. Even though we consider ourselves quite seasoned at it, timing this bike was a challenge.
We bolted on the pipes, carburetors, and wired the motor. The first start was very hard because we still had the ignition timing incorrect, causing it to run- you guessed it! –very rough. Once started, we still had a few problems to work out. The inner primary leaked due to a seal failing on the sprocket shaft. We also discovered the neutral switch was bad and caused the transmission to jam up.
We remedied the final issues and the customer brought in the tank and seat so that the bike was complete. John test road it (watch here) and all went well!
