True East M/C

Francis: Today's my birthday and my father says I can have anything I want.
Pee-wee: Good for you and your father.
Francis: So guess what I want.
Pee-wee: A new brain?
Francis: No. Your bike!

I turned 36 today (YIKES!) and I'm truly fortunate to be surrounded by people who care about me. Clearly, they also know I have a one track mind.



My girlfriend, with the help of the Scottish master of subterfuge Hugh, located and picked up this rarest of the rare Tachometer for my pre-unit Triumph project. There's a great little page of info on The Velobanjogent



If the tach wasn't enough she also dropped this Morgo gear drive oil pump in my lap. I'm pretty sure she's gunning for a ring. Either way, its working. I've been dying to get one of these bad boys for the pre-unit as I've bumped the motor up to a short rod 750 and it will be needing all the oil it can get.



Peter whipped up this cnc machined cover for the ARD magneto on my race bike. I needed to take photos of it before the bike went around the track a few times.



Fumi welded up these super strong exhaust brackets for my champion Triumph 500 flat tracker. The original brackets were total crap and I've broken a few pairs. Notice the tags are in Japanese. Left in Japanese is "Hi da ri" and right is "Mi gi".

I scored this suh-weeet cover for my pre-unit project. Who says Mondays suck? (and after the news I received on Friday I needed something good)

The stock clutch pushrod found in most 650/750 Triumphs is made out of 1010 case hardened mild steel. Case hardening is only a few thousandths thick and can easily wear away. The result is a pushrod with a mushroomed out end which throws alignment off as well as deflecting and causing drag in the main shaft.

Nick over at Trumpnut Cycle Parts solved this by manufacturing a clutch pushrod out of much harder tool steel which he then ground and polished. He added a ball bearing which runs inline to prevent mushrooming of the rod against the adjuster which he also improved by replacing the slotted adjuster with an allen.



A comparison of the two clutch pushrods. The top is stock while the bottom is Nick's new and improved setup.




The business end of Nick's Pushrod. Shown here are the ball bearing as well as the new adjuster. The ball bearing is inline rather than at the end to prevent it from falling out when the clutch is disengaged.

I felt my pre-spring tune up would be the perfect opportunity to try out Nick's clutch pushrod. The conversion is extremely simple and took only a few minutes followed by a clutch adjustment.

First I disconnected the clutch cable from the clutch lever on the handlebar. You can just slacken the cable up rather than disconnect it but I like to run some 3-in-ONE oil down the cable to lubricate it. I then loosened up the cable at the gearbox by loosening the 9/16" Nut and 3/8" adjuster. After removing the inspection plug on the primary cover, I backed off the lock nut with a 9/16" socket and then removed the stock adjuster. You might need to use a magnet to pull out the stock clutch pushrod.

The pushrod was then replaced with the new one included in the kit followed by the ball bearing and adjuster. I should note that on early pressure plates you will have to tap the adjuster hole to 3/8"-24 from the 3/8"-26 that they used from the factor in the early years. Use a liberal amount of grease on the parts before putting them into the bike. This will not only keep things well lubricated in the gearbox, but also help keep the ball bearing on the adjuster during assembly. Using an allen wrench, the adjuster is tightened up until tension is felt, then backed off half a turn. The lock nut is then shocked back on (exactly as you would adjust using the stock parts). With the inspection plugs replaced, the clutch cable is then hooked up to the clutch lever and adjusted.

The end result was immediately noticeable. The clutch felt much smoother and easier to pull. I've put over a hundred miles on the bike since installation and so far I couldn't be happier.

The kit is produced by Nick over at Trumpnut Cycle Parts and also available at Lowbrow Customs.

classy tee, indeed

My friend Chris Collins runs 70 Moto, a one-stop shop for products made by Biltwell, Baxter and After Hours Choppers. He has also been cooking up some killer exhaust tips and bars.

Check out his shop and his blog.